Handover and maintenance

Trip Start Feb 21, 2007

Trip End Jun 07, 2007

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Flag of Bermuda St George, Bermuda
Monday, May 7, 2007

May 4th -
The morning started late for most people. We had been given a full day off so when the others finally woke and met me in town, we got bus passes and set out to explore the island. The morning had started clear but as we got on the bus the first few drops of rain began to fall and by the time we got off again it was sheeting down. None of us had brought jackets, but it was so warm and pleasant that it didn't matter, we strolled to our first stop - the Crystal Caves. I had been hoping to go there since I first saw it on a tourist map the day before and i was not disapointed at all. We went down a steep staircase cut in the rock and ended up in a narrow cut in the rock, half filled with turquoise water. The rock was golden and twisted into every shape that I couldn't imagine rock being able to form: tiered pillars, wavy ridges, stalactites, stalagmites, hilactites, rock waterfalls. Our guide told us that since the rock formations couldn't grow underwater, the ones we could see in the depths of the pools had been there since the last time the water level had been that low, in the last ice ace. Everything at the bottoms of those pools sat perfectly the way it had for around 20 000 years.
When we re-emerged into the daylight, the rain had temporarily stopped and the smell of wet earth and vegetation filled the air on our bus ride down to Hamilton, the main 'city' of Bermuda. Since the whole island is smaller than some cities, it was really a mid sized town but it had some nice cafes, and we ate our lunch under awnings as the rain started up again at full force. The rain made everything quiet and peaceful as we continued on doing touristy things like museums and parks. We got as far as the Royal Naval Dockyard out on the western tip of the island before catching a ferry back to St Georges. By the time we got there, the sky was clearing so wandered back to Tobacco Bay to see it in the daylight. Most of the voyage crew and volunteers joined us to watch the sunset over a bottle of rum and ginger beer.

May 5th -
We finally had a maintenance day! Most people were disappointed at not being allowed to wander around Bermuda more, but I'd been looking forward to getting the work taken care of so I was happy to get started just after breakfast. We spent all morning and part of the afternoon scrubbing, de-rusting, and painting the sides of the ship from our little rowboats. When the last of us packed up, we predictably went up to Tobacco Bay to find the rest of the crew already there, sprawled in the sun. In the daylight, the water was perfectly clear - and Man-of-war free - so we splashed around and dove off a four meter high rock until dinnertime. It was our last night all together so everyone, trainees, volunteers and permanent crew all went out for dinner in town. It was a quiet night for most, since the crew that had been together for the past 21 days would be dispersing the following day and some of us would never see each other again. Usually that would be a reason for a last hurrah but we were all tired and most people just wanted to talk. We had all grown closer than we would have if it had been a large crew and I knew that I was going to have a hard time getting to know the new crew that would arrive on the 7th.

May 6th -
The crew weren't going to be leaving until late in the afternoon, and to avoid thinking about it I went and did what I'd been planning since we arrived in Bermuda - rent a scooter! I took it for a test wobble around the parking lot to prove that I could ride it, and honestly I'm surprised the man rented it to me after that display. I got out onto the road, though, and it was mine.
I started with a circuit of the back roads beyond St George, to get used to it before trying anywhere with traffic and after a couple runs around the end of the island I was feeling pretty good about my scootering skills. Unfortunately, since the speedometer was broken I have no idea how fast I was going but in retrospect it was probably somewhere around 15mph.
Within two minutes of hitting the main road I had collected an SUV, a lorry and two more scooters. I was leading a train of several more vehicles before I got the confidence to get up to a normal speed and take off for a ride around the lagoon. I tried out a different beach just to mix things up, but really there wasn't anywhere quite as nice as Tobacco Bay with all of the crew so in the end I was drawn back. No one said too much while we were there, just enjoyed each other's company.
The taxis came to the ship a couple hours later and then they were gone.
Only five of us volunteers and voyage crew would be staying on until the next week so we went out for a quiet drink and reminisced about those who had just left and the things that happened on the way across.

May 7th-
Three of the permanent crew had changed over the previous day so we started the day with a new Captain (Roy Love), new Cook (Clive Elsom) and new Bos'un (Ben Wheatley). The change in crew meant a new drive towards getting us ship shape for the start of the ASTA tall ship race in Charleston. Unfortunately the weather was not being co-operative and a steady drizzle prevented us from doing any outdoor painting that day. I was now officially a deck hand again so Ben got me and my newly arrived fellow D/H, Laura, started on interior painting. We were interrupted halfway through the morning by a call for all hands on deck. Laura and I got there in time to see Ben and Sarah jetting off in the RIB, towards a small yacht that was drifting dangerously close to the end of the pier we were moored to. Between a few of our crew and a guy off another yacht anchored in the harbour, they managed to steer it away from the rocks and re-anchor it in a better spot although it did come disturbingly close to drifting into our back end at one point.
The new trainees started arriving that evening - mostly Brits, but with one American coming over to join us. Most of the crew had never been to America before and they weren't really sure what to expect so I thought the addition of one American to the crew might be a good way of easing them into American culture. Unfortunately Jason wasn't just any American but a Bush supporting Texan. The 'easing' thing was not likely to happen.
I was missing my old crew already but I got along really well with Laura so I was glad to be able to retreat into the deck department for the rest of the voyage.

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