Jul 21 2010
Adult Summer Camp
My latest tour of duty aboard the Lady Washington is drawing to a close, which means my time at adult summer camp is almost over. We transited to Bellingham, WA yesterday from Blaine, WA. We fired two cannons at the harbor entrance to announce our arrival, which is way more fun and effective than a horn. Our time in Blaine passed quickly because we were having so much fun. We were well supported by the locals, most conspicuously by Capt. Richard Sturgill and the crew of the Drayton Harbor Maritime organisation. We were given a vehicle to use for provisioning and running around and to ferry both crews to the Birch Bay Waterslide Park on our crew training day, where we trained in water safety and learned about hydrodynamic friction, stability, inertia, buoyancy and water-tight integrity. We also were shuttled to a party held by Capt. Richard and Co. in his backyard/bamboo forest. They provided plenty of food and drink as well as great company and a fire pit which we hung around late into the night singing sea shantys, not to mention something like a gazillion chocolate chip cookies. While in Blaine we also hosted dockside tours of the vessels and took groups out for adventure and sunset sails as well as our weekend battle-sails. On the Saturday battle the Hawaiian Chiefton was on her game and won the day, so I handed over my sword to the other Captain. On Sunday we redeemed ourselves and I earned my sword back. It was returned polished, which was a pleasant surprise as it had tarnished somewhat during the circumnavigation of the southern ocean. While in Blaine several of us took the opportunity to walk over to Canada, which was about a 1/4 mile away. I walked around in Peace Park for a while the returned to my own country, which did not have pedestrian access at the border crossing so I had to go through secondary like a suspicious car. After waiting in a line reminiscent of the DMV I was eventually cleared to return. While waiting in line I could see our ships out the window of the Customs building. We are here in Bellingham till Sunday when we leave for Annacortes and Family Camp in the San Juan islands, but I won’t be aboard. My last day is Saturday when I turn the ship over to Capt. Jeremiah and return to Aberdeen where my motorcycle is stored. Once I have my bike I’ll be riding down the coast back to San Diego and my own little boat/home.