I’ve got just over 100 of my favourite Offshore images loaded now (click ‘slideshow’ top right on the album page for the best viewing). This takes me up to November in PNG. The rest of PNG and Offshore will come next week. Enjoy.
Author Archives: Gillian
Chapeau Mr Cohen
I arrived in Montreal!
Last night was the first night of the Montreal Jazz Festival, so, of course, we went. Even better, the opening concert was a tribute to Leonard Cohen, “Chapeau Mr Cohen.” The lineup included everyone from son, Alex Cohen to Buffy St. Marie to Stephen Page of the Barenaked Ladies to Madeleine Peyroux singing arrangements of Leonard Cohen’s songs! There were like 10 000 people packing out Place des arts, but we had a decent spot when people weren’t trying to sneak in front of us or stepping on our toes to get by… yay for being tall!
Update on the Photo Uploading
I ditched Flikr because it would only let me put up about 10 photos a month without resizing them and I can’t be bothered to do that (and I haven’t figured out how yet on a mac… anyone??). So we’ve switched to Photobucket. But the current source of Internet hates both me and my computer so I’ve given up at around 30 photos. I’ll find a coffee shop with good Internet while I’m in Montreal (leaving tomorrow!) and while Jen’s at work I will be photo upload machine. Offshore photos coming. Stay tuned…
The Green Shift
$100 Climate Action Dividend for British Columbians – – this year’s Provincial budget is making it easier for British Columbians to choose a lower carbon lifestyle.For more information on the Climate Action Dividend and tips on going green while saving money, please visit: http://www.smartchoicesbc.caBest Regards,Premier Gordon Campbell
Thank you Gordon and the BC Liberals. I got my $100 cheque in the mail and promptly deposited it, thinking about all the ways $100 could stretch to help me reduce my carbon emissions. Oh wait, I have very little, except when the stove on the boat is acting up. Thanks anyway. Now the Federal Liberals are following suit with their ‘Green Shift’ plan.
The biggest green shift I’ve noticed recently is my own shift from a mostly green wardrobe to blue. Crazy. Not sure how that happened.
Back in Lotus Land
Sinking back into life in Vancouver, I’ve realized that post-Offshore I know a lot of people here. So many that I’m contemplating buying a day planner to keep track of my social life. Hopefully that will cause me less in the way of stress-related headaches. Not completely solving everything, but it would be a small step.
Part of Vancouver seems to be a certain randomness. I’d forgotten about it. Case in point:
New Westminster Skytrain Station, weekday night (can’t actually remember what day it was), around dinner time. Walking towards it with Jeff and Anna we keep seeing people with boxes of pizza – those ones you buy at the supermarket then go home and heat up yourself (“Its not delivery, its Delissio” type thing). Some people have one box, but some have three or four. Clearly something is going on. We turn the corner and see a full-on delivery truck (like the ones you hire to move house, big and boxy) with boxes upon boxes of pizza inside. Around the front at the stairs up to the station there are three people in bright red chef hats giving away pizzas. Drat, can’t eat pizza and am on the way out, not towards home.
Apparently it wasn’t a once-off thing either. It was happening again today at Burrard Station. Is this some crazy promo, or what is going on in Vancouver?!?
And just when I had been thinking of how earthy, organic, hippie, insert similar adjective here, Vancouver is, I saw this sign in the bus and decided to feel awkward and take a picture of it, because I could and because it [somewhat] proved my point. Minus the death by squishing thing. Apparently throwing your can in the garbage will cause you to be crushed by a falling grand piano. Because they fall from the sky spontaneously without prior warning. All the time. I’m glad I don’t drink out of cans very often.
Ummm, home?!?
So, I’m home. Back in Canada that is, and not living on a boat. Home is somewhat of a nebulous concept as half of my belongings are still currently in a storage locker and the other half are spread around the spare room at Dad’s, waiting for me to brave the chaos and organize/sort/get rid of things. Its a bit overwhelming. Currently, I’m in the den with the Internet avoiding chaos.
Post-offshore, I’ve discovered that I have friends in Vancouver (yes, newsflash, Gillian has friends) and I am rediscovering the joys of a social life. Being on a boat for a year does incur a certain amount of social-ness, however you’re pretty much always seeing everyone so the whole concept of making dates and going somewhere is fairly novel.
Update on the next little bit: In and out of Vancouver… Montreal end of June-beginning of July… possibly PG end of July and Edmonton beginning of August then back to the boat for the last two summer trips around the Island and working in Victoria for the fall. Its nice to have these things laid out for you, saves brain power.
Brain power is at a premium at the moment. I have been declining all food-related decisions other than “I like that” or “I don’t really enjoy eating that” and will continue to do so for another few weeks. I have been thinking about little other than food for the last year. I need a break. Its to the point that I am actually not interested in food. Oh, I eat. Otherwise I would be ravenously hungry all the time and then I’d have to make food decisions, then where would I be? I just don’t sit and think about all the wonderful food items I would like to enjoy and I have little in the way of cravings.
I’m contemplating adding to Flikr my favorite photos I’ve taken on Offshore (about 200) so all can see them. Thoughts? Will they be looked at or is that a massive waste of my time?
My Home and Native Land
It was the weirdest sensation yesterday sailing up from Port Townsend, past Victoria, to Bedwell Harbour on Pender Island. Past Victoria… there it was, Mt Doug, Cadboro Bay, Oak Bay, the golf club… So familiar but not because I haven’t seen it in over a year. I’d never been down in the San Juan’s before so coming back up and seeing Victoria in clear daylight really brought it home. We’ve checked into Canadian customs finally. Officially in Canada. This is the last customs we will have to clear on Offshore! We’re here, even though we don’t sail into the Inner Harbour until Saturday. Now all that remains is to make the most of the last few days that we are here together on the boat and prepare for sailing in next week. The Swift will be doing some schooner ballet with us outside the waterfront for a bit before we sail in at 3pm. There’s going to be a big ceremony in the Inner Harbour complete with some speeches from Skipper and a couple trainees and there will be some photos from all over place! Come and party with us!
Port Townsend
The Day the Sea was Lighter than the Sky
Having passed Cape Guadarfui, we have entered a zone of absolute calm. For the last 48 hours the sea has been smooth and oily, except where a slight breeze ruffles its surface or covers it with a network of minute wrinkles as regular as the weave of a tapestry. Upon this mirror flying-fish rise up, glide, and take off again, like swallows skimming the water. In the middle of this great shoreless lake the evenings take on an exquisite beauty. Yesterday I could never tire of looking to the east where the sea was uniformly milky and green, with opalescence that was still not transparent, lighter than the background of the sky. Suddenly on the horizon a thin diffuse cloud became tinged with pink; and then with little oily ripples of the ocean still opal on one side and turning to lilac on the other, the whole sea looked for a few seconds like watered silk. Then the light was gone and the stars began to be reflected around us as peacefully as in the water of a quiet pool.
– Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Letters from a Traveller, written somewhere between Egypt and India, 1923.
We have returned to the Pacific Northwest after being gone a few days over a year. The foreign yet familiar smells of the coast: the salt and seaweed, the rocks and the trees were one of the first things to assail our senses, quickly followed by green. Despite being in many different and stunningly beautiful far-away places for the last twelve months, this is home and there is a strange beauty to this countryside. Strolling through the quaint streets of Port Townsend, Washington, I realize how good it is to be home, even though I’m not quite there. Sailing down the Strait of Juan de Fuca a few days ago was a surreal feeling. The lights of Victoria offered a glow on the horizon off to port, escorting us along. Are we really back? Yes, but no. There are still ten days left before we sail into Victoria’s Inner Harbour in all our glory. Ten days to keep living this isolated, simple life that exists on board. Ten days to continue to enjoy life with this wonderful group of trainees and crew that I’ve spent the last three weeks crossing our final stretch of Pacific Ocean with. Its been an epic adventure; one full of amazing experiences and valuable lessons and lots of good times.
And one last photo to prove we’re alive and well…
This is from the leg end dinner last leg. We’re all alive and well!
Yeah Leg 7!
Aloha! Here I am in Kauai… back where it is lush and green and there are lots of beaches and sea turtles. Jose rented a car this morning so Antony and two of the trainees, Emily and Rona, and I headed out on an epic adventure. We drove up to the north side of the Island and after stopping for an amazing smoothie in Hanelai, we found a great little beach with lovely sand that was so hot my feet got pretty nearly burnt. I actually paused to pour water on them at one point so they would not burn. We did some snorkeling there and Rona and I found some serious amounts of sea turtles. One guy had his head stuck in a hole, wedging himself in with his flipper and was having the feast of his life. It was pretty neat to see. Thanks to a waterproof disposable camera someone gave me at the end of leg 5, I have some photos so we’ll see how those turn out. Now we’re wandering around, pausing to find this free wifi place. I’m cooking the next two days, so I’ll hang out closer to the boat and toast on the beach at the Marriot Hotel beside us in Nawiliwili. Thursday night or Friday morning we will jump off to head home. We should be back on that side of the ocean for the first time in a year about 18 days later! I’m looking forward to this passage. I know I say this every leg, but I really like these guys and I’m looking forward to having a passage with them. I just hope that I can keep up the energy for the last month of Offshore before I go into hibernation at home! I spent my days off in Honolulu playing with the new computer and getting all my photos organised on here. I’ve begun a slideshow of my photos for each leg so I won’t be tormenting anyone with all 5000 photos that I’ve taken to date… Yay digital. Looking forward to the trade winds as we sail home.
gillian's island 