aggienaut | Oct. 12th, 2009

Oct. 12th, 2009

   Just got back from a trip up to the Bay Area for my friend and former roommate Ben's wedding.

   Drove up Friday. As usual, watched forlornly as my GPS's estimated time of arrival ticked up a whole two hours later as I tried to inch my way through LA. d:
    Crashed with my friend Alex Friday night. She was going to be my date for the wedding as well but Ben informed me they only had room for significant others (I thought about pointing out she's been my not-significant-other for years ;) ) .. and when I got there we were indeed packed tightly around the tables so I guess I can forgive him.

   Saturday the Wedding was at a small winery in Sunol, CA, which apparently is near Pleasanton (and the hotel everyone was staying at was in the latter). Ben's family is part of a small community of sikh jews so it was an interesting mishmash of cultures. And we got to hoist him around the room on a chair (like we didn't get to do with Aaron ::caugh::youstilloweusawedding::Caugh::). Ben later claimed he thought he was gonnna die via the precariousness of his chair hoisting journey.

   Wedding and afterpartying in the hotel was fun. I felt like all of Ben's friends were my own good friends even though I'd only met most of them two weeks ago at the bachelor party. Good people.

   Sunday I went down to Monterey, where my friend xaositecte, normally a native of Washington state, happened to be in the area for a wedding himself. While down there my friend Shemek texted me from San Fran to see if I wanted to hang out. I also had kind of wanted to see the ship's at fleet week, which was presently going on, but I had told my boss I was going to get sugar syrup from LA for the bees on Monday, so I just cursed the syrup ("damn their eyes!").

   On Monday I find out the syrup run I'd been cursing for days (I really really hate driving in/to LA) was CANCELLED since it's forecast to be raining here in the next few days and we'd be unable to feed it to the bees for awhile. I could have stayed up there another day damn their eyes! Or caught up with my parents who were/are camping in Yosemite! Damn you sugar syrup!!!

   In unrelated news its all of about 38 hours until I leave for Istanbul!!!

Pretty Much Unrelated Picture of the Day

Stand by for a closer crop I'm going to experiment with. (Well I'll probably post it to emo-snal to avoid redundancy here)

Itinerary ... as described by

amalie_

Thursday, October 15, 2009
Depart San Diego at 6:35 am.
...

Friday, October 16, 2009
Arrive in Istanbul at 9:55 am
TURKEY
Check-in to Spectra Hotel
Highlights of Sultanahment and Bazaar Quarter

Saturday, October 17, 2009
Highlights of Seraglio Point and Beyoglu
Tour Topkapi Palace first thing in the morning, 9 am
Possible afternoon or early evening cruise up the Bosphorus River

Sunday, October 18, 2009
Enjoy our day in Istanbul
Perhaps take a day trip out to Bursa or Iznik perhaps
If the ferries are operating we could possibly visit the Greek island of Lesvos, but don't count on it

Monday, October 19, 2009
Check-out of our hotel in the morning
Head out to Sabiha Gocken airport and take a flight out to Izmir on Pegasus Airlines

Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Dedicate at least half a day to exploring Efes/Ephesus
Spend the rest of the day exploring Selcuk

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Relax in Selcuk
Perhaps spend the day exploring the southern ruins of Priene, Didyma, and/or Miletus
If the ferries are operating we may be able to visit the Greek island of Samos, but don't count on it

Thursday, October 22, 2009
Check-out of the hotel morning-ish
Take the bus to Izmir - it's about an hour and a half drive
Visit the Varan ticket office and pick up our tickets to Istanbul (around 12 Turkish lira per person which is a little less than $7 for an air-conditioned bus with breakfast service)
Explore Izmir at our leisure
Be at the Varan bus station by 11:00 pm so we can catch the overnight bus to Istanbul

Friday, October 23, 2009
Arrive in Istanbul at 6 in the morning
If we have the time we can do some last minute sightseeing
Eventually make our way to Ataturk Airport to catch the noon flight on Turkish Air to Tel Aviv, Israel
Arrive in Tel Aviv around 1:00 in the afternoon
ISRAEL
Aviv's Uncle Amnon will be waiting for us at the airport to take us to his cousin Emy's house
Explore Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Banana Beach area
Explore the Tel Aviv, Banana Beach, Jaffa area

Saturday, October 24, 2009
Explore Northern Israel with Uncle Amnon
Visit Haifa and Akko
Sea of Galilee if there is enough time
Avoid Jerusalem at all costs
Return to Tel Aviv and spend the night at Emy's house

Sunday, October 25, 2009
Early in the morning Uncle Amnon will take us to Jerusalem
In the afternoon take the Egged bus from Jerusalem to Massada
Check-in to the Massada Youth Hostel
Swim in the Dead Sea
Sunset on top of Massada

Monday, October 26, 2009
Wake-up super early and take the cable car to the top of Massada to watch the sunrise
Take Egged bus 444 to Eilat
Chekc-in to the Eilat Youth and Guest Hostel
FInd a post office to pay the exit tax
Do sight-seeing around Eilat

Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Wake up early in the morning and head out to the Israeli-Egyptian border at Taba and go through customs
Since we have our Egyptian visas in advance this should go smoothly
EGYPT
Either haggle a taxi or take the bus
First stop: Nuweiba
Second Stop: Dahab
We finally arrive in Sharm El-Sheikh
Once we get off at the bus stop we need to find a taxi that will take us to Shark's Bay
Thankfully the wonderful people of Shark's Bay sent me a map to give the taxi driver if he doesn't understand English very much
Check-in to our rooms at the Bedouin Village in Shark's Bay
Stop by the excursions desk and book desert safaris, snorkeling, trips to St. Katherine's Monastery and Mount Sinai, and all that good stuff
At 11:30 pm depart for Mt. Sinai with our Bedouin guides
Climb to the summit of Mt. Sinai and watch the sunrise

Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Morning in St. Katherines, afternoon in Old Sharm/Na'ama. Aviv wants to quest for a duty free shop and found one with hilarious directions. (Have someone take you to the Camel Bar on His Majesty the King of Bahrain Street (apparently a local landmark), go straight until you see an Italian restaurant and Casino, take a left, and it's on your left past Romeo Jewelry). I think Aviv wants to go not only because it's an adventure but because we'll have only 48 hours on our arrival in Egypt to buy booze and he wants some for Halloween.

Thursday, October 29, 2009
Day-trip to Petra, JORDAN!!!

Friday, October 30, 2009
Check-out of the hotel mid-morning
A hotel representative will take us to the Sharm El-Sheikh airport for only 5 euro per person (it was 4 euro but the economy forced them to raise their price by one euro)
Take the noon flight to Hurghada on Egypt Air (only a $50 ticket - more information on this later)
Arrive in Hurghada after an hour or so
A representative from our hotel may be there to pick us up but if not we'll take a taxi to the hotel
Check-in to our villa!
Visit the excursions desk to arrange sightseeing adventures!
If the hotel can't make the arrangements we want we can always arrange it ourselves because there is always Egypt's bus system!
Spend the rest of the day relaxing on the beach and checking out the town

Saturday, October 31, 2009
First thing in the morning we need to make our way to Cairo
Do a little sightseeing in Cairo to pass the time
Be at the Cairo airport by 4:00 pm to pick up Tanja
Kris, you may have to pretend to be Tanja's husband for security reasons during her stay in Egypt (an unmarried woman traveling with a bunch of men can be frowned upon)
Make our way back to Hurghada
Spend the evening relaxing on the beach of the Red Sea

Sunday, November 1, 2009
Explore Egypt!
Perhaps today we can go to Giza and Heliopolis to see awesome pyramids!!

Monday, November 2, 2009
Explore Egypt!
Perhaps to day we can make our way to Luxor and Thebes to see the Valley of the Kings!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Explore Egypt!
I'm looking into the possibility of spending some time in Alexandria. It may be virtually impossible but we shall see.
If we can't go to Alexandria we can always check out Abu Simbel!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Another awesome day in Egypt!
We can either relax in Hurghada or see some more sights!
Perhaps a trip out to Aswan or Dendara!!

Thursday, November 5, 2009
First thing in the morning we need to get ready and check-out of the hotel
Make our way to Cairo
Go straight to Cairo's airport and check in our baggage
Spend the rest of the day doing some last minute sightseeing around Cairo
If we feel adventurous we can always see the ruins at Saqqara just south of Cairo
Make it back to the airport by 10:00 pm at the very latest!!

Friday, November 6, 2009
A 12:30 in the morning we say goodbye to Egypt and fly home
Arrive in New York City and part ways on the journey home.

November 7th - 16th, 2009
While everyone else returns to their respective locations I (Kris talking now) am going to spend a week doing much less structured adventuring in the area of NYC while I'm there! Possibly crashing on Kerri and/or Dejah's couches, maybe throwing in a hostel, maybe even couchsurfing, maybe I'll rent a car and go somewhere completely different! I'm going to decide when I get there! :D

2009-10-03 - 09:00

   It all began on a lovely nice day in Dana Point Harbour.
   Another volunteer and I rowed one of the dingies over to the tallship Spirit of Dana Point, where it would be hoisted aboard ... and nearly lost later in the storm. I noted that the first mate not only had muttonchops and combat boots like me (and we'd later be the only ones with dry feet), he even had the same "castro hat" as me (though it would be lost in the storm). Also while we prepared to get underway a large bird of prey perched atop the mast very very narrowly missed crapping on him.

2009-10-03 - 12:00
   We set out from the harbour around noon. Hoisted the sails (though one would later come down when a critical line snapped in the storm). With 11 crewmembers, we were divided into three watches of three people each to stand watch for three hours at a time (Plus the captain and cook). On each watch one person would man the helm, one would be on bow watch, and one would.. keep them company (and they'd rotate between these positions every hour or half hour) ... or at least until the storm became too fierce for it to be safe to stand on bow watch.
   Additionally the ship's log was to be updated once an hour ... until it was later lost in the storm.

2009-10-03 - 15:00
   I stood watch from 15:00 to 18:00. Had the helm for about half that time. Now steering a ship, if you've never tried it, is a lot like driving on ice. Which of course, makes sense. You try to turn and by the time the boat starts to respond you need to start turning the other way to straighten it out. It's all sliding, all the time. But from all the compliments I got from the captain(s) either (A) I'm a natural or (B) they just pour on the flattery on new folks.
   Dinner was delicious (burritos). So far all my tallship adventures have been marked by delicious food. Traditionally around dinner time everyone stands a shortened watch (the so called "dog watch") so I was on watch again 8-9. I stood bow watch during this time, which wasn't much trouble considering I'd hung out up there with the previous two dogwatch bow watchers. By now it was dark and the full (or mostly so) moon was illuminating the sea beautifully.
   Immediately after watch I went to bed due to my next watch being in only six hours (03:00 am). It was actually warm enough that I flopped on my bunk and went straight to sleep without bedding or a sleeping bag.

Point Vicente, Palos Verdes (Saturday Evening)

2009-10-04 - 03:00
   I wake up in a red-lit room (apparently they use red light so your eyes don't have as much trouble adjusting when you go outside?) to someone telling me I'm on in ten minutes. Stumble out of bed and try to put my coat on as the room wildly pitches back and forth. Felt like I was in a submarine movie.
   Come on deck and stumble back to the quarterdeck where the other two members of my watch already were. Was informed we weren't keeping a bow watch "because they might get swept off in this weather and we would never know."
   So we took turns at the helm with the other two sitting nearby, all keeping eachother company and awake. On the radio a Coast Guard advisory is playing on repeat every few minutes, advising that gale conditions are in effect and all but the most experienced mariners were strongly advised to stay ashore.
   Had kind-of wanted to stay up for sunrise but by the time my watch was over at 06:00 I was tired, and tired of being sprayed, and my arms hurt from wrestling the helm, so I went back to bed.

2009-10-04 - 09:30
   This time I slept with my coat over me. Awoke wetter than I went to bed! Just my lower legs though -- apparently my bunk was under a drip over thataway or something. Got up around 09:00 to a wildly rocking ship. Climbed up on deck and proceeded to the quarterdeck, where most of the crew was clinging. Sun was shining but the seas were very rough (15 feet?) and winds were certifiably gale force.
   We were at the time about seven nautical miles outside Channel Islands harbour in Oxnard, CA. Way behind where we should have been. Presently we decided to try to make for the nearby harbour instead of Santa Barbara ... but we'd spend all day even trying to get to this location.

Sailor Sarah dutifully tries to keep the log on her hand
(I really liked her hat)

2009-10-04 - 13:00
   The log had already blown away at this point. I believe they tried to start a new one and then THAT blew away. I suppose I was technically on watch from 12-3 but we were all already on deck and the one manned position, the helm, was being operated by the most captain(s) (we had more than one licensed captain aboard).
   Waves were regularly coming over the front of the ship, and a fair bit of spray was showering us in the back.
   At one point, my mum (who was also on the trip), who had been sitting on this box made some comment about getting too much wind and moved. Seconds later a wave fully crashed over the side there completely submerging several of us. Yes, we didn't get splashed, we got submerged. Mum's timing was amazing though, it may very well have saved her life.
   Someone else toppled on the deck at one point and hit his head, probably needed stitches later. I was sent flying once when a wave hit while I was trying to traverse the deck, and went spinning across the deck on my back without injury.
   We had some sails up to stabilize us (we were going into the wind so they weren't much use), but one of the lines broke on one of the foresails ("the outhaul for the spanker"). The experienced crewmembers then had to go out on the bowsprit and take down and furl the sail. We brought the ship to a stop so as not to shove them under water but they still got a fair good bit wet out there.
   Later we had to stop again to reattach the dingy, as one of the lines holding it on had broken.
   And then while I was sitting there some small metal object came hurtling down from the mast and bounced off the deck right beside me. I'm told it was part of a light up at the top. We added it to the growing pile of things that had broken off the boat.
   Two of the guys who were ostensibly regular sea dogs barely showed their faces on deck at all, all day long. They both later remarked with (feigned?) chipper surprise that they had slept all day ... I'm.. very suspicious.

2009-10-04 - 16:00
   Around 16:00 I decided I was tired of clinging on for dear life and getting constantly doused with water so I went belowdecks to go lay on my bunk.

The bow of the ship in the trough of a 15 foot wave

2009-10-04 - 19:30
   Someone wakes me up and tells me I'm on duty in 15. This doesn't really make sense to me by my calculations of watch but whatever. I climb out of my bunk to find the room completely topsy turvy -- boxes, bags, stuff of all kinds is all just strewn about. I comment on the mess and the person who woke me up comments "you should see the REST of the ship!"
   I manage to get my coat on, a simple operation under normal circumstances, I had to pause at least three times as the room was sent violently lurching in one direction or another. Climb up on deck and report for duty. We've givin up on Channel Islands (after making it within 3 miles -- that's four miles of travel all day) and are now backtracking to a cove off Malibu. Once again we're sailing by moonlight now. Also we're going the same direction as the waves, which nets us a 7 knot speed instead of barely 1, and also makes for less violent clashes with waves (though this way the whole ship basically surfed a wave or two).
   Arrive at the cove around 23:00 (keep in mind we were supposed to be done with our journey entirely around 12:00 -- I'd expected to be HOME by Sunday evening not hoping maybe to set foot on land the NEXT day.
   Cove was very calm. As it had been too wild to use the galley all day, we all raided the cup o noodles supply in the galley as soon as the ship was anchored in. Everyone was assigned 35 minutes of anchor watch at some point in the night up until 4am, when we'd be weighing anchor and making a second attempt up the coast.
   Two hours of sleep later my watch was.. completely uneventful.

2009-10-05 - 09:00
   Monday I awoke around 09:00 ... and the ship was in pretty much the exact same place it had been when I woke up the previous morning! Sea was much much better though and a hot breakfast of oatmeal was soon served, much to everyone's delight.
   Had the helm when we finally reached Channel Islands around 10:20. We had to be escorted in by harbour patrol because the tallship Exy Johnson had run aground there some months ago and now it's apparently their policy that all tallships must be escorted in.
   Myself and three others disembarked at the fuel depot around 11:00. I believe the rest of their journey was uneventful.

See Also:
My live twitter updates from the trip
Mum's Account, Day I (to be continued)