Ashore in Lunenburg NS

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

Dominica April 3,09

Friday, April 3rd, 2009
(Actually I think this was written on April 4th)

Spent the morning doing osfo and doing spot painting of the starboard bow topsides.

It was nice and cool, sitting on a plank suspended off the rail, as that was the shady side of the ship. This
afternoon we are going to be doing the same but on the port side which is facing the sun which will be
really hot.

The schooner Spirit of Massachusetts was anchored here. Her captain was 2nd mate on the third world
voyage of the Picton castle and came alongside for a visit. When she was leaving she sailed across our
bows and saluted with a shot from her cannon and a proper dipping of her ensign. We responded with a
good horn blast. Very cool.

David and I went ashore yesterday and wandered around the town of Roseau. The town is beautiful and
still pretty much as this area was 50 years ago. The buildings are mostly two story with the lower story
stone and the upper story wood.

The current crew hangout is a fabulous bar/restaurant called the Ruin Rock Cafe. It is built inside the
ruins of an old building and serves an amazing variety of flavoured rums that they make themselves. The
Guava was definitely “dangerously yummy” :-)  They also have things like coconut pineapple, ginger,
tamarind, lemon and other fruits as well as very exotic ones like snake and centipede ?!?.

I’m hoping to go on an around the island tour when we get ashore tomorrow.

More later…

It’s later and I have a very sore left hand. Blah.

I’m going to file the following under the “It seemed like a good idea at the time” file or maybe the “20/20
hindsight is a bitch” one.

After lunch I shifted the scaffold over to get at the last spot on the starboard bow. In doing so I tried to position it such that I could reach it from the rail. Well, as I tried to lower myself down I realized that the
plank was about a foot too low! Unfortunately I didn’t find this out until I was so far over the rail that I
couldn’t get back up!

Then I made my big mistake. I figured I would just hand over hand my way down the rope to the plank, it
was only 1 foot after all right? Wrong! The line was too thin to hang onto and before I could get both
hands onto it I slid down the rope, missed the plank and ended up hanging off the end! I also badly rope
burned my left hand, ripping most of my callouses off and giving myself second degree burns on my index
finger and the palm of my hand! Ouch.

So there I was hanging over the brilliant blue sea by my fingertips feeling like a right great goof. I tried to
climb back up onto the plank but because my weight was on the end it kept swinging away from the ships
side. I yelled “On deck!” and got an immediate response and then yelled “Help!”. There wasn’t anything
anyone could really do and in hindsight I should just have dropped into the drink to swim over to the
ladder. Ben and Susie were working alongside in the skiff and they came over to see if I could clamber
into it before letting go but I ended up swimming anyways.

To everybody’s credit nobody laughed, which was nice

David, helped me bandage my hand, fresh water rinsed my gear and hung it all up for me while I found
some dry clothes. Thanks David!

It’s a good thing I have a couple of days off to let the blisters break and get a start on the healing process.
Hauling on lines is going to be a pain for a while.

It’s also a good thing I mostly type with one finger :-)

Thanks for reading.
KJ

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Maryeau Mar 22,09

Thursday, March 26th, 2009

Had a great ‘mandatory fun’ day :-)

I went snorkeling on the reefs this morning. We used the rescue boat and motored out to three different spots. The first spot was a bit too deep with a fairly big swell running so we moved to a second spot closer to shore which was nice. I haven’t used a mask, fins and a snorkel for probably 30 years or more so it took some getting used to. Once I got comfortable using them I was able to dive down and get a good look at all the multi coloured fish hiding around the bases of the coral mounds. The last place we went had a lot more coral of different kinds and consequently more varieties of fish. It was really cool!


In the afternoon I went ashore with David and wandered through the town. We then went back to the
beach across from the ship and I snoozed under a tree on the beach for an hour or more.

This evening we had a BBQ on the ship and as I write this there is still a boisterous party on the welldeck :-)

A lovely day in a lovely place.

Tomorrow we head North towards Anguila which will take several days as I understand it.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Here are some photos from my day in Maryeau.
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Petite Martinique Mar 9-10,09

Friday, March 13th, 2009


Spent yesterday painting the starboard side of the ship. The last day that she was alongside in Grenada a
big swell was coming directly into the harbour making her bump and rub against the big rubber fenders on
the dock. In some places these fenders had rubbed the paint right off the ship down to bare metal and had
even dented the thinner bulwark plates.

She looked much better by the time we finished.

After we cleaned up we had a brief workshop on knots and I learned two new ways of doing standard
knots, clove hitch and bowline, and anew one whose name I don’t remember but which is like a tugboat
hitch and can be tied really quickly.

The evening I spent watching The Empire Strikes Back on a PC that was setup on the main hatch. Pretty
cool watching that under a full moon with a warm tropical breeze blowing through the rigging
Today I’m off to see the sights ashore, such as they are, and I’ll let you know how it goes.

The plan is to leave here early tomorrow morning to SAIL over to Carriacou for day or so.

More later…

It’s 9:30pm and I just climbed into my bunk after a fabulous day ashore. I went in on the 10:00am skiff
and joined up with a bunch my crew mates. We then tried to get some local cash but the two banks were
closed. Luckily the grocery store took U$ and Euros so I was able to get some snacks. Then after lunch
we hired a water taxi and went across to a nearby island called Petite St. Vincent. This island is officially
private but according to the hotel/resort people their business is so slow they don’t mind other people
hanging out.

We found a beautiful beach and just hung out for the afternoon and evening.

I fell asleep in a hammock I found setup in a thatched shelter far along this deserted beach. It would have
been fatally easy to stay there all afternoon but luckily I woke up after half an hour or so.

Rory had managed to rent a boat so we had our own transport back which saved us a bunch of ECDs.


So we are off to Carriacou tomorrow morning. I imagine it will be a lot quieter than last time.

Thanks for reading
KJ

Here are more photos from my run ashore in Petite Martinique and Petite St Vincent.



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P.S. This video taken while I was lying in that hammock is why it would have been very easy to have slept the whole afternoon away...

Ashore in St Georges Grenada Saturday Feb 27,09

Friday, February 27th, 2009

Yesterday I spent a great day wandering around in town.

Found a great little Cafe at the top of one of the hills here with great coffee and good Internet, they even
have power plugs at just about every chair.

One odd thing about St Georges is that all the big churches are missing their roofs and are slowly being
rebuilt. From what I can tell this is the legacy of Hurricane Ivan.

Having a good Internet connection is a mixed blessing because it means I’m able to get all my personal
stuff done and then I have time to do a bit of random surfing.

Big mistake!

The global economic situation is miserable and back home in Calgary things are not looking good for the
oil patch.

So after a great relaxing day of walking around up and down hills in the hot Grenadian Sun I decided to
check into the possibility of heading back to Calgary for a brief visit. Primarily to see Jayne and family
but also to touch base with my employer and to get a read on the prospects for the next couple of months.
That also is a dangerous thing, because once the world ashore gets it’s gaff hooked in a sailor’s gills it’s
difficult to wriggle your way back to sea :-/

Oh well, as my fellow trainee WT is fond of saying “it is what it is” and I’ll just have to go and check it
out.

Currently I’m scheduled to fly back to Calgary tomorrow, Saturday Feb 28, which will take nearly 24
hours and then fly back to Grenada next Saturday to make sure I’m here when the ship sails out on 8th of
March.

In the meantime I have another lovely day to soak up the energy and vibe of this beautiful city with it’s
fascinating and incredibly friendly people.

More later maybe…

Thanks for reading.
KJ

There are photos from my day ashore in St Georges here.

Posted in Ashore, Musings | No Comments »

Carnival in Carriacou Feb 24,09

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009
I spent the day yesterday ashore on Carriacou which is an island that belongs to Grenada.

It is Carnival here which is like Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

The people are very friendly and the atmosphere of Carriacou is very laid back. We are anchored just off
the main pier at the biggest town called Hillsborough.

We hired a taxi and went for a tour of the island. On the opposite side we went to a village called
Windward where there is a boatyard that builds traditional wooden boats. Being Carnival they were
closed but we saw some nice boats at anchor off the yard.

The reefs on that side of the island really stand out from up on the hills (the highest point of the island is
just 20′ short of being officially a mountain apparently). On the reef are three wrecks high and dry. One
was tossed up there by hurricane Ivan and though relatively undamaged couldn’t be moved so there she
sits.

After the tour we went back and basically hung out in town as the place got wound up for the nights
festivities! Carnival here is really something, there are massive speaker banks set up outside on the street
just far enough apart that the poiunding muic doen’t interfere with the next one. As it got dark everybody,
old and young, came out on to the street and just chilled and danced. There were two steel band
orchestras with 20 or more players that pounded out complex Caribbean music. The many little bars and
food vendors all were hopping. Carnival is very family oriented with all ages staying out till late. Despite
the large amounts of beer and “spiritous liquors” consumed there were no altercations and the police spent
their time standing around in their crisp and neat uniforms watching the fun.

Each village on the island puts on a parade through the main street. Each village develops a theme for
their presentation and then makes costumes for it. One group last night for example, had the theme of
“Flames of Freedom” and they were all wearing T shirts with pictures of President Obama on them.
Another had beautiful crimson and gold flashy costumes and a family of stilt walkers the tallest of which
was probably over 15′ high. Each group has a truck loaded with huge peakers and a DJ that drives just in
front as they drive slowly through the crowds with the group (and the crowd) dancing along behind. They
turn off the street side speakers as they pass which is nice.

I stayed ashore till the late skiff run and really had a blast. It’s a good thing there was a lot of dancing or I
would have succumbed to the fatal allure of too much rum :-)

This morning it seems pretty quiet ashore however it is the last day, Mardi Gras, so I suspect the evening
will be wild again. I have another day ashore so David and I are going to try and find what the cruising
guide says is the prettiest beach on the island and chill out with a cold coke and maybe a drop or two of
rum

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Photos of my wander around the island are here.
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Christmas Day 2008

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

Merry Christmas! Last night we hung a “clean” sock outside our bunks and in the morning each one had
some trinkets in it from a sack into which we each put some little goodies. I got a book “Baumgartner’s
Bombay” by Anitabr Desai and a brass keyfob in the shape of a porthole. I now have the only bunk
in the salon with a porthole

Today was a fabulous sunny day with very light winds. We drifted along off the coast of Africa
taking our time and enjoying the day.

Around 3:00 this afternoon the Captain ordered the ship hove to and swim call was ordered. The crew
took eager advantage and piled into the calm deep blue sea. I was ordered into the maintop as shark
watch. This was cool as the water was so clear that from up there it looked like the crew were flying and
swooping in the air.

There followed a great present opening that took nearly an hour. I got all kinds of great goodies,
chocolates, a nice cuban cigar (thanks Kolin), some licorice ropes and a DVD with all his pics from the
first leg of the trip from David and a number of other goodies including a replica “piece of eight” used in
the Pirate Master show that was filmed on board the Picton Castle.

For dinner we had roast suckling pig which was barbecued during the day plus a prodigious amount of
cookies, cakes and pie. Yummy!

As the sun set a group of people sat on the hatch with guitar, boran, fiddle, penny whistle and several
drums acquired in Moroco, playing and improvising complex music. It was awesome!

A long slow smoke of my pipe in the twilight while the music played was a lovely end to a beautiful day.

I hope you all had a great Christmas with your loved ones.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

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===================================
2014 Postscript

Here are pictures from our Christmas off the coast of Africa
These were not uploaded till January in 2009 when we reached Senegal. 

An afternoon ashore Nov 13, 08

Thursday, November 13th, 2008

So we finally got to go ashore, by we I mean the four new guys, Nick, Jay, Rich and me only to discover
that the power was off in the city.  So much for getting this posted.

We went wandering around and had avery pleasant afternoon shopping for things like Jay´s rubber boots
and an LED head lamp for me.  After a late afternoon meal of chicken Fajita´s in an American
Kitch(chen) restaurant the power came back and I was able to get online only to discover that the PC in
the Internet cafe won´t read my memory cards so… blah hand tyoig and no pictoires (sic).

Sorry I´ll try to do better in future :-)

Thanks for Reading
KJ

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