First Days in Lunenburg

Dad and I arrived in Lunenburg around 11:30 Friday morning. After a long drive through St. John and Halifax, it felt good to stretch my legs, but that also meant it was time to say goodbye! We unloaded my suitcases (which, luckily, turned out to be just the right amount!) and I boarded my temporary home for the next week or so, the lovely Zebroid. The Picton Castle is being hauled out of the water Monday morning for inspections and some work, so the trainees and professional crew are living on two different ships, “Zebroid” and “Cape Chidley”, which I think are both some kind of trawlers. One of my bunkmates, Liam, said that “if rust were cool, Zebroid would be the coolest” and I think that statement is appropriately descriptive of Zebroid’s aesthetics.

I was one of the first of the trainees to arrive, but many more of my bunkmates showed up later that afternoon while I was helping do some work (tarring the rigging—messy!!). In the “Batcave” with me are nine others. Mike from PA, Dan from Niagara Falls, Brad from Boston, Joanie from Seattle, Lorraine from Texas, Michael from Minnesota, Adrienne from Alberta, John from England, and Liam from England. Cape Chidley houses more of the trainees, who are in double bunks with huge closets, but we like our 10-person Batcave! It will make adjusting to life and space constraints on the Picton a bit easier, I think.

Friday night, Mike, Dan, Liam, Brad, Joanie and I all went to the Banker (a bar just up the street) to hang out after dinner and came back to the ship around 8:30 only to be persuaded to go back out to the bar to enjoy a “Crème de Gert”, Garrett the bartender’s specialty. We all slept soundly the first night!

This weekend we have had off, so it has given us a chance to explore Lunenburg, pick up some gear, and get to know each other! On Saturday, Mike, Dan, Liam, Brad and I walked around Lunenburg for a bit after breakfast, checking out the drugstore, post office, ATM, and other useful places. Then, we purchased our rigs (knives and marlin spikes) at the Picton store, and, after a long walk to the hardware store to purchase some line, we spent the next couple hours making lanyards for our tools. Lanyards are especially important when you are working aloft so that you do not drop a knife on someone who’s on deck!

On Saturday afternoon and into the evening, many other new trainees showed up as well. After a delicious dinner from Donald our cook, we once again headed up to the Banker for a couple of pints and TRIVIA night! There were quite a few teams, but Tammy (a trainee who I had met on my interview), Dan, Brad, Tina (another new arrival) and I made an amazing debut at “Pubstumpers” and won! Our team name was the “Terrain E’s” and the other trainee team was the “F N G’s”, who placed 2^nd. We are thinking about joining forces next Saturday!

Sunday was an adventure day for me. Brad, Liam, and I decided hike to a lighthouse that was a ways away. We had to bushwhack through some tough terrain to get there, but we made it and got some cool photos. We also discovered our route to Panama (out of the harbor and turn right). I had fun learning all of Liam’s Englishisms (I now say “bollocks” about 5 times a day!) and we all had a lot of laughs.

Around noon we headed back to the ship for lunch, which was something delicious again—Donald always knows exactly what I am in the mood for! After lunch I decided to do some exploring on my own and went on a run to a place called Blue Rocks, which is a beautiful area with flat rocks that go straight to the ocean (a bit like flat rock point in Rockport, but even flatter!). The whole run was about 12 kilometers and I definitely was hurting the next day!

(Brad and I looking wistfully out to sea)

By Sunday evening, most of the trainees had arrived. Now, there are 27 of us. I believe that there will be 38 total for the first leg of the voyage, but some people will be meeting us later this month in Lunenburg and some in Panama. Chibley, the ship’s cat and 4-time circumnavigator, has chosen my bunk as her favorite and sleeps with me every night! She runs the ship so it is good to be on her good side. She is very smart and if she overhears you say something about her she will spite you!

In a couple of days I will update you all on my first week of work (right now it’s Wednesday—sorry this post took so long!), but all is well and I am working hard and enjoying getting to know everybody here. The past two evenings we have all played ultimate Frisbee games down at the school, which has been a blast! We are all getting dirty from the work and are showering less frequently, but I already know we have a great team and we will all work well together.

Miss you all and I send my love J

PS: check out http://www.picton-castle.com/voyage/captains_log/ for the captain's log and see a pic of me at the first muster (I'm the short one). My photos will come but I haven't had too much time to shoot because of all the work! But below is a picture of the Picton at dry dock. (Note the size of the man standing on the ground!)