It alternately feels like Monday and Friday today, depending on the minute. The last three days I was in Vancouver taking my Marine Emergency Duties (MED) course. Yesterday wore me out; hence feeling like Friday. Today was my first day at work for the week; hence feeling like Monday.
Day one of the MED (Monday) was pretty boring. We did watch some good movies in class, but it was a zillion hours of sitting in a stuffy (yet cold) classroom. I learned important things pertaining to cargo ships. Not so much for tall ships, but oh well. Highlight of the day: Taking the Sea Bus over to North Van for the first time. Day two (Tuesday) was pretty fun. Anna drove me out to Maple Ridge to the Justice Institute. We had no idea it was quite so far out, so it was a bit out of her way. But, we did get to hang out and chat for an hour and bit which was lots of fun. After spending the morning in the classroom, we went outside in the afternoon and donned fire gear (I wish I had thought to bring my camera – we wore the helmets, the gloves, the jackets, the boots… pretty much everything firefighters wear!) then went out to start, then put out some fires. Basically, we used dry chem, foam, and CO2 fire extinguishers, but it was pretty neat. I’ve never used a fire extinguisher before. Lots of fun. Day three (Wednesday) I got up early because I wanted to catch an earlier sea bus over than I had on Monday. Alas, my wishes were thwarted by a “Disruption between Edmunds and Royal Oak Stations.” All trains were stopped and I sat/stood in the station at Patterson for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, people kept piling on until it was barely possible to inhale. I just hope that disruption on the line in Vancouver doesn’t mean the same thing it does in Montreal… So I ended up getting on the same sea bus I had taken Monday morning and therefore got to class 5 min late, but they hadn’t started yet. Most of Wednesday was spent in the pool. First we had to swim far too many lengths of the pool wearing coveralls. Yes, coveralls. I almost died. Matters were not helped by the fact that the guys all beat me out there and took the small sizes, so all that was left for me was a size 42. I think I probably should have had a 36; it was HUGE. Then, we had to put on PFDs and drag each other up and down the pool, first with our hands and then with our feet. Yay for dexterous toes. Then it was into the life raft – those big white pods you see on boats? We got to blow one up and jump in and out of i, drag each other in and out (mostly in) and flip them over. That was probably the most fun. Then we used a sling harness like helicopters have to haul each other out of the pool. That was lots of fun until the rope got stuck in the pulley when one of the guys was in it, dangling above water. Fortunately, he was able to slide out, but it took a good few minutes to get the rope to release. The last thing we did was put on survival suits and jump into the pool. The key is to hold out the hood a bit so the air all squishes out and your feet don’t bob up in the air. The problem is, when all the air squeezes out, you feel like you are in a vacuum pack and I was somewhat surprised I could still breathe. After two lengths like that, it was back up on the pool deck where we took the suits off. Done! Or so I thought, but no, then it was time to throw the suits in the pool and put them on in the water. It was actually much easier than I thought, and I was still able to swim two more laps. Getting out of the pool, however, was a whole other matter. Somehow, about 60 litres of water accumulated in each leg and combined to make it very difficult to get out of the pool. But I survived, and have now completed all my SALTS job requirements!
The end of the MED course… but not the end of the day. There was another girl from Victoria in the class and she offered to give me a ride to/from the ferry. We were hoping to make the 3:00 sailing, but we just missed the sea bus and then it took us a hour and a half to get out there through traffic. So we got to the ferry at about 3:45 and found out that the 5:00 was full and had to wait until the 7:00. Three and a half stinking hours at the ferry terminal. The market they have there is great. For the first half an hour. After that, it was random talking about whatever came to mind for three hours, and then another hour and a half on the ferry. I didn’t get home until after 10 and by then, was completely spent.
Today, on the other hand, was great fun (except for the hands shriveling up because of excess amounts of dish washing). We took the boat out this morning to check the compass and see what its deviation is this year and so we spent a half hour to an hour turning in circles just south of Victoria. I was down below doing the afore mentioned dishes for most of it, but I did stay up on deck until we reached the breakwater and came back up as we entered the harbour to help with the fenders. I’ve never sailed on the Grace before and while we were not sailing, we were underway which is still more than I’ve ever done. Only three more days of work, 5 days total until our first trip!