IN ST THOMAS!!!

whew!!! I have so much to tell you guys but no time to do it. We got in last night and cleared customs at 11am, I went to provision with Hanifa and just got back to the boat. We only have 18 hours here so it's tough. The crew is tired and in need of a break. News to come as soon as I get a moment. xo

Ok, we are really leaving tomorrow!

Delayed due to fuel delivery and customs, leaving in the morning. Headed to St. Thomas!!! Our plans change all the time! I will update ya when we get to STT!!! YAY!

In sad news, the Schooner Concordia went down off the coast of Brazil yesterday. Our crew has friends aboard and the good news is, everyone was rescued. Click HERE for the story. Terrifying.

Exhausted!

Whew! Finally off work after a long day of stowing for sea. We spent an hour dangling from the top yard reefing the topsail and putting a storm gasket on it. In the rain. Damn I feel like a badass sometimes. I am starting to put a lot of faith in the rig and the tools we are given to make this job work. I am not as nervous aloft anymore because I am confident that our boat is well rigged and safe which allows me to do things I never thought I would ever do in a million years... like hang by one leg while half straddling the top yard using both hands to furl a flogging sail 100 feet above the deck like I did today. I wasn't scared at all.

Our new Captain is really cool. He seems confident and knowledgeable and very adamant about safety procedures. A few of the crew have worked with him before and seem to like him a lot. He is super easy to talk to and very approachable. I like that.

The weather here still sucks. It's cold and rainy and WINDY! We hope to get a weather window tomorrow and get the hell out of here. We have to clear customs and get fuel in St. Georges before we head out and I hope that goes smoothly. Then it's southbound! Our plans change seriously every day, at this point we are headed toward Dominica but depending on how long it takes us the first few days we may divert to the BVI, or Culebra or just go on ahead to the Dominican Republic. Our new Captain and the Director of the company seem hell bent on giving us some R&R before we hit the Dom. Rep. which is awesome! Fingers crossed for Culebra because I have never been there, seen it from my home in ST. Thomas but never been. None of us are holding our breath for Dominica.

We were briefed by the Director of the company night before last, he flew in to have a meeting with all of us. And I can't talk about a few of the things I had been earlier in this adventure due to security and stuff. Sorry. As soon as we get where we are going and things start happening I will spill the beans but till then I have to shut my big mouth.

In other news, I not only have a job for the summer but I am SECOND MATE! WOOO HOOO!!! lol Moving on up! I am really looking forward to spending the summer up north. Turns out I am only an hour and a half train ride to New York City!!! Stay tuned for that adventure!

Above is me and Deon when we were offshore somewhere between Norfolk and Bermuda... I call that my Oompa Loompa outfit!

This is my bunk. I call it the cuddle cabin. It's the only one that you have to crawl through a trapezoid to get into. I love it. It's very secluded and private. My head goes on the left side behind that little slanted wall.


And this is when I need my privacy. lol
This is Deon wearing my hat. Kinda. We were having a hat wearing cocktail party in the fo'c'sle.
This is Hanifa the chef, Isaac a deckhand and D on deck one night that it was actually warm enough to hang out there. I wish you could hear the sound that goes along with this movement... LOL
And here is Isaac again with another deckhand Sawyer... Look at those flowing native american locks... whew!!! :)
Ok that's all I have for now, probably wont get internet again till we get wherever we are going. It may be 8 days or so so be prepared!

Catch y'all on the flip side. Hopefully it's warm there!

Good News!!!

As you guys know, my contract with Amistad only lasts till the end of this tour which is sometime around the Beginning of April. After that I am basically a bum. At the beginning of our trip we had a special guest 3rd mate named Tommy who was just filling in till our full time mate arrived. Turns out that Tommy runs the company that runs the Schooner Quinnipiack out of New Haven, Connecticut. He mentioned needing deckhands for the summer and I expressed my interest. He left when we got here to Bermuda and I sent over my resume. Today I got the good news! I have been offered the position! YAY! I accepted and will join the boat when we get to Key West. I will have some down time there then fly or take the train up to New York. Woo HOOOOOOOOO!

Click HERE for the website!

Bombarded in Bermuda

The weather here is terrible!!! It's cold and windy and rainy! We can't leave till our "relief" captain gets here and the weather window opens up. So far we have deleted Trinidad, Antigua and Dominica and Jamaica from our plans. That leaves the Dominican Republic/Haiti and Cuba, onward to Key West for R & R then up the east coast to Mystic.

Morale is decreasing with each island we delete but we are still having fun together. Everyone is getting along and becoming more and more knowledgeable about the boat. We have gone out sailing quite a bit this past week and I am much more comfortable aloft. If we could raise all the sails, climb aloft, furl the sails, drop the anchor and raise the anchor every day we would all be solid muscle and lookin' hawt!!! I always feel really good after we go sailing and get the blood pumping. We spend a lot of time doing maintenance on the boat and not moving around so at the end of the day it's more of a mental tired than a physical tired.

I prefer physical tired.

We went sailing alongside the Spirit of Bermuda the other day to reenact the arrival of the slave ship Enterprise here 175 years ago. Upon arrival the slaves were eventually set free because slavery had already been abolished in Bermuda. Read more HERE and see a picture of us. We are getting so much media coverage and are on the front page like every day.

We have been put on night watch because of the weather and the fact that we are tied up in downtown Hamilton. We are on for 2 hours each at night from 11pm to 7am. It's pretty miserable. It's hard to get to sleep and then its hard to get back to sleep after your watch if it's some ungodly time like the 3 to 5. The upside is that we have gone to port and starbord watches, which means half the crew is on and half the crew is off every day. Today is port watch's day off, that is Me, Ruben, Cassie, Carlos, Sayzie and Sawyer.

Tonight we have been invited to the town hall for an award's dinner for the Spirit of Bermuda. Even though it's our day off we have to show up... ugh I know it's nice but damn I just need a full 12 hours away from it. So, I will soon run off to the yacht club to shower and do laundry then it will be time for dinner. Tomorrow night on the other hand, the Governor has invited us to his house for cocktails!!! That's my kind of party. I will let you know how it goes.

I am all over the place with this blog. I apologize. I am tired and cold and a bit bummed out about all the islands getting knocked off the list. But I am so so so excited about Cuba!!!! Not to mention Key West! I can't wait to see my boys and show my crew what fun really means!

I will update you guys when I can!

Above is Amistad rafted up to the Spirit of Bermuda the other day.

AWESOME!!!!

WE HAD A GREAT TRIP! The crossing was just ideal. No bad weather to speak of, no really really heavy seas. We were at about 5 to 8 ft seas the entire time with your random rouge wave thrown in. I didn't get seasick, only about 3 of us who cared to admit it did. My watch is cool, we are split into 2 watches. A, B and C. I am on B(est) watch with Janet, Isaac and Sam. They don't talk much which cramps my style because I am pretty social but we are safe and Janet and Isaac are so knowledgeable that I feel like I constantly learn new things...

Speaking of... I made it aloft finally! And I do it every day! I still hate it but I can do it. I have furled the topsail twice and every day we do "up and over's" on both masts so we all get comfortable aloft. Come to find out I am not the only one who doesn't like it.

We are such a huge attraction here. People are so excited to see new faces here and they are sooooooooooo friendly!!! Thank you to the West End Mini Yacht Club for taking such good care of us while we were in St. Georges. Also Thanks again To Dave at Livinglikeapirate.com for the shirts and stickers. Everyone loves them! We plan to fly the flag in Hamilton when we dock there downtown tomorrow.

I am paying for the interwebs right now so I gotta go. The net is free in Hamilton so I promise to blog a big intense blog when i get it for free. .... here is a pic to hold you over...


Yeah it's up top. Thats me on the right. My first time aloft when we got to Bermuda. I was screaming from the top yard, "SOMEBODY BETTER TAKE A FUCKING PICTURE!!!" Thank goodness Sayzie was on deck. It's getting easier or better I think, but I can honestly say that the first thing I think of in the morning and the last thing I think of at night is, I have to go aloft. I hate it. The boat I have applied with for the summer is the Quinipiack. They are out of New Haven, Conneticut. They don't have a topsail. I wouldn't have to go aloft every day....:)