Nicole Journal #1:
Crossing the North Pacific

Nicole on the high seas!

My first week at sea was the worst week I ever had.  I was seasick.  I was so hungry but I couldn’t hold anything down.  I would just lie in my bunk wishing it would be over soon.  So that whole week I just wanted to go home. I wondered why I even came in the first place.  I would ask myself – you are a land lover, why are you going to sea for three months?  Are you crazy? Then I got over it, and I began to absorb what life at sea is really like. So how has it been?  There is so much to mention that I don’t know where to start.

I have seen some amazing sea life.  So far I’ve seen sperm whales, orca whales, a lot of dolphins, sharks, sea turtles, seals and some very interesting fish as well as bird life such as albatrosses.  A couple of weeks ago, there was this seal that was swimming and playing with the crew at eight o’clock in the morning.  It would let us scratch its belly with the deck brush, and was playing with a mop.  Then it started to let us touch it. A few people touched it before I decided to bend over the side of the ship and try to touch it.  But since I am so small I couldn’t get close enough. So a couple of the guys held me up and over the side of the ship by my legs. So there I was hanging upside down right over the seal in hopes of touching it.  Then before I could react a huge swell came and washed over my head.  The water was cold and I was wet.  I didn’t get to touch the seal but it sure was a great morning.  Oh, I thought I’ve seen some beautiful sunsets in New Mexico but out here I can’t even describe how magnificent they are.  So colorful and the way it reflects off the ocean, it’s gorgeous.  I saw my first red sunset, that is something I will never forget.

The food here has been good, although it’s a lot of the same thing, just cooked by different people in a different way.  I don’t remember ever eating so much beans and rice.  The meals here are quite filling and everybody here is a great chef.  People here also share different dishes of their cultures. I’ve given them a taste of my homemade pueblo tortillas which everybody seems to have fallen in love with, especially when there is cheese in it. Cheese is a gift – if you get some to use for meals, and getting meat to cook with is a blessing.  Due to the unknown time of our arrival, we really have to make everything stretch.  So we are lucky that we get to eat meat, at the most twice a week.  Eating less meat took a lot of getting used to.  I’ve been able to cope because I bought me three packs of beef jerky before we left Guam, unfortunately I only have one package left.

The people here are beautiful.  It may seem like it would get a little crazy having to see the same faces everyday for three or more months.  There are so many different countries represented that there is so much to be learned from each person aboard.  A nice rotation of time spent with each person comes in handy.  I have even picked up a few phrases in German, French and Simbo – the language of the Solomon Islands.

Then there was the day the foremast came down.  That was certainly a day to remember.  The very fist thing that I saw when I came up on deck was the foremast bobbing upside down in the ocean.  For a few minutes all I could do was stand there in a little bit of a shock, motionless, and thinking – is this really happening?  This isn’t supposed to happen.  It was on this day I realized how proud I was to be with these people and making this journey. The way we all worked together and took care of each other was amazing.  In the aftermath all these questions rushed to my mind.  Are we going to keep going?  Is it safe to sail like this?  The winds come and go, slow is smooth, smooth is fast, and the world is round – we’ll get there.  We are getting there, we just passed the halfway point.  We are where we already should have been about three weeks ago.  So we are behind schedule, and our estimated time of arrival is unpredictable, but I am in great spirits.

At Sunday dinners, we have a toast ‘to remembering what got you here’.  When I hear that and every time I see something amazing, I think about the people who helped me get here.  I still find it hard to believe that I am out here. Although I miss my family, I am glad that I am here and having these wonderful experiences.

I’ve been at sea for a little over two months now.  I have forgotten what it feels like to walk on land, the smell of dirt after it rains, and the scent of juniper trees.  Sure I have forgotten these things and that does not bother me at all.  If I don’t touch land in the next two or three months, that will be okay with me.  I am enjoying the time I have here.  It’s a beautiful place, I feel that I am in the right place, at the right time, with exactly the right people.

Nicole