I’ve been trying to catch up with stuff that’s been pushed aside for some time now, and thought I would post a couple of pictures that I took while down in the San Francisco Bay Area recently. It really is a beautiful place.
Enjoy.
The ship finally sailed last night. It looked pretty good, but still had a ton of work to do when she left. It has been a trying few weeks, but I think in the long run it’s all going to be for the better.
Life on a ship….. It certainly is interesting.
Shipyard has sucked my will to live.
Hopefully I’ll get back to being a human soon, so I can teak some pictures and see some stuff.
If you don’t hear from me by the end of the month, please send search and rescue in to recover me.
The ship looks like a bomb went off. There’s no other way to describe it. Theres no windows or doors on the main deck or below deck right now. The props are pulled off and the stern is half cut out. We are in the process of a million dollar remodel, and if you looked right now you’d ask “why?”
It has been an amazing and interesting transition, and I’m very glad I get to be a part of it all.
The one thing I have been lacking is taking pictures. I’ve been too busy and scared to take my camera to a dusty and dirty place, but I think tomorrow I’ll take some chances. There’s some crazy-cool stuff at this shipyard, and I think I can get creative with some of it. I hope, anyways.
The process has begun. The ship is out of the water and the deconstruction is well underway. Getting the ship up and out is always quite a process, because there is quite a bit to do to prepare for it. Not only do we have to shut all the systems down, but every tank has to be opened up, sucked dry and cleaned. Then they all get inspected and painted as needed.
On top of all that we have some serious welding going on, all around the ship. To make that happen, we have to tear apart anything in the way, which is quite a bit of work to be done as well. This year our ship is getting some $300,000 worth of steel work done to pass a huge 30 year Coast Guard inspection. In short, this is an epic ship yard for us.
My feelings on shipyard vary from day to day, but for the most part I’m not really all that into it. I would really rather be on the ship floating around somewhere doing something. Shipyard is, however, a good reminder of what it was like doing construction and that makes me appreciate he time that we are at see all the much more.
Over the next few weeks I’ll post up some pictures of the ship and the things we are doing to it, it’s an interesting process, I think you will like.
So, my luck must be changing for the better. It’s been a while now since I’ve been on a rough trip either up or down the coast, and this one has been no different. We have encountered no more than 10 foot seas the whole way, and for the last 24 hours actually had less than 5 foot seas. On a trip where the final destination is a whole lot of work this is a huge blessing. We are headed to shipyard, and have made an enormous amount of progress. We will have a better start this year than ever before, which is great considering we will have more work done to the ship than ever before.
In the next few weeks I’ll try and document all the crazy things we do to keep the ship afloat, so you can see just how much effort it takes.
For now, I’m anxious and excited. Ready to get on with this huge task and see it through to the end.
This picture is of the last lock my ship will go through his year. It was a great year aboard the Sea Bird, so it’s a fitting ending. I’m glad that I was here for it.
So, now we are cruising on back to Portland where we will drop off the last load of guests this year and prepare ourselves to head south. Tomorrow we make the journey, heading on to the San Francisco bay area for about two months of what promises to be the gnarliest shipyard this boat has seen to date.
The weather forecast is looking a little bit rough for the start of our trip, but it’s supposed to get nice as we go. All this was determined of course by the good luck brought on by the annual “last lock toss of the season” ceremony, and of course the bosun made it and we are all good.
I’ll talk more later about the trip south, but for now I have to go get ship ready for the open sea…
I find it semi-humorous and very interesting just how strange it feels to transition between “boat” life and “real” life. I’m sitting here in the Seattle airport with a 3 hour layover and I’ve got nothing better to do but contemplate life, so here goes….
I spend a little less than two months living in a bubble where everything has it’s place. I could randomly open a calendar to any page and put my finger on whatever date, then within minutes I could tell you just about everything that would happen that day. Not that I’m saying I would know the minute details, but for the most part it’s very predictable.
Then I head home to a life with little or no organization what so ever. I do have to get my daughter to school, but other than that, I just do as I please, or as needed. It’s about as opposite of boat life as it gets.
So what have I been contemplating?
Why I like it so much. I’m not exactly the type of guy that needs to have his hand held all through life. Ironically, I don’t mind it nearly as much as I thought I would when started a life at sea. Maybe it’s because I have my place on the ship and so does everyone else, making it less like I’m being given welfare or something.
It also might be that it’s such a contrast from my everyday life, that it makes me appreciate my freedom even more when I have it. I can’t even begin to explain how nice it is to cook a good meal my first night home or to not have to explain to five people why I did something.
In the end, I’m hooked for life. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to live life any other way now. Life at sea is the life for me.
The above picture was used in the daily expedition report for yesterday, so it’s going to be viewed by hundreds of people. Thanks to my good friend Linda Burback for using it and making me feel pretty good about it.
So, what’s a lock toss? It’s somewhat of a game we play here, but it is serious work as well. Essentially what happens is that as the ship goes up or down in a lock it has to be tied to a floating cleat called a bollard in just one spot. So as the ship enters the lock the deck hand has to get a line around the cleat and tie the ship up.
Sometimes this is hard and other times it’s not, based on varying degrees of distance or other factors. Where it becomes a game is seeing who can get the line on the cleat from farthest away without missing. There’s an art form to the action of tossing the line, so it gets pretty interesting to watch.
So, how am I at it? Pretty good now, if I do say so myself. There’s others that are better, but it’s a fun part of shipboard life and I’m glad to be a part of it.
Just a few days left till I head home for vacation, and boy am I ready. I’ve been missing my babies quite a bit lately, so that means its time to head out.
Oddly enough I haven’t really made any big plans for this vacation. I’m thinking about a trip up to the desert now that’s it’s cooled off a bit, but nothing is catching my eye too much. I think it’ll be a matter of seeing how things go, mixed in with a bit of spontaneity.
