Hello All!
I just thought I’d send you all an update on my where-abouts
and what I have been up to, since I still do not have a cell phone and rarely
even hop online.
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| At work on my first boat |
This past week has been crazy busy. Last week Tuesday, we departed from Cannes
for a 24-hour passage to Tarragona, a city about 40 miles west of
Barcelona. Throughout that 24 hours, I
worked 4 hours on watch, and 4 hours off (to sleep!). We set the boat on autopilot, and whomever is
on watch uses several radar screens to locate other boats, in addition to a
pair of trusty binoculars. I was super
excited about the binoculars and used them to spot ANY floating item I could,
which included boats, birds, and a LOT of garbage (rubbish, as my crewmates
call it).
My favorite item I spotted was not an item at all, but 3 separate
schools of dolphins! The first time we spotted
them, my captain told me to run to the bow and hit the side of the boat and
yell at the dolphins. At first, I
thought he was only trying to make me look like a fool, but it actually
works. So every time we spotted
dolphins, I would excitedly run outside, bang on the bow and yell “Hi Dolphins!”,
and because they like the vibration of the boat (and my shouting), scores of
them swarmed around the boat, jumping and leaping out of the water. Ahead of us, they raced to greet the boat,
and behind us, they did back flips in our wake.
It was absolutely amazing to watch.
At one point when I was “talking” to the dolphins in a loud excited
voice, my captain, who was inside, thought he was hearing the dolphins chatter,
but another crew member informed him, the squealing was me. What can I say? This is all new and exciting to me!
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| Tarragona |
Unfortunately, the voyage wasn’t all good. Having almost finished my midnight to 4am shift,
I thought I was in the clear. The
problem arose (no pun intended) from trying to spot other boats in a black sea
against a black moonless sky, with no lights on inside or outside of the boat, while
feeling the waves crash against the boat as we moved forward, full speed ahead
into a black abyss. I could hardly tell
up from down. Needless to say, my equilibrium
was not having it. I began to feel
queasy, but decided I would stay strong and NOT get sick. Not on my first passage. Not after all my crewmates had joked earlier
that day about whether the newbie would get sick or not. Well, my stomach didn’t care about any of that. As my captain and I chatted away, right in mid-conversation,
I bolted. The sea had gotten the better
of me. Darn it. Oh well, I’ll have my sea legs soon enough... I hope.
After surviving the trip, we arrived in lovely Tarragona, Spain,
a beautiful city filled with Roman ruins.
I was lucky enough to have some time to explore the city, visit a pub,
and eat at a tapas bar (yum!) when we first arrived. The past few days I have been working from
the moment I wake until my head hits the pillow, in preparation for the owner’s
visit. The owner and his family have just
boarded today and will be onboard for the next 3 weeks or more. That means I will continue to be crazily busy,
but will try to drop a line whenever I can!
Hope all is well with everyone.
Miss you all!
Mary :)
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