You can start from the beginning of my latest adventure here.
If you would like to start at the very beginning of my previous passage across the Atlantic Ocean back in 2008 please head over to here.
For information on how to join in the adventure and sail on The Picton Castle yourself check out her web page:
http://www.picton-castle.com/
It has been 11 years since I first joined the Picton castle in Mallorca to start my adventures.
I have tried to capture something of why I did that and what it has meant for me here:
The Call of the Sea
Thu Sept 1 2016
The BBQ was delicious, with charcoal cooked chicken, shrimp on skewers, ribs, salads and ice cold beer!
Went for a wander on the waterfront afterwards and then tried to watch the "races" but rapidly ran out of steam so came back to the BnB and crashed.
Woke up about 6:00am this morning really confused about where I was because:
A) The bed wasn't moving.
B) As far as I could reach I couldn't touch anything.
C) I could hear crickets chirping rather than water swishing against the hull.
Then I remembered I was in a beautiful BnB in Lunenburg having signed off the ship yesterday afternoon :-)
Had a lovely breakfast here at Greybeard's. The recomendations by my shipmates were bang on. Fruit animals, smoked salmon quiche, carrot cake, orange juice and lightly spiced coffee. Mmmmmm...
Bob and Rosanna do a fantastic job.
After breakfast I realized that tomorrow (Fri) I would need to find someplace to stay so I jumped back on my little laptop, and the lovely and fast wifi, and spent the next two hours trying to find a berth! The Labour Day long weekend is abad time to try to find accomodations in a high tourist area like Lunenburg.
It is now 10:00 am and I've got it settled. Whew :-)
I will be staying at the Kiwi Kaboodle hostel in Mahone Bay for Friday and Saturday night. Kiwi Kaboodle also runs a shuttle service that can get me back to the Airport in Halifax on Sunday which is a bonus!
My back and muscles are telling me that I probably should take it easy (aka 'be lazy') so I'm just going to go tour the Fishery Museum and drink cider in a pub somewhere.
:-)
Oh and mess around online of course.
I guess that means this is the final post of my latest trip on The Picton Castle.
I hope you have enjoyed following along on my passage.
Sailing on the Picton castle is a fantastic adventure, even when only for a few weeks. There are very few times in one's life that working that hard physically can be as rewarding, that standing watch beside strangers can result in connections and friendships that last for years, and that learning a complex system of lines, processes and language, that so indelibly mark you as a seafarer, can mark a point in your life so clearly.
Eight years ago I headed out for my first adventure on this fine ship. Over the last two and a half weeks I've stepped back into a role I really thought was in the past for good.
Would I do it again?
I honestly don't know, and frankly it doesn't matter :-)
'Living in the now' is probably the biggest lesson I take from this short return to sea.
And in the spirit of that lesson I'm going to let tomorrow look after itself :-)
As always...
Thanks for reading.
And Watch below! :-)
KJ
