Pacific Odyssey - Leg 1

I am trying to write the log earlier as it has gotten later and later that I sit at the computer and write to you.  Poor Skipper is the one who actually sends the log and  each night, at about midnight, I go up on deck and wake him up where he has already been sleeping for awhile.  He gets little enough sleep as it is, I shouldn´t make it worse!  The plan now is to communicate after supper, before I put the boys to bed.  Today I had a chance to look at the SALTS website; it looks smart.  We´ll try to send some more photos.  I noticed on the chart that the Grace seems to be floating north of the island, not tied to the land.  I take the coordinates off the GPS, I´m not sure what happened but we are definitely tied to the pier.  This evening I took out the chart and checked our latitude and longitude; I hope I "pinned the Grace onto the land.´  Tomorrow we are moving around the corner to a less private spot, in front of two restaurants, one of them with live music every now and then.  It will be easier for the new trainees to find us.  We had one of our ´basic hang-out´ days today, saying good-bye to Mike, internet, laundry, lying on Waikiki, visits to the North Shore, shopping, etc.  There was a fun group of 20 eating together at supper; I do enjoy those times, we sit around, on deck, talking about our day, about whatever comes up, which by now can be pretty well anything.  I´m not looking forward to having to say good-bye; it´s difficult to have 20 trainees leave so suddenly, when we have been such a unit.  With Mike leaving this evening, some of us felt it already; one of the ´chicks´ left home, something has been ´ruffled.´  The boat becomes just a boat, the life is removed.  A group of trainees who were staying on the boat, took a dory out to row around the harbour.  Kelsey was the steerswoman and proved she could manouevre the dory as well as surf.  It was quite the exciting ride, with many lurches side to side, taking in some water.  A few trainees, Liz, Ashley, Lindsay and Naomi are still working on the Intermediate Course work, trying to complete the level.  Good for them.  Yesterday morning, Katie was spoiled by her friend Angela, who now lives in Hawaii.  Angela took Katie home and turned her bathroom and bedroom into a private spa, just for Katie.  Katie enjoyed a candlelight bubble bath with all the extra fixings, shampoo, soap, conditioner, dry, clean towels, hair accessories, shavers, etc.  Being on the ship allows one to truly appreciate the seemingly insignificant details of our lives at home; little things become luxuries, something we all continue to learn.  Katie loved it and was so excited to tell me about her amazing morning.  She told me about it while she was sweating away in the galley on the formal dinner.  She didn´t feel so fresh anymore, but that didn´t seem to faze her; she has a wonderful presence in the galley.  We are very fortunate with both our cooks; it is not an easy job.  A sushi club was created on the 3 week crossing, but the group has been unable to find a restaurant that was good and affordable.  One attempt, after 2 hours of walking around town in the dark, ended at a Thai restaurant.  The food was great, but it wasn´t sushi.  The club tried instead to have lunch rather than supper, and yesterday was successful.  For $14, in the middle of the day, they could eat as much sushi as they wanted, the club was validated and the food was apparently excellent.  Last night we held our formal dinner and entertainment night.  We had a GREAT evening.  The cooks start the earliest.  Many people were on hand to help with various jobs.  Arwen and Karen wrote out the menu on a board at the entrance to the eating area.  It read very poetic, many adjectives. The afterhouse was transformed into a large table with clean maroon sheets spread over it as a tablecloth.  Placemats, personalized by the boys, were set around the perimeter.  Various bosonic items were removed from the seat lockers to keep the tablecloth down as it was very windy.  For benches we pulled out the 5 gallon buckets from the bosun´s lockers and spaced them around the house.  On top of them we placed the fender boards (long planks used with the fenders to protect the hull from certain docks).  For the remainder of the seats we lay down the remaining fenders, a bit rolly and tippy, but we have mastered that from being at sea.  A string of lights was wrapped around the hatches which looked festive once it got dark.  The dock lights provided enough extra light to see with.  Everyone dressed up in good clothes; we were impressed how smart everyone looked.  At about 1830 appetizers were passed around on deck, with general mingling happening, a constant on board ship generally.  The cooks made brochettas with a tomato salsa and melted parmesan cheese, cucumbers with cream cheese and grated carrot, and shrimp cocktail.  Mike carved an amazing whale out of a watermelon and filled it with fruit:  cantaloupe, honeydew, and watermelon balls, cherries, strawberries and blackberries.  Trainees were then lead to their seat and punch with frozen strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, was brought to them.  Then spinach salad with almonds, cranberries, mandarins and an amazing dressing was served, followed by chicken cordon blue and brown rice decorated with grated carrot and parsley.  There was also baked acorn squash stuffed with brown rice, mushrooms sauteed in garlic and topped with cheese for the vegetarians.  It was an incredible meal; the cooks did an amazing job, we were all very satisfied.  Throughout the evening there was entertainment.  Corbin, Kiesa and Dave took turns at center table playing their guitars and singing.  We have a lot of talent among this group.  Tavish and Jose did a drum duet on the tall marquesian drum.  They enacted a legend of time long ago, told by Karen.  Tavish and Jose have played together before and something incredible happens when they do.  Dessert was Breyers French Vanilla ice cream and all the fixings:  caramel or chocolate sauce, Reese´s pieces, m and m´s, bananas,strawberries and whipped cream.  What a feast!   Once we had eaten our fill and were resting our stretched and very full stomachs, Jordan and Sara presented awards to everyone.  In the afternoon, Elske, Becca, Sara and Jordan met for a few hours remembering noteable details of each one of us, and creating an award around it.  We all laughed because each one of us knew why the award was so appropriate.  An outsider watching would be in the dark as to what was so funny, but for us, it was a wonderful close time, reminiscent of all the personal parts of ourselves that just can´t be hidden. Corbin, Chris and Blayre presented their SALTS rap video, it was great, very funny, told part of the story of our trip and the experience we have had as Leg Oners.  We watched it three times.  Then Jose presented a 20 minute slide show of photos various people had taken during the Leg.  Together we relived the entire trip, from the Send Off Ceremony and the speeches, to the ´Days of Suffering,´ to the very cold weather (we can´t believe we needed all those layers), to the gradual adjustment to life at sea, the motion, the slow increase in temperature, the changing colour of the water and the bird and sea life, catching fish, oh, so many things, to reaching Hilo and the sailing and visiting to the different Hawaiian Islands and all that happened in each of those places.  It was wonderful; we sat there huddled close together in the stern around the computer which was balanced on the marquesian drum, spellbound we sat and watched the photos, each one returning to us so many memories, some the same, some different.  A lot has happened during this Leg, more than we know, I think.  I´m hoping some of the trainees will keep in touch and let us know what some of the lasting lessons were and like I´ve said before, some things won´t be realized until they are away from the boat, away from what has become so intensely familiar.  Karen wrote at the end of one of her seasons, "I spent my every waking moment with my crew, in thankfulness of their obscenely thorough friendship . . . and in joy of who they are.  Spend as much time, in such a way with anyone and you will see the glory of God.  It´s unhideable."   I think it applies to the time we have all spent together on Leg 1.   Skipper then took some time to thank Mike for all that he has added to our trip; he has been an invaluable friend to all of us and has graciously and generously shared his knowledge in very practical ways.  We all had a chance to share something we appreciated about Mike; something he left us with.  We will miss him.  At the very end of an already full and glorious evening, Kiesa and Ashley came forward and read a poem of thanks they and the rest of the trainees had written, to the crew.  They had brainstormed words they thought described each of the crew and from these, the poems took form.  It was excellent and we now have it hanging on the wall of the aftercabin.  I think I have remembered most of what occurred yesterday; the rest of it you will hear soon enough as trainees are preparing to leave in a few days.  I have the feeling though, that everyone is continuing to make the most of the last few days we have together, though at the same time, I know trainees are looking forward to seeing their friends and family.  Coming home is often one of the nicest part of going away.  This is it for the night, I will continue tomorrow, good night, Bonice.