Tuesday, 28 August 2007
I feel like we’ve been going for about two weeks now. It’s been a while since I pulled out of Falmouth with The Amistad, and half as long since we picked up our students. I’ll say, it really is wonderful having the six students aboard. Their new energy, curiosity, and personal challenges really remind me how much fun life aboard a ship can be.
There have been a bunch of other boats going by, and I often wonder how life aboard those ships might be. Certainly my thoughts vary from time to time due to my own motion sickness – but I’m sure the crew on those ships don’t have the same experience as we do.
These close quarters, a traditional rig, wooden ship, a doctor, six college students, and two twenty something year old bosses. All of us are here for some sort of interesting reason, very few of us “sorta fell into it” as this isn’t the sort of thing where that happens. It’s a special type of person that lands a job, or a student bunk aboard Amistad.
On a medical note, there have been a few challenges with sea-sickness. I was sick for two days, and it was one of the more miserable times I’ve ever had to endure. Each time, it seems like the worst thing imaginable! When a few of our students got sick, I spent a little time doing my best to make them comfortable, and a little of my time simply reassuring them. For those of you who don’t know, sea-sickness is worse than simply puking a lot, dry heaving, and finally followed by making the full body puke faces in a cold sweat. Curled up in a fetal position wearing nothing by my underpants, I doubt my decision to come aboard Amistad, my competence as a sailor, and am covered in a heavy blanket of self loathing. This gives true meaning to the term “trial by fire”. My point is this: when my students get ill my heart really goes out to them. Of course, even having said that, you’ve got to take that with a grain of salt because these are 18 year old college students always looking for the path of least resistance.
Now looking forward to the rest of our trip – we have many miles ahead of us, and more fascinating ports of call. I can feel the potential for a real kick ass crew. All the old crew needs to do, is bring all the student up to competency with Amistad and we will be able to set and strike all the sails, anchor, dock, and the whole bit. By the time we get two Sierra Leone, the entire crew will look like totally different people. I suppose the sea does that to people.
I think about my family and Alison all the time, and I look forward to seeing them soon in one of these far away places.
Aloha and thanks for reading,
Drew Kerlee