My School Year is Finally Here!
follow the voyage!
You can follow my voyage by looking at the map to see where I am!
September 7
Last night was my first night on board, the first night of the next nine months that has been my dream for the last 6 years. I'm ready. It’s all pretty hectic getting everyone organized and ready to leave Amsterdam but I can already tell that this boat is filled with amazing people. I don't think this smile is going to leave my face even once this year. Here we go!
September 9
We set sail at 11am this morning- crazy trying to get ready for this – we’re off to Portugal and I don't even know what to expect when I'm sailing the Atlantic Ocean from the Netherlands to Portugal right now.
September 10
Set sail - take two. Yesterday we made it to Rotterdam under motor sail, something about waiting for good winds and calmer seas so too many people don't get too sea sick on day one. I already got checked off on climbing aloft alone, and I’ll be doing it every day. Time to sea stow everything and get ready for our voyage.
September 12
Classes start today. As cool as it is to be doing school and classes on board a Dutch Tall Ship, I'd much rather be out on deck working on the boat and sailing than inside in class. But oh well, it will be the coolest class ever. All my teachers are 24! Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Winds and decent and seas are calm….not for long.
September 13
And here we go, getting into some fun. We’re up to an average of 4 meter high swells and the boat is moving a constant 9 knots, I'm loving it, not like the 10 people puking already. The course sail still isn't set; the captain got a brand new one in while we were in Amsterdam and boy, is she a mess. I went aloft again today with the maritime crew to start to fix it up. I was up there for about 2 hours, tying all the roe bands as a start, and we will see about the buntlines again tomorrow. These people are so awesome. I’m getting to know so many people from so many places, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, all kinds from BC and Montreal. Everyone is so cool.
September 14
Let's get those buntlines set up - up aloft we go again, the maritime crew with me, Ben, Svea and Hailey. This course sail is huge and so heavy, oh my. We got the buntlines as best we could but there’s still so much work to be done - I just want to see this sail set. Seas are even rougher today so I'm helping out a lot so sick people can rest. I've also been voted ships ‘mom’ for taking care of the sickies. That smile from the first day still hasn't left my face and I haven't started to miss anyone yet… sorry mom and dad.
September 15
Setting the course 1.0 – we’re halfway there and the buntlines are still messed with blocks. Up we go.
Setting the course 2.0 - here we go- fast forward to setting the course 4.0 - she's finally set! I mean the buntlines aren't perfect or long enough but our speed picked up - so much quicker - oh and the seas are calming now and were ahead of schedule to Lisbon - man I love this.
September 17
Time to take down the course, we’re going too fast and can't get into Lisbon early, so were slowing down so we don't have to stay anchored for 3 days - seas are getting clam and I'm actually ahead in English and Sociology. Physics is kicking my bum though - life is good.
September 19
Have you ever seen the sunrise over Portugal from a tall ship? I think it’s one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. It makes 8am cleaning stations not that terrible. Sitting on the aft deck stern table for a university sociology class looking out at Lisbon isn't too bad either. I love it here.
September 20
FIRST DAY OF SHORE LEAVE IN LISBON - a bunch of us, like 20 students all went to this beautiful tersest restaurant called LE CHAT for some dinner, amazing view of the town, and I had octopus! A little bet nervous to try it, but it was amazing. This is going to be so sick!
September 22
Last day of classes today since we are still early. Classes are all still going well, of course. Doing Acadia courses aren't as scary as I had thought, they are all online university classes. I am slowly starting to see more and more of Lisbon which is pretty cool, although I do wish I could be seeing more of the non touristy area but the view and all the buildings here are stunning, in an old European kind of way.
September 24
Roman Ruins - this was pretty cool. It was literally a hole in the street that they picked up, and between cars we would walk down the steep and narrow set of stairs to see the ruins beneath the streets.
September 27
Might as well try surfing while I'm on the coast of Portugal right? On Carcavelos beach in Portugal I tried surfing for the first time, with my medical officer Steve and one of the high school teachers, Jen Q. Holy crap, is this not amazing?! I never would have expected this. I'm in my wet suit and carrying an 8 foot foamy out to the ocean. Trying to get out, first wave hits me really good and I even lose my scrunchie. Now to do three hours of surfing with no hair elastic, oh boy were off to a good start. Once I got out there and figured out the board, I got pretty comfortable with it quickly. I'm sitting on my board waiting for a decent wave and there’s jellyfish passing right by me. Trying my best just off on my own, watching a bunch of cool surfers and learning by watching them. I fall a lot but I'm actually getting some waves and starting to stand up too. By the end of the day my hip bones are bruised, my face is sunburnt, I'm walking up the beach with this awkwardly large surfboard that’s hard to carry and I have the biggest smile on my face. It still seems so surreal that I'm in Portugal, with all my new best friends from around the world and I just picked up a new hobby. Sitting out on the board and floating over the waves looking in at Portugal has to be one of the best sights.
October 2
GOOD MORNING SPAIN!
Well this is a bit of a mix up. Not on the boat, no night watch and sleeping in real bed. 7am rolls around and I ventured out to see the sunrise over the mountains. The sky slowly started to lighten up and I can still see every star in the sky. Everyone is up for breakfast and it so so delicious, all this food with 0 Kms (all grown and made here). It started to lighten up out side so I went outside, and it was the most beautiful thing ever, bright pink and purple clouds coming over the mountain, a bright blue, happy sky, and a bit of fog rolling in between the mountains. Omg. This has to be one of the most amazing things I have ever seen, I can't even put my thoughts into words.
October 3
Starting to get to know more people, on a deeper keel you could say. You’d think we would all know each other by now right? Wrong. We may all live side by side but no one knows everyone well yet. I spent 2 hours laying out stargazing and getting to know a fellow floatie named Brody from BC tonight. The stars here are amazing, thousands in the sky, you'd love it, Dad. I saw two shooting starts today so that was pretty amazing as well. It’s crazy to see and gives a kind of warm feeling on the inside, not sure why. All I can think about is how ridiculously fortunate I am to be able to be sitting in Southern Spain star gazing right now.
October 4
I feel like a real university student here, except there’s only 10 university students, and I'm in a hostile in the mountains of southern Spain. Wow. I'm getting so much more work done here since I don't have to choose between helping out on the boat doing cool sailing stuff or homework, we all know that not much homework would be chosen voluntarily. Now that I'm here in Spain, staying in a hostile feel like I'm kind of in real university residence, except the boys and parties. Hanging out in my t-shirt and boys pj pants (that i bought for myself, not taken from a boy ;) Walking around the dorms to meals and visit people and lounging out doing all my work is pretty chill. I felt inclined to pull out my laptop and get stuff done when I can sit out on the grassy patches and look out over Spain. It’s also pretty cool to lay in bed in a dorm to get some work done too. Hiking up a mountain to have a class is pretty sweet.
October 5
Canyoning day - I really don't know how to put any on this into words - you really do have to experience this for yourself.
Hiking through the trails of southern Spain’s mountains to get to the waterless riverbed of the canyons is a unique sight. Learning to repel down the high rocky cliffs.
October 11
Everyone has lice.
October 12
It’s going to rain this morning for the first time in over 4 months here, also our first time seeing rain in over 5 weeks. We saw the most amazing pink sky with a double rainbow this morning. I’d say the cheesy quote of “Red sky at night, sailors delight, red sky in the morning, sailors take warning”, but were not at sea, which is also kind of sad.
October 13
Literally everyone has lice.
October 14
So many people are so sick, oh and everyone has lice... still.
October 19
We were supposed to go back to the boat in Lisbon today, but the sea trials are getting pushed back. We just found out that tomorrow we are getting on a bus and then taking a ferry to Morocco. That’s pretty cool but I want to be back on the boat so badly. It’s Hailey’s (Princess Peach) birthday today and she didn’t get the buckets of water dumped on her so were going to have to do that still.
October 20
Waka waka eheh – its time for Africa as Shakira would say! Everyone is so pumped up, this is crazy. Staying in Spain was amazing, the people here at UNEDCO taking care of us, David and Estelle, are some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met, and it’s sad to be leaving them. David told us while canyoning that life is a lesson and to “always flow like water”. So that’s what we’re doing, going with the flow like water would. Another sad part about today is that we will be leaving Beth and Bram behind, this program just wasn’t for them and they had home situations that they needed to be home for. Bitter sweet.
It’s Africa Baby!
Well here we are at 11:30 at night arriving here at the Hardi Coq Hotel in Morocco.
October 24
We have been here at this nice hotel for 4 days attending classes and everything. It’s no boat but it’s a close second.
October 26
Desert trek time! So excited for this, a long bus ride ahead but getting on these dramadors (camels) will be the best thing ever.
October 30
We are back on the boat and I could not be happier! We boarded at 7:45 and now I have three hours of gangway duty, getting right back into it. We have a new bosun, (a ship's officer in charge of equipment and the crew) Corey on board and it will be great to meet him.
** more to come about the desert trek **
October 31
Halloween and departure day. Sailing at long last. The new motor we got on board is 11.7 tones lighter than the old one so we are rocking a lot more with a lot less wind. Good thing I don’t get seasick. More people got dressed up than expected and I took part as on of the 7 dwarfs.
November 2
Finally we are back on the boat and that has made me so happy, you have no idea! We haven’t really sailed at all but we know that the new motor works at least. I’m spending most of my time with the deckhands learning more and doing boat work.
November 3
Parent port arrival day! Out, aloft at 6 am watching the sunrise over the island and getting ready for the day (also doing work up there, of course). The excitement of seeing grandpa and Ann truly didn’t hit me until we were doing the grand arrival, setting all of the square sails, striking them, and then seeing a man on the wharf in a red shirt, shorts and a red hat. Right then it hit me how happy I was to see them and how much I have grandpa to thank for starting my passion of sailing and getting me here. Later, after customs, when I got off the boat, we went out for some tapas and gelato. Great day.
November 4
Today we have parent teacher interviews, and of course Grandpa and Ann want their “interrogations”. They all went pretty well. After that we went around the town for a bit and did some shopping. Got some delicious lunch and had a fun day.
November 5
Port programming with the parents! We are taking them all out for a day sail, which is kind of scary since we have barely sailed. Once we got off the wharf, it was smooth sailing. I go to tell a lot of the parents what to do to set all the sails and it went well. We had some awesome snacks and then I got to take grandpa and Ann out to the bowsprit (a spar extending forward from a ship's bow, to which the forestays are fastened). I really did have a great day and having Grandpa and Ann see my sailing and living on this ship made me very happy. After this grandpa and Ann went back for lunch and I went out on a rigging knife (a specially designed knife used to cut heavy rope) hunt with Mark and Corey. We didn’t get a knife since everything is closed on Saturday and it was pouring down rain the entire time. I had a great day.
November 6
Full day of shore leave with Grandpa and Ann! We rented a car and attempted to get to the top of the volcano, Mount Teide. The GPS is taking us up and down so many scary, steep, donkey trails; we were never going to get to the darn volcano. After almost 2 hours of frustration – well, I saw it as an adventure but that’s probably because I’m not driving, we finally got back on the highway, up the volcano – just to find out that the cable car (thing that skiers take up mountain) was broken. So we slowly drove back down and stopped for many picture breaks. Back on the boat for watch.
November 7
Departure day – bitter sweet. Sad to be saying good -bye but happy to be sailing again. It was so nice to see Grandpa and Ann and I really appreciate them being able to come to visit me in Spain.
November 8
Pete is cool.
November 10
So far it has been amazingly smooth sailing, perfect Trade Winds and we are cruising at an average of 9 knots. I have still been working with Mark and Corey a lot. I am learning so much, I love it.
November 11
We are off to Dakar, Senegal. If we keep up this speed, we will arrive there a couple days early. I call that a success. Today at 11, we had a great ceremony for Remembrance Day. Many students on board were familiar with the meaning of this but many from Europe and the United States were not. It was nice to share that with them. There were poem readings, songs played, the Last Post and a moment of silence.
November 12
Still cruising along very fast, and probably anchoring tomorrow.
November 13
Good morning! It is 6am and I am just starting my watch. Right away with striking the course and it is very heavy. If you weren’t awake before, you are now! Straight after that I was sent aloft to the gallant (on a square rigged sailing vessel, a topgallant sail is the square-rigged sail or sails immediately above the topsail or topsails) to harbor stow the sail. 44 meters above water, furling the sail, watching the sunrise over Dakar, and watching many flying fish jumping about. What an awesome morning I had today. Later, during class, there was another dolphin call, not an ordinary one though. There were at least 100 of them all jumping together on either side of the boat – it was miraculous. Soon after that – shark call! We all got out once again to see a huge fin off the stern, pretty cool. We are now at anchor.
November 14
Deep Clean Day. We all have stations and I am in forward storage for the next three hours. We got a lot done and it was gross. Then I was up trying to fix the MOB boat crane with Mark and Angelo, the engineer, so that we could have a swim call. It was a bigger problem, not a quick fix, so Corey and I rigged up the cargo boom and made it happen! Time to jump off the bowsprit, love it! Today we are taking up anchor and going into port! I got to go down and flake the anchor chain. Most people would try their best not to end up down there doing that dirty job but I was the first one to throw my hand up. Down below, taking in over 100 meters of chain. Covered in rust and mud and dirt and sweat, I climb out of there and get my late butt to class.
November 15
Arrival day schedule. So we classes in the morning and then shore leave. Strayed back for a bit and finished working over side on the bowsprit with Mark and Corey – of course. Afterwards, Mark, Corey, Angelo and I all went out on a hunt. A hunt for a rigging knife for me, a money exchange place, wifi and food. I have always felt that I was able to take care of my self but I was happy to be surrounded by three “body guards” during this port visit. Angelo is a 6’ tall South African man. By the end of the day we got all we were looking for. The marketing strategies are very different here but they work well for them. One of the nice guys we met, although unfortunately I forget his name, went from shop to shop bringing knives to me in a coffee shop to find me the right one. And he did. Finally, a new rigging knife!
Later tonight we all got on to the old prison busses and went out to a street festival set up for us, eight guys playing the drums, teaching us to dance, and the best part for me was the 30 little kids surrounding us and dancing with us. It felt like the most electric three hours of my life.
November 16/17
Today we went to Fann Hospital – a hospital in Dakar for HIV + / AIDS patients and worked on their garden for a couple hours with the SYTO (Student and Youth Travel Organization) program. This volunteer work we did this year, rather than going to an orphanage as per usual, is because Class Afloat believes that building a garden will directly impact lives for more than just one day will be more helpful to a community than spending a day playing with kids in an orphanage and then leaving them again. I agree. At about noon, all of our teachers and faculty left and the homestays began. My group was with Jeanne and Sarah, staying at Anta’s home. She is a very nice, shy 20 year-old Senegalese woman. We went to Ardene and purchased some cheap swimsuits from and went back to her place. We sat and ate lunch and talked for hours on end of their culture and religion. I learned so much today, it was crazy. Later that night we went out and saw some of the neighbourhood, got some gelato and went to bed.
In the morning, we woke up at 9am and did not have to go to a cleaning station! It was kind of awesome. After breakfast, we went and met up with all the other homestays and took a little boat out to an island to lay on the beach all day. What a great experience I had.
Back on the boat by 4pm – and my galley team was on today, but the cooks and nautical crew had the whole day off. It was a challenge for us to make the dinner for the whole ship. We killed it.
November 18
Today we have a full day of shore leave. Jeremy, Pete, Sarah, Caroline and I went into a hotel lobby, walked in like we were supposed to be there, and sat for 5 hours doing homework and handing in all our university assignments. It felt good to get stuff done. On our 15-minute walk back to the boat, people tried to pick pocket us many times, touching and grabbing me, again glad to have the guys there. But right as we were walking into the port, someone stole Pete’s phone and unfortunately we didn’t get it back. I’m ready to be back at sea.
November 19
Departure day – see you soon Africa. I am getting really excited, one to go to Brazil, two because its my first Atlantic crossing, and almost 2 straight weeks at sea, and also for the equator crossing. Not too sure what to expect. On my night watch tonight from 6pm – 8pm, I am at the helm and the lookout spotted a small finishing boat, almost in a collision course. We headed more to starboard to avoid it, but it was a tiny Senegalese boat that we couldn’t see until we were almost at it. It was laying fishing nets and we ran right into them. Not to worry though, it didn’t catch on anything but then this boat with four huge African men brought their boat right up next to ours yelling and screaming. Never a dull moment!
November 20
0530 hour - wake up for my 6am - 9am watch. Good morning sunshine! First off we are jibing, feels too early for this, but we make it happen. Any morning starting off with sail work and a beautiful sunrise over the ocean is perfect for me.
Hiedi.
Don’t think I’ve mentioned her yet. But I have mentioned Mark and my hunt for leather to make a sheath and belt, etc. Well, while in Senegal he ended up buying some, although not quite able to call it leather yet. It’s the skin of a dead cow. Literally just skinned, still all kinds of sinew and fat and all of its hair and smell still there. This is a project. We’ve tried soaking it in water and bleach and hanging it up to dry, more soaking, trying to shave it, nothing is really working. Let’s tow it in the water for a day, we threw half of it over board since it was literally the size of a cow. We pull it onboard and it doesn’t smell as bad. That’s it so far – this project will take a while – and he is feeling a little apathetic, wanting to get ride of it. It may be a little selfish to convince him to keep going, but how cool would it be to be able to say that I got this cool rigging knife in Senegal and the skin of a cow, figured out how to clean it and turn it into real leather, then make a sheath out of it.
November 21
Oh my gosh, is it ever hot out. That’s it, that’s all folks.
Early afternoon spent aloft with Sam working on the upper topsail – see a beautiful sea turtle swim right by the boat. OMG - my life is awesome and I never want this year to end. The PA system on board does this cool ‘bing bong boop’ noise before an announcement. Being aloft we can’t hear much but everyone yells afterwards “SWIM CALL”, man that’s awesome. While we were finishing up, Sam and I are thinking how awesome it would be to set up a Tarzan swing from the year arm. We head down and get changed and as Drew is mustering us, he does his announcements and from the forecastle, Mark yells “YO YO YO” and as were turning around to yell “YO WHAT’S UP”, before anyone can finish he grabs onto a Tarzan swing and flies into the water. The crowd goes crazy and we have an awesome hour in the middle of the ocean jumping off the boat.
Mark and I spent over 2 hours on the forecastle shaving Hiede today. Man, I smelt so bad they kicked me out of class afterwards. Shaving went pretty well actually and gave us some hope.
November 24
Galley day today – not too much but class and cooking. Today is the American Thanksgiving – so right from galley I went and took over Megan’s 8 pm -10 pm watch so that she could go watch a football movie with her fellow Americans. Good day, tired day.
November 25
The only ‘alone time’ I get is from 6am – 7am, after my watch in the morning and I enjoy going out onto the bowsprit to journal and appreciate the sunrise. I feel the fresh ocean breeze on my face, the sails pushing the boat, the sound of the water rushing past the hull and the most amazing sunrise that happens every morning. It is all so incredible, I am so happy and I never want to leave this life.
November 27
It’s equator crossing day – the excitement all day was crazy, and by 2307 hours, our coordinates were 0 degrees 00’ 00”. I felt so weirdly happy and special.
November 28
Snow day schedule – sleep in and brunch at 10 am. Today is the day I change from a Pollywog to a Shellback. And it is not to be talked about.
November 29
Another great day at sea. I am so happy. I have a boat resume ready and once I have Wi-Fi, I will be sending them out to try and get some jobs for next year… sorry mom.
December 1
One day early to Fernando! Hello Brazil. This morning I have galley, which I really don’t mind at all. First period, we’re already at anchor right alongside this amazingly beautiful island, and I have English class on the bowsprit. We all, by all I mean the three of us in that class, and our teacher, grab our books and go read for an hour. I love this life.
December 3
This has to be in my top three favourite places in the world. The beaches and the water are just indescribable. The last two days I placed my butt down on the beach and I have not moved since. Apparently I did need some R&R. The taxis here are little dune buggies and it is so much fun to rip around from beach to beach on them!
December 4
Departure day at 4 pm from Fernando to Natal. We left anchor by sail, and spoiler alert, the next day we set anchor from sail. The one-day passage was entirely by sail, no motor at all. That is actually a pretty cool thing to do. As we were leaving Fernando, I was on the helm, and for about two hours after that as well. It is still so surreal to me that I am sailing continent to continent on a beautiful tall ship. I appreciate everything so much and I don’t think I could be happier than I am now.
December 7
We arrived in Natal last night and it looks like a very pretty place. Today I went to the mall for the Wi-Fi, submitted all of my university assignments so that I am done the courses aside from the exams. I also applied for university next year and booked my own hotel for a week in Uruguay. I feel like an adult.
December 8
Best port programming yet. 0930 hours this morning, we all walked out of the industrial port we are docked at and there, waiting for us were a bunch of dune buggies! Three people per buggy - we all hopped in, our cool Brazilian driver cranked the tunes and we were off! Driving down the roads and over the bridge, passing countless beaches. Once we were over the bridge, our buggies got on small barges manned by one man with a long bamboo pole and went from beach to beach. Were all in our buggies and ripping around now. Music so loud, singing and not even the ridiculous amounts of sand flying could make us stop smiling. First stop – resort like place, with a zip line! I hop in line, climb up with my harness on and go. Had so much fun. We stopped at four places with relaxing water and slip-n-slide like things – today was by far one of the best days ever.
December 9
I hung out on the boat today waiting until 2 pm when I’m supposed to go find a place to rent a sailboat with Mark, Sam and Antoine. Because living on a boat isn’t sailing enough for me apparently. Unfortunately it wasn’t possible but we went surfing instead and that was pretty great too!
For dinner we decided to go full out meat. As of tomorrow I will be a vegetarian on the boat. We got a huge plate of meats for four people and some sides and we ate so much meat.
Now I am veggie.
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