Pacific Odyssey - Leg 1

I will start with yesterday as I just didn´t get around to typing.  The day was similar to the previous one.  Trainees had another wonderful day off, while the crew was working on various jobs that needed doing, i.e. fixing grommet in course sail, greasing propeller, sanding and varnishing, chart corrections.   Skipper spent a part of the morning arranging funding for the cooks as they needed to begin their huge shop for the next leg.  Things worked out cash-wise and so Gillian and Katie along with Mike, Sara, and Skipper shopped for several hours at COSTCO buying some of the basics in large quantities.  I heard that they had a lot of fun shopping together, with Mike offering to buy ´very berry´ sundaes for everyone.  Two van-sized taxis were used to bring the groceries to the boat.  Once the taxi´s arrived everyone available at the boat helped out unloading, transfering and ´de-cardboarding´ the items.  Anything that comes in cardboard we unpack down to it´s plastic bag, or repackage in ziploc bags.  We do this to prevent cockroaches from coming onto the boat.  They lay their eggs in the corrugated cardboard and in cracks between the layers of cardboard, even in cereal and cracker boxes.  We found last offshore that this worked well; we found very few cockroaches during the entire trip, we´re hoping for the same thing this time around.  At 2100hrs there was the most amazing firework show I have seen in a long time; that might not say much as I don´t see many firework displays, but from the talk around me, that was the general feeling of the crowd.  We had front row seats as the display was on the water off the end of our dock.  The middle courtyard of the Marketplace was cordoned off so people could not get too close to the end of the dock, but where the Grace is tied up is outside of this blockade and we could sit at the end of the dock and watch.  It was spectacular; many of the explosions reminded me of underwater sea plants, the colours and shapes were incredible.  I enjoyed the choreography of the show and wondered if someone thinks about that ahead of time; it seemed like it.  Most of the Grace crew and trainees were watching.  Tonight there have been more sporadic explosions of colour and sound from different sections of the city.  After supper, which was an all-american meal according to Mike, many of us went to a casual clothing shop nearby that had a 25% sale.  The sale was for July 4th, and I think was intended for cruise boat shoppers.  Unfortunately for the shop, there is no cruise ship in at the moment so we stepped in and did our best.  I´m pretty sure most of us are now looking pretty smart (for the guys) and feeling rather gorgeous (for the girls) in something from that shop, i.e. dresses, board shorts, light cotton dress shirts, and T-shirts seem to be the most popular.  Other than shopping, people went to see a film at the $1 theatre down the street; the seats are soft, the air is cool, ice cream is cheap and so is the movie . . . why not?   Blayre and Corbin are very busy putting their music video together about life aboard the ship.  They did the filming in many sessions during the crossing and are now editing, clipping, tweaking etc.  They have been here in the after cabin finishing off the editing section and said that tomorrow they still need to put the sound to it, another big job, but they are enjoying it and learning from it.  My sense is it was a bigger project than they bargained for, but from what I´ve seen of it, it´s going to be very fun to watch.  They are planning to show it at our formal dinner friday night.  Today was the first day of the two work days that all trainees partake in.  Everybody chooses one of three groups to work in, and the day goes from 0900-1700 hrs. with an hour off for lunch (usually pizza and coke), with the purpose of getting the boat ready for the following leg.  Jobs are divided into 1) setting up the rig, 2) refinishing hatches and rails, and 3) cleaning stowage areas for food and stowage of food.  It is a day of hard work and sweaty bodies.  By the end everyone is tired and sweaty and ready for a hose shower and supper.  It is a very satisfying feeling.   Tomorrow is another workday; jobs are being finished quickly, the boat looks good.  The cooks need to do one more final big shop at SAFEWAY and then they can start preparing with the rest of the crew the formal dinner that is catered by the crew to the trainees.  There will be table settings, tablecloths, nice drinks, good food, friendly, personal awards, slide show etc.  I´ll tell you all about it when it´s happened.  They are very fun, with lots of laughing.  I spent the day with 4 of my kids away from the boat.  We took the bus to the Honolulu Zoo and swimming at Waikiki Beach.  It´s quite something, all the people there, but we had a good day.  Good night until tomorrow, Bonice