BIG News!

in

Good Morning Nautie Friends! I have a VERY important announcement!

I'm getting off this tub tomorrow!  It actually came as a surprise...I know that sounds weird right?  I was under the impression that I'd be getting off a few days later in Greece.  For a procrastinator like myself this means that I'm scrambling around tying up loose ends.  Lets see what happens when you take the last minute away from a procrastinator!

The blog is now going to suffer from the very awkward transition from ship to shore.  You'll stop hearing about fishing boats and you'll start hearing about New England!

Expect a few days of no news...unless I find wifi in an airport....I do love to blog on my phone!

[gallery]

The Strait of Messina

in ,

I got to do something cool yesterday.  I transited the Strait of Messina.  This is a very narrow channel between the Mainland of Italy and the Island of Sicily.  We approached in the early afternoon picked up a pilot and made it through the Strait in about an hour and a half. It was very hazy and picture taking was ho-hum.  I'd have to say that the Mainland side was slightly more picturesque with rock walls built into cliffs and old homes on the water.

There was a lot of ferry traffic as well as pleasure crafts and sailboats cruising along the coastline.

All in all it was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon (especially since I wasn't on watch and could just stand on the bridge wing watching the scenery pass by)!

The moon, the bridge, and the sun.

in ,

We left Greece early yesterday morning.  Everyone worked really long hours since it was such a quick turn around.  Because I got the most sleep I stood the Chief Mate's morning watch.  I came on watch at Midnight just as the ship was preparing to get underway - by the time the pilot was aboard and all our lines were cast off it was about 0200 - which meant that I had an 8 hour bridge watch ahead of me!  It was a long 'un! We sailed past Athens then south via the Piraeus traffic separation scheme.  Open waters called our name as we made our way through the Greek Isles.  Traffic was pretty dense which kept me on my toes but also made the watch tick past a little quicker.

When the sun rose I was definitely ready for a little diversion - and was happy to get Big Bertha out!  As you know, I love taking pictures at night and so it was fun to have a full moon on the stbd bridge wing and a rising sun on the port bridge wing!  It was just too bad that I couldn't get them in a shot together!

I messed around for quite some time in manual settings trying to get a photo to look what I was actually looking at.  With the sun below the horizon it literally looked like a rainbow.  You could distinctly see red on the horizon merging into orange, yellow, a slight tinge of green, blue twilight sky that almost looked violet as the sky above was darker.

The Azimuth ring (this is what we take celestial observations with to double check the accuracy of our compass) was backlit by the twilight sky and I thought it made it look extra nautie.

As I was on the stbd bridge wing snapping away at the moon I looked through the house and orange was reflected on all the bridge windows as the sun got a little higher.

The sun finally joined us - back lighting some islands - it seemed as if the sun was setting the island on fire!

All in all Big Bertha got a pretty nice workout!

 

pea soup

in

Fog, fog go away...come again another day....or not...don't ever come back.  EVER. I swear to goodness fisherman wake up in the morning and think, 'today it's going to be foggy....I better get out there and cause some trouble!'  There is really no other explanation for having a rogue fishing boat cross your bow 9 foggy watches out of 10.  It seems like I'll be looking out at clear skies with not a ship on the horizon...fog rolls in...and before you know it you're saying, 'Captain, I have a small contact - he'll be crossing the bow.'  This quickly turns into, 'Captain, well he was going to cross the bow...but now he's heading straight for us....'

Seriously?!  Yes....seriously.

A brief update while I sort photos and take naps...

in

1.  The Azores were awesome!  More to come - lots of photos!  I pinkie swear... 2.  Remember how I didn't have the harbor chart?  As the Pilot was leaving his boat he stuffed our new chart into his jacket - first rung up the chart falls out the bottom and lands in the drink.  We docked with no chart...

3.  I slipped down the gangway when I was getting a fresh battery from the dock shack for their radio.  I have a ginormous black on blue on my right butt cheek.  Ginormous is an understatement...

4.  It is in the high sixties out.  After Mediterranean weather that feels absolutely freezing.  The Engineers haven't adjusted the thermostat for lower ambient temperatures so the ships house is like an icebox.  I'm sitting at my computer in sweats, a hoodie and am wearing my Uggs...

5.  Today I walked up to the bow on one of my rounds.  We took some spray over the bow - the only spray we've taken all day - and I got soaked...

6.  My cactus finger is finally starting to feel better.  I haven't watered the cacti since 'the incident' - is it bad when a cactus is wilting?

7.  I had a lovely commenter inform me that the term 'coon ass' was a racial slur.  To this I say, 'have you seen the show swamp people?!' because, one of my watchstanders informed me that he'd like to do that job too (and maybe even be on the show)....the only problem is that it's a really hard job to get because you have to start training when you're young.  If we're not calling them coon asses that means we're calling them Americans - I'm not sure which is worse...

8.  Disclaimer:  Megan the Nautie Mermate has never been politically correct.  Being a sailor has only amplified her loud, opinionated, obnoxious ways.  *Also, it's important to know that being a coon ass has very little to do with being of a specific race and everything to do with being a red neck of a particular variety*

9.  Now that I'm talking in the third person I think it's safe to say that I need to go take a nap...