A few days in the Netherlands

Well, the ship I work on is still sitting tied up to the dock in Rotterdam. It went through shipyard in Germany for about three months before sailing to Rotterdam where it's been sitting now for over two months. It's been up for sale, and I'm told there is a buyer, but it's just a matter of filling out all the paperwork that goes along with buying it from the bank then turning around and selling it to another company. We're all anxious to find out how it unfolds and to get back to work. However, working on a ship that's stays at the dock in a European port has it's advantages.

While Bremerhaven, Germany was bitter cold (and rather boring) during the winter, Rotterdam has been a refreshing change. Nicer weather, a more interesting city, and a bicycle to explore on have made my time there seem almost like a little vacation. I decided to push my flight back a couple days to explore Amsterdam on my own, that's probably actually where the vacation feeling came in.

I'd never been to Amsterdam before and was amazed at how beautiful it is. Gorgeous, old brick buildings, canals everwhere, a million city bicycles... I spent most of my three days there just walking around and trying to take it all in. If I ever go back, I'll make sure to rent a bicycle for at least a day, but this time I didn't want to miss anything and wanted to enjoy slowly meandering through a new place.

This past year has been, by my standards, relatively normal. There haven't been any exciting trips or vacations, but a few fun out of town get-aways: a couple ski trips, a friends birthday bicycle ride on one of the islands here. Next week, I'll be going on a short backpacking trip along the coast for a few days with a couple friends. Even though, it looks like it might be crappy weather, I'm still looking forward to it. It's a trail I haven't been on yet and I've got quite a bit of new gear I haven't tried out, also, I don't think we're planning on covering more than 10 miles per day, so, it should be relatively easy.

I don't know how things will work out this summer as far as my work schedule yet, but I'm hoping to make it back east for a visit. I'd love to be able to visit friends and family from DC to Maine over a two week period, but at this point, I'll just have to wait and see how things unfold with work.

I love not working.

After having a lovely four weeks off from work, I'm just about to start packing my bags and heading back to the ship. I just got news that instead of going back and working in the gulf of Mexico where we've been, the ship will head to Holland for shipyard! Not sure how the rest of the crew feels about this, but it sounds exciting to me. This will be my first time going deep sea! From what I've been told, it should take between 17 and 20 days to get to port in Holland. Not sure what will happen after that, but the ship will probably be in Europe for 3 months. I'm thinking of staying for a week extra and exploring Amsterdam once my 4 week tour is up and I'll have time to actually be a tourist. I know shipyard work will be exhausting and probably frustrating, but I'm sure I'll learn plenty and also hopefully get to check out a new country!

I just got back from another California road trip a couple days ago. Took the scenic route and camped in the redwoods of northern Cali, then visited Jnani in SF and got to go for a sail in SF bay on one of her boats (that's her in the picture). After that, drove to Yosemite National Park and spent a few nights there and hiked to the top of Half Dome. What a beautiful place Yosemite is. My three days there weren't nearly enough. I could easily spend a month exploring that park, if not more. Someday, I'm sure I will.

While I truly have been enjoying my time away from work, I've found that it's not as easy as I'd expected. On one hand, I want to keep busy by doing new things and connecting with friends, but on the other hand, I want to relax and sometimes do absolutely nothing. The other, probably more frustrating part, is that while I'm certainly not homeless, I don't really have my own place like I always used to. I go back and forth all the time between Portland and Seattle and really feel more like a nomad than a resident. OK for now, I guess, but I'm looking forward to when I'm ready to buy a liveaboard sailboat or even a little apartment in town and get back to being able to create my own space again.

M/V Stuyvesant

Greetings from San Francisco

I've been down here for about a week now. What a beautiful city!
Enjoying my time walking around the different neighborhoods and hoping
to get back to work relatively soon. Most likely something will come
my way within the next few weeks. I'm not too worried. There's also
plenty of well paying shore based work I could do here if need be.
Everything will work out just fine, I'm sure! Until then, I'll keep
putting serious miles on my walking shoes making my way all around town.

Back in the northwest

So, the contract ended a little early and I stayed on an extra week in Norfolk to help get the ship ready to sit for a while, but now I'm back in the northwest. Currently, I'm staying in Seattle and enjoying my free time. Winter's not quite over here, so I'd like to get in at least a few more days of snowboarding if I can. Just last week, I had a beautiful day of spring skiing at Crystal Mountain. Blue skies, warm weather, and soft snow! What a delight to come back to.

Overall, the experience to Haiti didn't really live up to any sort of expectations that I had, but nonetheless, it was a positive one. As a company and crew, I think we did as good a job as anyone could have hoped or expected. In the bigger picture I do have some doubts about how the whole relief effort is going. But, I guess considering the level of destruction and the state of the country before the disaster, I can see how one might not quite know where to start and when to say the job has been finished. After all, Haiti was in desperate need of relief long before the earthquake.

So, I'll be bouncing between Portland and Seattle for the next month or so. My plan is still to enjoy my free time and travel to DC for my brother, Orrin's, wedding. But, who knows - if a short term job shows up, I might just decide to take it if I can still make that wedding.

Coming home soon

So, it's definite. Our contract has been cut short and pretty soon,
we'll all be layed off. Right now, we're off the coast of Florida and
on our way back up to Fort Eustis, VA. However, since some bad
weather is supposed to make it's way to the area, we'll most likely
spend a few days waiting it out in Jacksonville. The good news is
that it'll be a few more days that we'll all get paid. The bad news
is that it's Jacksonville. Again.

Although I'm a little bummed that what I thought was going to be three
months of work turned in to six weeks, I'm looking forward to being
back in the northwest where I can hopefully get a few more days of
snowboarding in.

Aside from the grim reminders of what an earthquake can do to an
already desperate population, this trip has been a positive one. I've
made some new friends, got the chance to work on a modern ship and
done my job well enough to hopefully be asked back in the future.
Working on this ship, with this crew has really been a pleasure.
Don't get me wrong - I wouldn't do it for free but all things
considered, it's a pretty easy job.