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....:)

Leaving!

Short and sweet, I left TX yesterday, had a great time, flights got diverted, had to spend the night in snowy Chicago. Ate REAL Chicago style deep dish pizza, leaving for the airport now.

WE ARE LEAVING THE DOCK AS SOON AS I GET TO NORFOLK!

See yall in Bermuda in 5 days!

xoxo

Thank you Dave and the Living Like a Pirate team!!!

AMAZING!

As you know I have been in contact with Dave over at www.livinglikeapirate.com and he has been very interested in the Amistad and our mission. Through email correspondence I gave him info about us and the trip, he expressed interest and offered to send me some "booty" a.k.a. a t-shirt and stickers and a coozie for my beer and some temporary tattoos for me and the crew. Too cool. Then he told me he was going to send shirts and stuff for the crew too! Today I got both packages and to my surprise...
WOW! LOOK AT ALL THAT BOOTY!

On top of the goods was a letter in an envelope...
It read:

Jolea,

Thank you for giving me a way to be a small part of the history of the Schooner Amistad. Enclosed is a small check to help & lots of LLAP gear. I hope you & your crewmates enjoy them as you embark of this adventure.

Have a great time & please keep me posted so I can follow your historical cruise.

Good Sailing!

Dave Ladage


How awesome! So I looked in the envelope again only to find a not-so-small check! WHOA NELLY!!!! All I can say is THANK YOU. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! It's people like Dave that keep these non-profit corporations going through the tough times.

I'm sure I speak for all the members of Amistad America when I say how much your donation is appreciated.

THREE CHEERS FOR CAPTAIN DAVE!!!

My Amazing Crew and Ship!

HERE is a link to the full story.

Home at last.

After a solid 12 hours of travel that started at 4am in Norfolk, Virginia I am now home at my parent's house in Allen, Texas. So happy. So tired. So full. Mom made pot roast and mashed potatoes and gravy and corn. Yum. I am gonna sleep like a baby.

I am pretty bummed that I wont be doing the crossing from Norfolk to Bermuda because I feel like the rest of the crew is going to learn so much and bond and go through some really tough and trying times together and I will join them in Bermuda kind of like an outsider and a newbie for the second time. I really hope they welcome me back with open arms and I don't have the "sick kid" label for the rest of my life.

Ok, so where do I begin? It's been quite a week. Last Wednesday I flew into Norfolk where I met my new crew. The first mate, Carlos, came from the Liberty Clipper, which you guys know I used to work for. The second mate, Janet I had never met but let me tell ya, this chick knows her stuff. She really amazes me. The third mate just got here yesterday and her name is Cassie. Our cook is Hanifa, she rocks, she plays guitar and sings too so we get along very well. The engineer is Ron, he is 67 years old and from Corpus Christy, Texas, so you know we get along. He is so funny. He says being around all of us keeps him young. The second engineer is Stacy, she is very intense but is really passionate about sailing. The deckhands are me, Sayzie, Sawyer, Isaac, Ruben, Sam, Tommy and Deon. Sayzie is so nice and happy and we get along really well. Sawyer is very quiet, nice and soft spoken. Isaac is hard to place, I feel like he is going to be quite a joker when we all get to know each other a bit better. His alter ego's name is Hank. Then you have our Documentarian, Ruben. He is the camera man for the trip and acts as a deckhand. He is really funny and witty. We have taken to calling him Raul for some reason. Sam is from Sierra Leon, Africa. He was a translator when the Amistad sailed there last year and when it was time to leave he came with the boat and is here on a work visa. Tommy is a very well known sailor and very familiar to me, I feel like I know him from somewhere. He is super so nice and I am looking forward to working with him. Then we have Deon, who also came from the Clipper, who knows some of my friends from there and he is a riot as well. I am so looking forward to getting back to the boat and having a great time.

The more we learn about our trip the more it becomes clear that this is bigger than all of us. It's bigger than any of us imagined. We are visiting island nations affected by the slave trade starting with Bermuda. Our journey roughly goes like this...
Bermuda,
Antigua,
Dominica,
St. Lucia,
Barbados,
Trinidad,
Dominican Republic,
Haiti (maybe),
Jamaica,
CUBA!

The trip is all dependent on making it to Havana by March 25th which is the anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. If we have to cut out an island or two to make it there in time we will have to do so. This trip and it's planning runs all the way to the top. Capt. Sean told us the other day, just to express how big of a deal we are, that we were being discussed with President Obama in the white house that very day. Yesterday our CEO went to meet with the state department to go over the details of our stay in Cuba and to iron out details. I'm not really sure exactly what is going on with all that, probably for good reason.

It's a bit overwhelming.

Ruben is filming the voyage and will be making it into a documentary. So, look for that... lol. We will be uploading video blogs via satellite throughout the journey via YouTube as well. Scary and exciting!!! HAHA! He says we are gonna be stars...

Ok, so, turns out I am a BIG BABY! All the other boats I have worked on had your regular gaff rigged sails or marconi or whatever. I have never worked on a boat that had square topsails that you had to set and furl from aloft. The first time I tried to go aloft on my own power a.k.a. not being hauled up in a bosun's chair, I froze up (literally it was 31 degrees) when I got to the top of the ratlines just below the lowest yard. My hands were freezing, I couldn't feel my fingers and I didn't know where to put my feet or hands next. I went down to reassess my strategy. I warmed my hands and went up again after some "encouragement" from Janet. ;) This time I made it to the first yard and perched up there to warm my hands before the next few steps up to the cross trees. After some coaching from Carlos who was already up on the top yard, up I went. The next step is the one that got me and continues to get me to this day. Its a big step out over open air to the fuddox(?)(somebody help me out with the spelling or the terminology) shrouds and up to the top mast. I just couldn't wrap my frozen mind or fingers around the damn shrouds and get my grip comfortably. It freaked me out. I tried a few more times before heading down. I went up the next day two times and still no luck. I feel like when it's warmer I will be more confident and comfortable. I can do it. I can do it. I gotta keep telling myself that...

In other news, I got a really nice email from Dave over at Living Like a Pirate and it turns out he likes the blog and wants to feature me on his site! Check him out and visit his blog at this link here. How exciting! Thanks for stopping by Dave!

In New Orleans.

Ok, so here's the scoop. We don't have the internet on the boat and Norfolk is like on another planet and you can't find free wifi there to save your life so that's why I have been out of touch for a week.

In other news, I started feeling sick Monday morning at about 1:30am when I woke up in a cold sweat. I took some dayquil when I woke up and went on about my day. Took nyquil and went to bed, woke up again all sweaty and feeling really bad. Got up, took more dayquil but sat at the other table during breakfast lunch and dinner because I didn't want to spread my germs. Everyone could tell I was sick and Sean, the captain told me to go lie down for a while and rest. So I told Carlos, the first mate to wake me up when they started practicing setting the storm jib so I could be a part of that. He did and I went on deck to freeze for a while. I rested for a while before dinner then the CEO of the company arrived and we had an after dinner meeting that lasted for like 3 hours. I went to sleep and couldn't get any rest due to a grizzly bear snoring in the bunk next to me, and in the morning I couldn't even get out of bed for breakfast. Carlos came to check on me and suggested I go to the Doctor. Which of course, I don't want to do, but he insisted so off we went. The Doc said I have type A flu virus, now, this MIGHT be the Swine but they don't test to differentiate between the two because they are both treated with the same meds. So it may just be the seasonal flu. Either way I am contagious (not airborne) for the next couple of days.

The boat is flying me home and then flying me to Bermuda when I am well to meet them and continue the trip. I am so lucky. I figured it would just be easier to replace me then to go to all this trouble. But I guess they like me.

I will upload some pictures this evening and write all about my adventures living on a tall ship for one week in the frozen tundra. I can tell you one thing, I will NEVER take another job that goes farther north than Key West in the winter time again. NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!

I can't believe I am in New Orleans and can't even drink a hurricane...

I have the swine flu.

Been in the frozen tundra for one week. Went to the Dr. today. Swine Flu. Flying to Houston or Dallas tonight. I will update you when I get home.

Playing on the Spirit of Mass

Three more days...

Counting down and getting more excited. Tomorrow morning Lilly and I will be sipping bottomless mimosas at Molly Malone's in Red Hook for my going away party day. It's the only day she has off and she wants to spend it with me (surprise) I only hope we can go a whole day with me being sniped from a rooftop...

In other news, I talked to my good friend John G, whom I have known since I lived in KW the first time back when I was 21. He used to work on the Appledore and then on the Liberty Clipper up until this season when the whole crew got fired after the new owners took over. He moved from Boston to Ft. Lauderdale in hopes of finding work. Three months later, still no job. Then last week the new owner of the Clipper called him up and begged him to come back to work. The boat is doing term charters in the Bahamas for the season and the owner really needs someone on board who has experience and knows what they are doing. That is definitely John. Past crew are giving him a hard time about "selling out" and going back to the company that fired our friends. I told him to tell them to STFU because you have to do what's best for you! They are just angry about being fired and probably jealous you are working on the boat we all loved so much. The crew has since scattered to the four winds, one ended up in Ecuador, others in Maine, Michigan, Delaware, Mass, and other places in between. Quite a few are still looking for work. He flies out tomorrow to meet them in Nassau. Congrats John!

Now that my trip is fast approaching I thought I would post this link, HERE it's the link to the Amistad's site, the page that has live positioning of the boat. That way you can see where we are in the world.

I am looking forward to visiting Norfolk and I hope I have a day off where I can go up to Baltimore and visit my old capt. Ryan Healy. He has been such a good friend to me for so long and is always my number one reference on my resume. He and his nurse/roller derby girlfriend are a hoot and I hope I get a chance to visit with them before we leave.

Laura is in the white on the left with the black and yellow helmet... yeah, I don't mess with her... She is a R.N. and her derby name is Reckless Ndangerment... lol


OMG AND GONGRATS to my long time friend Mayra Cortez in TX, she just had a baby! lol look at that little thing!
Carmen Sofia welcome to the world!

MARIA!!!

One of my favorite blogs is called "If it's Hip it's Here" and today's post is so awesome and reminded me of Maria!

You should start making these things from tanks lying around at the yard to make extra monies!!! LOL

CLICK HERE!!!

And, another present for Maria today, the picture at the top of the page is called Kia Ora and she is a ferro-cement schooner!!! It's like AJ's big sister. :)

Have a great day of sailing M!!! We are all thinkin' of ya!

Tanning with Taco. That's what I named him today.

I'm giving him a whole can of tuna for New Years.

Case and Point.

The cat was sitting next to me while I tanned today, and kept walking under my chair tickling the back of my legs with his tail. grrrr.... lol what a goofy gato.

This is the view from my porch today,look at the water all churned up from our wind and waves the past few days...

"Been there, done that, messed around, I'm havin' fun, don't put me down, I'll never let you sweep me off my feet!"

So, What woke you up this morning?

ME?! Oh just a little thing called THE CAT THAT WONT GO AWAY!!!!

Somehow in it's sneaky house entering maneuvers it got locked in the house. You know who it came to this morning at 7am when it needed to go out. It was SCREAMING on my inside window ledge. I have a window that leads to the hallway that has those louvered glass blinds on it. I kept yelling at it in my sleep till it actually busted through the screen and jumped on my head. Not that the screen wasn't being held together by masking tape already. Haha! It's not the incredible hulk cat, it just pushed hard enough on the screen to come through. LOL! I laughed so hard at it. Poor thing.

I hope your NYE was great! My "New" year is amazing. I am calm, happy to have a wonderful family and friends, and new adventure is on the horizon. I was home way before any New Year's eve kisses were handed out and that was fine with me. I had a feeling that the night would end in tears and boy oh boy did it ever. Mine. Well, it didn't END in tears but there were tears at the beach party which is why I came home early. When a grown man is jealous of his girlfriend's best friend that's bad news. I wish she didn't resent me for taking this job...

I am playing my guitar and watching Nim's Island, a decidedly different approach to movies compared to yesterday! Hahahaha! I think her dad in this movie is the main character in 300. I keep imagining him yelling "THIS IS SPARTA!" and kicking intruders off the island.

I keep rubbing my eyes because they are all puffy and itchy from last night's episode and my left contact is really bothering me. I was looking for my contacts to put a new year's pair in, uh oh... found the boxes... no contacts. Add that to the list for Norfolk.

So much to do. I think today I will go lay outside in the sun FINALLY! It's shining.

I have a friend in town so maybe I will go see him.

Gotta get out there and soak up the rays, I wanna be tan when I get to the frozen tundra!

First video of the year!!!

LA ROUX 'BULLETPROOF' from soyo on Vimeo.

This time baby, I'll be bulletproof!

I would like to be the first to say...

This is the Gayest New Year on record!!!

Finally!!! Anderson Cooper has been covering the Key West Sushi Drag Queen Drop forever and this year he finally came out to the idiots who couldn't figure out that he is gay. I already saw five of my queens and tons of friends on CNN. Hope you are all having a great time. I love you and hope your NYE is better than mine. My best friend abandoned me for a crazy man. Pray it never happens to you, when a man is jealous of a woman things get crazy.

Merry Christmas and Happy Blue Moon New Year.

Happy New Year's Eve!

This is how my NYE is going right now....



Hope yours is awesome, safe and happy!

Note to self...

If you have a problem with seeing people hanging... do NOT watch the movie The Happening, with Mark Whalberg. I flipped over to it on HBO a second ago and its about 30 mins into the movie and I had not heard anything about it, there I was, innocently enthralled in the building suspense of the scene, I thought it was like a monster movie or something like that and all of a sudden.... LIKE THERE ARE 10 PEOPLE HANGING FROM TREES AND ALL THESE LADDERS PROPPED UP LIKE THEY ALL KILLED THEMSELVES AT THE SAME TIME!!!! WTF IS THAT????? WHO MAKES A MOVIE SO MORBID??!?!?!!?! I screamed outloud and turned the channel. Great. Now I'm gonna have nightmares again. I really think I might have a touch of PTSD from earlier this year when Lilly and I saw her neighbor hanging in his backyard.

UGH!!!!! GRRRRR! I am so mad! I'm gonna punch M. Night Shyamalan in the head if I ever meet him. His movies are always scary and usually about monsters!

Lilly warned me the other day not to watch the movie with Angelina Jolie called Changeling, because she had a mild panic attack while watching it, kinda the same scene I think. What? Now we have to research all movies to make sure there are no hanging scenes?!?!?!? Whatever.

In other news, Happy New Year! Hope everyone stays safe and happy tonight. It's cold and windy here.

I am so ready to ship off!

I have posted quite a few bloggy blogs today!

It's because I am bored in the fog at home. It rained all day, not only that, it was dense dense fog, like the clouds came down to the ocean. We never have fog. With my house on the mountain I never saw the sun. My clothes are still on the line outside dripping wet since 9am. They are just getting extra rinsed out. Our washer is outside and exposed to the salt air and whatnot so you have to get your clothes right out when the cycle stops or you get rust spots. Unfortunately today, my new white shorts were a casualty.

The cat kept finding a way into the house today and I kept kicking it out on the porch. I went into the bathroom earlier and there is a shelf right outside the window behind the toilet and all of a sudden MEEEEEEEAAAAOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWW!!! So loud it literally scared the piss out of me. I screamed and cursed it again and then it did that thing cats do when they know you are still there so they keep talking (short funny meows) to you till you come outside. I don't know what to do about that cat.

Ok, I have two of my favorite videos of the year to send you off to bed with a smile on your face..

David after Dentist:



Leprechaun in Alabama



"This here's my leprechaun flute, wards off spells..." LOL

Right now I am watching Oprah, yep, it comes on at 8pm here. This polo player she has on is making me want to start watching that sport....Nacho Figueras, whew!!!


Holy Argentina... Thank you! And Ladies, you're welcome for the gratuitous man meat portion of today's blog! ;)

Testing!

Testing the new signature... What do you think???

Living in a cloud high up on the mountain today....

So this is winter?

It's so cold here. It's rainy and windy and like 70 degrees up here on the mountain! Of course I am trying to do laundry, we have a clothes washer but no dryer. Just a clothes line that I regularly "clothesline" myself on while drinking. It's pretty funny when it happens because I am usually the only one who is there to witness it and I just have to laugh at myself.

My friend Jan is in town on the Schooner Spirit of Massachusetts anchored over at the Beachcomber Hotel. The other day the captain invited me aboard and Jan made us all a lovely Polish New England boil for dinner. I got my hands dirty before dinner and helped them service some blocks because I can't stand to sit around and watch people work.

I can't do much else besides wait around to leave at this point. Trying to stay home and not spend the money I don't have. I really need to dye my hair. Gonna splurge on the 15 dollar box of hair dye at k-mart. lol. I love dying my own hair.

Nita and Mom will laugh at what just happened to me.... So there I was, minding my own business in my room, my door was shut but I had opened our door that leads to the "living room" porch because I am doing laundry like I said. Well, I heard a loud bang come from the living room and since it's windy I just ignored it. Then I heard something that sounded like walking in the hall way outside my room and a little sound like a grunt and my heart started racing! I drank a bit too much coffee already today so I was jitttery and immediately start imagining some creeper who came down the road and was now in my kitchen drinking my leftover coffee. Then another sound I couldn't place, I can't tell if its the upstairs elephant walking neighbors or inside my house. So I start looking for weapons to defend myself in an attack. I just so happened to have a sharp knife by my bed and an empty vodka bottle for cracking skulls. Haha, I am a paranoid wreck, but we have had some robberies and murders in the area and I wasn't about to be dead before I start my new job. So I turn off my fan and tv and sit in the silence for a while trying to hear the terrifying human breathing outside my door (I was sure someone was out there) when all of a sudden a car pulls up and a man in a National Parks truck pulled up at the end of my drive way and gets out to check some guage thingy he had and I thought, hell, he will hear the intruder scream when I stab him and come to help me, so I position myself in front of my door and karate kick the damn thing open like a crazy person and..... you should have seen that damn cat fly down the hall when the door hit it in the ass!!!! LOL THAT FUCKING CAT WAS MAKING ALL THE NOISE. He came inside and knocked something off the counter in the kitchen then came down and sat outside my door because he is lonely and could hear me in my room. I screamed and hollered at that damn thing for five minutes then checked the house and porch to be sure... :) (MOM AND NITA, remember the KILLER NICKEL!!!???) I just really shouldn't be left alone at home.

Whew, now I have calmed down and am having another cup of coffee.

THIS YEAR'S VIDEO MASH UP... so so so so so awesome!!!

For Tugster

I found this little guy at the dingy dock here in St. Thomas at Yacht Haven Grande yesterday. LOL too cute! I didn't get the name though, sorry!!!

I am really starting to spaz out now.

I have nothing I need for this trip. I need good foul weather gear and warm clothes of which I have neither. I am going to freeze to death. I checked the NOAA site and the seas are topping out at 20 feet. What if I get sea sick? What if we hit a speeding whale? The schooner is 129 feet long. That's huge. Bigger than the Clipper. I need to calm down but my head is spinning. I feel like I may vom all over this coffee shop. Just thinking about being that high aloft to set and bring in those square topsails makes me start shaking. I have been aloft before but never that high and never to do anything like that. I think I am freaking myself out now for no reason.

I am nervous and excited all mixed into one.

Wanna hear something awesome???

The itinerary goes a little something like this...

Mid Jan- sail south from Norfolk, Virginia
Feb- Sail through the entire caribbean -St. Martin, St. Vincent, the Grenadines, etc.
March- Sail north to Key West for a few days

and then.....

CUBA FOR TWO WEEKS!!!!!!!!

I'm gonna drink mojitos and smoke cigars and probably throw up.
VIVA HAVANA!

p.s. look at this.... http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article_home?id=17642513

WHAT??!?!??! 22 FOOT WAVES HERE????

My life... It's amazing.

You are reading the lame ass blog of a bad ass chick that is the newest crew member aboard the freedom Schooner Amistad.... as if you people had any doubt about which job I would choose....

I am so happy! Just ecstatic!

I fly to Norfolk, VA on Wednesday.

I have no cold weather clothes.

Uh oh.


Help.

quote of the day

"Darkness can not drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate can not drive out hate, only love can do that."
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Home

worst tip ever.

exhausted.

I need a new life.

One more day....

Counting the hours....

Hahaha, this morning a couple of local guys hunted a goat down and tackled it and killed it in front of our charter guests... LOL!!!! I love island life... They didn't actually kill it, more like tied it up and drug it into the boat then the guy got out a knife and the kid ran down into her cabin all kinds of freaked out and the Dad ran over to the guys and asked them to take the slaughter somewhere else. He's lucky he didn't become a part of the feast. You don't fuck with the locals.

I am hoping to catch the first ferry to St. Thomas after I have a drink with my friends Craig and Sally. Then off to STT where I will meet up with my buddy Jan, he used to work on the schooners too and we met last season in KW. A super fun guy who plays the ukelele. :)

Not sure I will be taking a two week charter again. This is torture.

Only 3 meals till it's over. Lunch, Dinner, and Breakfast in the morning. Easy. I got this. We should be on land by 10am.

Holy crap!!!!

Check this out!!!

Everyone better tune in and watch the guys fish and play with Jose Wejebe on ESPN!!!

http://www.spanishflytv.com/spanishflytv_schedule.php

I can't wait to see it!

Sea Cloud

And no, I didn't go to the party. I went to the bar for a drink with Hal and he didn't feel like driving me over in the dingy.... :(

I am so ready for this charter to be over.

I wanna go home!

Tuesday

on the downward slope now... I'm getting tired. And I am running out of ideas. At Peter Island. Went to willy T last night just me and Hal to celebrate my b day properly he said, I woke up with a temporary pirate tattoo on my ass and a headache. I drank too much and when my home-ing beacon went off I passed out in the dingy because Hal didn't wanna go home yet. lol things are well.

Post from two days ago.

Last night at the Last Resort was a really good time! There was live music and wine and shots of tequila. I had really delish ribs and these nice sweet potato fries and a salad. Yum! It was so nice to have a night off from cooking. I slept in this morning but not till I put out bagels and cereal and a fruit tray with a note saying that my birthday gift to myself was sleeping till lunch. lol. I didn't sleep till lunch actually, more like 10:30 when we headed out of Trellis Bay and over to the Dogs. The Dogs are a couple of small islands off Virgin Gorda. They swam a bit then I made monte christo sandwiches again because the dad really liked them. I also created a tasty little treat, I took some apple sauce, added in some sugar and cinnimon then I opened up a can of biscuits and smashed them flat, put one in the bottom of a muffin tin, spooned the apple mixture into the dough "cup" then placed another flat biscuit on top, spread a thin layer of the apple mixture on top and baked till they were slightly brown on top. What a hit! I served them with a bowl of vanilla ice cream, just delightful. Tonight it was seared tuna steaks for the parents and lamb for the daughter all served with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli. Tomorrow I have no Idea what I'm gonna do. Probably scrambled eggs, bacon, and silver dollar pancakes. Lunch will be Tuna salad wraps with walnut brownie cups for dessert. Steaks and pasta and salad for dinner. Whew! I am running out of ideas. Have you ever tried to make 42 different meals? Oh and 14 desserts.

Stephanie (the 9 year old) was so sweet today, when she saw me up and around in the galley she galloped like a rhino down into her cabin and back up the stairs and yelled "HAPPY BIRTHDAY JO!!!" Slinging a bag from the pusser's rum store at me. Haha! She said "I picked it out because I know what you like." I opened the bag and inside was a cute islandy purse, I said thank you so much, what a nice gesture. She said "wait! open it!" When I did I pulled out a BEAUTIFUL red and white hibiscus print sarong! I really needed one. I left mine at home. COOL! They are such nice folks.

Today we went into Spansh Town, Virgin Gorda to fill up with water and get a few things at the store. Then we were off to Norman Island and the Bight again. Moored here within sight of the Willy T again. But I just don't feel up to binge drinking again. Wow, I never thought those words would come out of my mouth.

No internet access right now so I'm not sure when or where I will be posting this but thanks for the Birthday wishes. Love you all and miss you. Have a merry Christmas!

YAR!!!

Hal made a few calls to friends around the island and got a tip about the whereabouts of our dingy...

Supposedly it was on a beach in Jost Van Dyke. So off we went in the boat after telling our guests the info. And like true pirates, we found it and stole it back!!! All while the thief yelled and cussed us from the end of the dock! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! So we have our dingy back. :)

We had breakfast at Jost, just some fresh baked croissants and cereal and fruit. Then I made personal pizzas for them and salad for lunch and they are taking me to dinner at the Last Resort tonight for my birthday. We decided to do it tonight instead of tomorrow because we will be in Virgin Gorda tomorrow and Hal wanted to have dinner at Last Resort which is close to Marina Cay, which is where we are now. (Guess it doesn't matter where I want to eat for my birthday) Remember Marina Cay Mom and Nita? We ate here when you guys came to visit. It is where we got those Pusser's rum enamel mugs.

I stubbed my toe on my door and ripped my toenail off this morning, then I stepped on a piece of glass and it's still in there. Great morning.

Now I am sitting at the bar soaking up the free wi-fi. And a rum punch of course. Hey, I don't have to cook tonight... no need to be sober.

Oh cool! My charter guest just found me at the bar and bought me a drink! HAHAHA! Score!

Ugh, one week down. One to go.... I can do this....

Good Morning Shit Show!!!

6am... CRASH!!! WTF???? I hear a glass break in the salon and walking around on deck. I feel the north swell. Great. I hear Hal cleaning up the glass which is fine with me because I know I secured everything before I went to bed so that means it was his glass that slid off the table. Ten minutes later he comes in the cabin to tell me that A. a glass broke, B. He kinda cleaned it up and brought me my flip flops to wear while I actually cleaned up the glass, and C. Someone stole our dingy while he was out partying on shore last night. F.M.L.

You gotta be shitting me. He borrowed a friend's dingy to get back to the boat but had to go to the police station and file a report. It was a really nice dingy. I wonder why he didn't lock it up. RIB about 12ft long. 15 hp.

OMG this swell is killer! The north swell came in at about 6am and just keeps getting bigger. I had to stuff towels in the cabinets to keep the bottles from rolling around. Damn this monohull. Oh did I mention it's not the boat I thought it was? Yeah its a 47ft monohull trawler. Blah. a

Anyway, I wish I could surf because today would be a great day for it. Not so much a good day for bobbing around on this mooring though.

Just got off the VHF with the coast guard. I swear they put new recruits on the radio because this kid sounded about 18 years old and had no idea what he was doing. We will never see that dingy again says Hal, but I have faith. The USCG has nothing better to do today than buzz around harbors looking for our dingy right? I bet it's in Red Hook St. Thomas. Anyone and everyone keep an eye out!

Cane Garden Bay, Tortola

Moored here for the night.

Apparently someone sneaked a peak at my passport as it was lying at the helm and the guests found out my birthday is Sunday. They asked me if I could be anywhere in the islands for my day where would I be (uh STT hello?!?!!?!) but I said it didn't really matter to me, which it doesn't because we are back in the BVI and we can't go back to the US. So they are giving me the day off from cooking on Sunday and they are taking me out to dinner. So nice!

Today we had sub sandwiches and chips and I created the tastiest little dessert! Since the oven is broken I resorted to creativity. After breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs I whipped up my blueberry muffin mix and made silver dollar blueberry muffin pancakes. I set them aside and scooped out about a half a stick of cream cheese into a mixing bowl, added a bit of vanilla, and about 3 tablespoons of sugar and mixed it up with a spoon. I proceeded to build mini blueberry cheesecake sandwiches. I set them in the freezer and I served them after lunch. You should have heard the ooh's and ahh's LOL! I love being a smart ass. After lunch we head out to do some more provisioning and the oven man came to fix the oven. YAY! So now I can proceed with my baking plans. :)

Tonight I am making BBQ pork chops with sauteed yellow squash and zucchini and twice baked potatoes. For an appetizer I am making little caprese salad skewers. They are marinating right now. All I did for that it cube some mozzarella cheese, throw it in a big ziplock bag, add some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper, basil flakes and some minced garlic, and halved cherry tomatoes. Then you just shake it up! Let it marinate for a few hours. Then you take some toothpicks, skewer one half of a tom, then a cheese cube then another half a tom. Repeat. TA DA! Easy and delish.

Tonight I think I will take it easy, Hal says he is going into town tonight and coming back in the morning which is fine with me. I can take care of things here. He needs his nights out.

Tomorrow we are off to Marina Cay and monkey point on Guana Island for snorkeling. I assume I will have interwebs there but you never know. I seem to find it in the least likely of places.

Cheers to Maria who is finally where she belongs back at home on Arigato Jack! Possibly the best boat name in the world. Oh so relieved and happy for you!!!

At Jost Van Dyke!

It is day 5 of the charter and we are anchored outside of Foxy's bar. I made bacon wrapped scallops with broc and rice for dinner! I par cooked the bacon to make it easier to handle then I wrapped it around the little scallops and poked a toothpic through. I pan seared them in the same pan I cooked the bacon in so it had a nice bacon flavor, I also added a handfull of minced pineapple to the pan for a sweet kinda hawiian flavor. They loved it. I made burgers and hot dogs for lunch today at White bay, easy. Last night we moored in Maho Bay, St. John. That was great because as soon as I was done cleaning up dinner I hopped in the dingy and buzzed over to Maho Bay Camps where my friends live and work and ended up staying the night there in a tent cabin because I can. This morning in woke up and buzzed back to the boat before the guests woke up. :)

What was for dinner last night you ask? Oh just a deeeeelish chicken carbonara pasta and garlic bread. It was so good, I made it from scratch, I am really impressed with myself. The guests loved it and asked if I would make it again next week! Lunch yesterday was curry chicken salad on a toasted baguette with a greek side salad, romaine and iceberg topped with yellow bell peppers, kalmata olives, cherry tomatos and feta cheese crumbles.

I think tomorrow I will try out the pancake adventure again now that I have the tools I need. We are headed to Soper's Hole, Tortola to do some more shopping in the morning then we will head over to Cane Garden Bay, Tortola and anchor for the day and night if it's not too swelly. The waves have been big and the Christmas winds are here so finding a smooth place to spend the night is key. Cane Garden Bay is home to the infamous Bomba's Shack which serves majic mushroom tea during the full moon party every month.

I will write again soon as I can!

Internet for a few Seconds!!!

Ok, quickly.

Breakfast was a near disaster yesterday as I realized this boat was not equipt with the proper utinsels to cook breakfast... a.k.a. a skillet and proper spatula. And I forgot to get the Pam, which my mom will tell you is very important!!! "DID YOU SPRAY THE PAN?!!?!!?" So after a botched attempt at butter in a large pan and a shitty spatula and disgusting looking pancakes, I resorted to toast, fried eggs, bacon and a fruit plate. They were totally understanding. The dad was like "hey, if you haven't the proper tools how can we expect you to make things like that? Don't worry Jo, everything looks beautiful!" I tell ya, I am so blessed.

Ok, We took the ferry from Tortola to St. John so the guests could get their US visa's and I could show them around the town of Cruz Bay while Hal brought the boat over. They walked around while I scoped out places to get the last few things on my shopping list. We went to the Westin Resort to meet Hal at 3pm which is when they do the Iguana feeding at the hotel. Then we went to the boat, I made them a fruit and cheese tray and Hal dingied me to the bay to shop. We stopped for a beer or 3 at the Quiet Mon Pub, an irish pub on a tropical isle. Then we shopped and went back to the boat where I cooked up my speciality.... FAJITAS! I made beef for the parents and chicken for Steffi because she doesn't like beef. I went a bit overboard on the cayanne pepper I think because poor Steffi kept glugging water but she sure stuffed her face with seconds. They are from Scotland originally and said they don't get much mexican food over there but they LOVED it. :)

Today I did blueberry muffins, yogurt, a fruit tray and cereal for breakfast, we are headed to Great St James island for snorkeling this morning. For lunch, it's curry chicken salad sandwiches with chips and dip, and fruit, and a salad, and tonight I am making chicken carbonara pasta.

Dude, I'm a good cook....

Ok, from here we are headed to Francis Bay, St. John for the night then over to Jost Van Dyke and from there I really don't expect to have much service so I will write when I can!

Love ya!

Above, great st james island

p.s.

Y'all really need to start following this blog I found, it's flippin hilarious! Especially today!!!

Toast Floats

Good Morning Campers! (Hi Maria!)

I slept like a rock!

Woke up at 8am to set up an easy breakfast, just cereal, bananna nut bread and a lovely tray of fresh cut fruit and OJ. Figured I would go light because we may be on rough seas today...

The guests are going swimming with the dolphins today which leaves us to get the generator fixed and leaves me time to play my music loud in the galley and get lunch ready.

Today I am making Monte Christo sandwiches and home made potato salad...
And brownies...

We are headed to Pelican Island today and the Indians to do some snorkeling. Then we will spend the night in The Bight at Norman Island. That's where the Willy T is anchored... hmmm...

I won't have interwebs tonight so maybe tomorrow, I think they want to go to St. Thomas tomorrow... Above is a picture of the Willy T, and a favorite pastime of its guests...

Have a good day!

1 day down, 14 to go...

Whew... I am exhausted.

My day in a nutshell...

6am: woke up
7am: caught cab to ferry dock
8am: boarded ferry to Tortola
9am: meet up with Captain Halford
10am: arrive at boat and get acquainted with my surroundings
11am: leave dock and head to Peter Island Resort (big swells)
12pm: arrive at Peter Island
12:15pm: generator bites the big one
12:15pm: Captain Halford goes into a west indian tirade and climbs into the engine room.
1pm: Charter guests arrive, I meet them on the dock and explain that we are having technical difficulties... yadda yadda yadda.
1:30pm: we leave the dock with guests on board and head to Road Town, Tortola to provision while Hal waits on a mechanic
2:30pm: arrive at Village Cay marina and head to the store with guests in tow (BTW they are AWESOME!!! So cool and so nice.)
5:30pm: finally done shopping, even though we didn't get everything on my list, Ron was getting antsy with our 3 shopping carts full of stuff... still, it's stuff we needed.
6pm: load food on boat and then move boat to a different slip to hook up to shore power,mind you I am deckhand in all of this docking and casting off and stuff, I'm not just in the galley.
6:30pm: still putting things away
7pm: start prepping for dinner, realizing all the things that we really needed and didn't buy...
8pm: Dinner is served!

Tonight I made:

Crab Cakes (FROM SCRATCH!!! THEY WERE KICK ASS! I EVEN ATE A BITE OF ONE!)
Green Beans
Roasted corn on the Cob
Corn Bread

Served with a lovely Pinot Grigio!

They loved it! Even the 9 year old said "mum, this is quite nice don't you think?"
:)

They stocked a whole cooler with Heineken for Hal and bought the biggest bottle of Cruzan rum I have ever seen for me... This is the beginning of a beautiful charter.

I am totally exhausted and only had to cook one meal. The good news is, they are not early risers! They wake up at 9am! Thank God!

Now for the best part... I am in my own cabin, lying on a memory foam bed... in the A/C, sipping a glass of wine...

My bed at home sucks so bad. I wanna be on charter forever!

Tomorrow the little girl is going swimming with the dolphins and hopefully Halford will have the genset fixed by the time they get back and we are off to Virgin Gorda I think...

I have internet here at this marina but supposedly we will be anchoring out alot so this might be my last post for a while.

GOOD NIGHT!

I'm shipping off!

I have my big backpack packed up, and sadly, there's not much left in my closet... It's kinda nice living out of a suitcase but sometimes I wish I had an apartment somewhere with my stuff in it, all cozy with a bed that doesn't have springs poking me in my pressure points and pillows that weren't like flat pancakes. I am really looking forward to sleeping in a comfy bed on charter!

I'm not sure if I will have internet access while I am on charter but if I do I will write a little blip if I get a chance. We are picking them up at the exclusive Peter Island Resort, then motoring back over to Tortola to provision.

Awesome news!!! We will be going to ANEGADA!!! That's where the pink flamingos live and it's one of the BVI's I haven't been to yet. I don't know anyone who has been there actually. You can only get there by private boat or sea plane. It's a low lying coral island like Key West, It's not mountainous like the rest of the islands around here. I wish I had a camera. :(

The pic above is Anegada...

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

17 hours till my new adventure begins!

In just 17 short hours I will be on a ferry to Tortola, British Virgin Islands. I am excited and nervous but it will work out just fine. I am headed over to the West End of Tortola, a.k.a. Sopers Hole. That's where Blackbeard the pirate used to keep his fleet of pirate ships! From there my captain will take me to the Charter company office and I will get my uniforms and a little brief on the charter. After that we will head over to Peter Island to pick up the guests. I am a bit nervous but i know I will be ok.

Congrats to Dane who just got a job as the second mate on the schooner Argia in Mystic, CT!!!

OMG MY SHIP HAS COME IN!!!

Hahaha! Not really, but I found a Schooner that I am destined to own! THE HMS PICKLE!!! It's amazing. Now I just need my rum fortune to come rolling in from Cruzan rum and everything will be fine!!! :)

Read about her HERE.