Rodrigues

I have a dilemma.  This is a wonderful island and I would love to write an extensive blog post about it but, if I do that, I will be sitting inside at my computer instead of out there enjoying the wonderful place.  That being said, I've decided to write a quick post now and then try to write a better on when I'm on the way to our next stop at Reunion.

Rodrigues is a small volcanic island with a large limestone plain on the west side.  It's roughly an oval about 10 miles long and 4 miles wide.  It has rough mountainous terrain, with some mountains about 1,200 feet high.  The higher elevations are tropical rain forest and the lower elevations are more dry.  The population is about 38,000 spread pretty evenly across the island, with the lower west side being a little less populated.

Approaching Rodrigues from the Southeast

A 70 year old Tortoise and me having a chat.  I sat down about 10 feet away from him and he came over to let me scratch his neck, you know, after he bit my knee to see if I tasted good.

They have ENORMOUS spiders here.  It's hard to get a perspective without something else in the picture but from this guys let tips, front to back he is every bit of 6 inches long.  These are the only spiders I've seen here and there are quite a lot of them.  I asked a women what they were called and she said, "Spiders".

This place is beautiful.  It's clean, the people are friendly, their homes are nice, all with lovely gardens and flowers everywhere.  Most business are only open from 9 AM until 3 PM, then everyone goes home to their families.  I've been staying at a B&B for $35.00 US a night and a good steak dinner costs $10.00 US.  A great, grilled lobster dinner costs $65.00 US for a 1 kilo lobster...it was spectacular!  I will try to post more but now I'm going on a hike before this day gets away from me.

The Crew

I had promised a post about the crew.  Maybe it’s best that I waited until now since I’ve gotten to know everyone much better.  We have a large crew, very close to a full complement of 48.  We have 46 and one more is joining in Reunion.  It’s a very diverse group both in age and nationality.

Denmark:
Caroline, Laura, Anne-mette, Morton, Magnus, Christian, Nicholai and Emile.  All have sailed previously on the ship Denmark, except for Christian, who has worked on the Denmark when it was in port.  Christian and Nicholai joined in Fiji, all the rest joined in Bali.  All are leaving in Cape Town, except Nicholai and Emile, they’re both on for the rest of the voyage.  Laura, Anna-mette, Morton, Magnus and Emile all sailed together on the Denmark and all about 20ish.  Nicholai is in his mid-20s and Christian is 32.  Laura, Nicholai, Magnus and Emile are all on my watch.  Nicholai is also the assistant engineer aboard.
Sweden:
Elsa, Amanda, Elvira and Elias.  All have sailed previously, Elsa has sailed pretty extensively and has joined the sail maker on this voyage, instead of standing watch.  Elsa is 26 and the others are around 20. The area of Sweden where they’re from has a high school that has its own sail training ship, the Gunnilla.  They have the option of taking a track of classes that includes the sail training.  Elvira took marine science while onboard the Gunnilla.  They spent 4 months sailing around Europe and the Mediterranean; what a high school!  All 4 joined in Bali and will be leaving in Cape Town.  Elvira is on my watch.
Norway:
Turi – 29.  Turi is new to tall ship sailing.  She joined in Bali and is for the rest of the voyage.  She was working in Dubai for the 3 years before joining the ship.  Turi is on my watch.
Lithuania:
Monica – 34.  This is Monica’s first tall ships voyage but she is an action seeker who likes mountain climbing and para-gliding.  She says it’s funny that she is a mountain climber because the tallest mountain in Lithuania is only about 100 meters high.
Germany:
Axle and Jennes.  Both are in their mid to late 20 and both are experienced tall ship sailors.  Axle is the mate on my watch and Jennes is also on my watch.  Axle went to the German Naval Academy and then served in the Navy before working on freight ships for a couple years.  This is his first voyage in Picton Castle and he joined in Fiji.  Jennes joined in Bali and is leaving in Cape Town.
Bermuda:
Erin, Dekembae and Simon.  This is Simon’s first tall ship voyage.  He’s 56 and joined for the leg from Bali to Cape Town.  He owns businesses in Bermuda and England and is a small plane pilot as well.  Dekembae is an experienced tall ship sailor, having sailed on the Spirit of Bermuda as well as sailing on the Denmark at the same time as the group of Danes that all sailed together.  He’s in his early 20s.  Erin is the ships Boson, responsible for the maintenance of the ships rigging.  She is 25 and has sailing extensively on tall ships.  She joined in Fiji and will be on board beyond the end of this voyage.  Dekembae also joined in Fiji and is on for the whole voyage.
Tonga:
Via – 20.  Via joined in Tonga while the ship was sailing around the South Seas.  She is an experienced sailor, because of her time aboard but she mostly acts as Dawson’s nanny now.  (see below)
Great Briton:
Bob (Kate) – Mid-twenties, Terry – 57 (He’s actually from Wales) & And Amy – 30ish.  Amy is an AB and is the lead seaman on one of the other watches.  Terry has sailed on a couple of tall ships before but more as a passenger than as crew.  He’s on from Bali to Cape Towne.  He’s great because he’s very laid back and doesn’t take anything too seriously; something I’m working on.  Bob is the ship’s purser, which means she takes care of all of the administrative work for the ship, like clearing in and out of customs, etc.  She has been on the Picton Castle for about 3 years but all is smaller chunks of time.  We call her Bob because when she boarded her first tall ship as a trainee, they asked her for her name and she said Kate.  The captain said, “That sounds like a girl’s name and everyone knows it’s bad luck to have girls aboard ships so we’ll call you Bob!”
Canada:
Captain Moreland, his wife Tammy and their son Dawson.  Captain Moreland holds a USCG 500 ton Master Unlimited ticket, the highest captains rating the US Coast Guard issues and he’s 62.  He’s been sailing for 42 years and he bought the Picton Castle in 1993 and put together the consortium that maintains her today.  He designed the rig when she was converted to a tall ship as well.  This is the homeward leg of his 7^th circumnavigation aboard the Picton Castle.  Tammy is the sail maker aboard and is in her mid-40s.  Dawson is the ship’s boy.  Dawson is around 27 months old and has been living aboard the Picton Castle since he was about 2 months old.  Imagine learning to walk on the deck of ship at sea!  In addition to the boss and his family, we also have: Travis, 36.  This is his first tall ship voyage and he joined in Bali for the trip to Cape Town.  He spent the last 3 years teaching at a school above the Arctic Circle in Canada for first nation’s students. 
Fiji:
Joe – Mid-forties.  Joe is ships carpenter and he joined in Fiji, this is his first tall ship adventure.  I have been working with him some and he’s a really nice guy.  I asked what he thought about his new job and he said he loved it, he wants to stay on the Picton Castle the rest of his life.
Grenada:
Donald – Late-forties.  Donald is the ship’s cook.  He has been with the ship for 6 years now, the longest of anyone, except the captain.  He’s an excellent baker and a solid of somewhat basic cook.  He worked as a cook on Caribbean cruise ships before joining Picton Castle.
Australia:
Mark – 49.  Mark is an experienced tall ship sailor and has sailed on the Picton Castle before.  He was promoted to Able Bodied Seaman (AB) after we left Bali, when they made Erin the Boson.
USA:

John – 52, Kurt – 54, Bruce – 67, Nichole – 43, Aaron – late-twenties, Alex – 29, Russell – 26, Matt – 32, Nathanial – 26, Peter – 26, Nick – early 30’s, Billy – 42, & Me – 52.  John is an experienced tall ship sailor and is a sail maker for this voyage.  He has sailed on the PC a few times before.  Bruce is also a PC veteran who hails from Chicago and has raced a few Mac races.  He is spending most of his time perfecting his celestial navigation skills and plotting the ships course strictly using the sextant and tables.  Kurt is an experienced sailor and has sailed on other tall ships as well as commercial ships.  This is Nichole’s first tall ship voyage but she’s “all in”, having joined in Fiji for the entire voyage.  She is a published author and may or may not write about her experiences.  Aaron is also sailing for his first time and also on for the entire voyage.  He’s an army vet who worked in explosive ordinance disposal in Afghanistan and Iraq.  He joined the voyage shortly after being discharged.  Alex is the AB of my watch.  She has been sailing in tall ships for 13 years and has sailed in a great many of the ships that sail in the US.  This is her first time on the Picton Castle.  She is a great sailor and a great teacher, very calm and patient.  Russell is the mate on one of the other watches.  He won a scholarship to a maritime academy out east after doing some tall ship sailing.  This is his first time on the PC as well.  Matt holds an official USCG Able Bodied Seaman’s card from working aboard freight ships.  He’s travelled and worked on ships all over, including fishing and crabbing in Alaska before it was on TV and working in Indonesia on a freighter, so he knew the language in Bali.  This is his first time sailing on a tall ship and he’s on from Bali to the Cape Verde Islands.  He’s originally from Waukesha, WI.  Nathan is another first timer on from Bali to Cape Towne.  He’s also a newly discharged army veteran.  He was a first lieutenant in the first cav but was not deployed over-seas.  He joined in Bali one month after he was discharged.  Peter is a tall ship veteran, having sailed in the PC and on the Brig Niagara before.  He could be an AB but he’s color blind so he can’t get is certification.  He’s on from Bali to Cape Towne.  He spent 6 months, before joining the ship, in India teaching yoga.  He’s also an EMT.   Nick is our ship’s Doctor.  He’s an ER doc from New York and is on from Bali to Reunion, where he’ll be leaving a little early but I understand there is a new doc coming aboard.  He’s sailed in some Schooners before but never in a square rigged ship.  Billy is an experienced tall ship sailor; however, he is the chief engineer.  He’s sailed on PC before as well as on various other ships.  He’s an American but his wife is from the Netherlands and they live there.  He had to leave for a week, when we were in Bali, to get his Visa for the Netherlands extended.

We also have 2 eight month old female cats, named Suva and Fiji.  I believe that covers everyone.

Out to Sea

Time and bad internet in Isla Rodrigues are working agianst me getting a post from here but here is something I wrote on the passage from Bali to Rodrigues:

We left Bali’s Benoa Harbor on October 26^th, shortly after lunch time.  We motored out of the harbor and then dropped anchor again so we could ‘cat’ the port anchor.  That means we pulled the large anchor aft and up and then tied it securely to the cat head and the top edge of the foc’sle head.  There wasn’t any wind for the first two days so we motored but, on the third day the wind started to pick up so we hoisted all plain sail, shut the motor down and began to sail.  If you’ve ever been on a sailboat, you know there is something magical about that moment when the noise and vibration of the motor stops and the wind takes over; it’s a beautiful thing! 

The weather has been perfect and very consistent throughout the voyage.  The wind varies in strength from time to time but it’s consistently from the east or southeast and blowing from force 3 to 5 (from about 15 knots to 30 knots).  The days have all been mostly sunny and warm, but not hot.  There are always clouds on the horizon, all the way around, but overhead we just get scattered clouds blowing quickly past.  The nights have been cooler and we’ve has some light rain on several nights but those are usually 10 minute light showers.  The ocean is the most amazing shade of blue!

We’ve been at sea for 27 days as I’m writing this and the scuttlebutt is that we’ll sight the island of Rodriguez early tomorrow.  We’ve had a couple of changes in our itinerary.  We’re not going to visit Madagascar or Mozambique; Madagascar because of civil unrest there, and Mozambique because of tricky navigational issues.  In addition to those stops being dropped, the captain says that this has been the best Indian Ocean passage the Picton Castle has ever made, so we’re ahead of schedule to get into Cape Town.  The captain has decided to stop at Rodriguez for a few days before we go on to the scheduled stop at Reunion.  There are 3 islands east of Madagascar, several hundred miles, which had been claimed by the French; Rodriguez, Mauritius and Reunion.  The British captured Mauritius and Rodriguez around 1800 and have held them since.  The captain doesn’t like Mauritius so we’re not stopping there.  He tells us that Rodriquez is a little more third world but; if you’re reading this, they must have internet.  I’m not sure how long we’ll be staying.  Reunion is still a French protectorate and is more modern.  It’s about 400 – 500 miles west of Rodriguez.

We got wind of a tropical disturbance, forming several hundred miles north of Rodriguez, which was predicted to head south, toward us.  The captain decided to turn south away from the possible storm and to put us well ahead of it, in the event that it turned into something.  It did turn into a named tropical storm and it did track pretty much as expected.  Rodriguez did get hit with the weather on the southern edge of the named tropical storm before it turned west and then dissipated.  Our course continued to the south until the storm actually turned west.  The captain pointed out that we could have turned back toward the island based on the storms predicted track but that was always a gamble because the predicted track was always just an educated guess.  Storms have been known to take unexpected tracks and catch ships by surprise.  The detour caused by the storm added about 6 days to our voyage but our weather stayed very fine.

Life aboard a sailing ship at sea becomes routine pretty quickly.  I stand watch from 12 – 4 twice a day, so the midday and midnight watches.  My watch has 10 people, including the mate and our AB (Able Bodied Seaman).  The watch would be like our manager and our AB would be our supervisor.  When on midday watch we work on ship’s maintenance unless sail handling is necessary; generally it wasn’t.  On the midnight watch we do small housekeeping, that can be done quietly, and keep watch for hazards. We also rotate hour long turns at the helm, steering the ship.  We sailed the first 25 days on port tack so the only sail handling was setting or taking in sail when the wind strength changed.  Some days we didn’t touch anything.  We certainly do a lot more maintenance than sail handling.  We also have training clicks most afternoons before supper.  We’ve learned sail making basics, along with more advanced seamanship type skills.  I have also been learning celestial navigation, which is awesome. We’re taking sightings of the sun at local noon and learning how to calculate or latitude.  Next we’ll be learning how to determine our longitude.  On the midnight watch we’re learning the constellations and the names of the stars.  The night sky is amazing, especially the last couple of nights, with the new moon.  We also do safety drills for fire, man overboard and abandon ship.  The advent of the storm gave a timely opportunity to talk about preparing the ship for rough weather preparation.

Food aboard is pretty basic.  Donald, our cook is a great baker though so we have fresh bread on most days.  The food is good enough but there is not a lot of variety, except when we catch fish.  We had a couple of days when we caught some fish, which is pretty exciting.  We caught one wahoo that was big enough to feed all 46 of us for one meal.  The next day we caught 2 smaller wahoo and then a couple days later we caught a mahi-mahi.  All were excellent eating.  I do believe I’ve lost a little weight.

In all I would say that the trip so far has been about what I expected.  I did expect to do a lot more sail handling but much of that is dictated by the wind.  I still have a lot more time to work on those skills.  Everyone is pretty excited about making landfall.  The first thing everyone mentions about landfall is what kind of food they want to find… 

Hopefully the internet at out next stop will be more reliable and I'll be able to add some more pictures.  Our next stop will be the island of Reunion, about 5 or 6 days of good sailing from here. We should be there sometime during the first week of December.  I will post more then.

I wish everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving!