Hawaiian Chieftain

Ages ago, I claimed I'd blog about Alex and my "nautical adventure," then kept forgetting. So finally, I present to you pictures from the Hawaiian Chieftain, a tall ship that came to port over Christmas! As part of Alex's Christmas present, I bought her and I tickets to sail on the ship the day after Christmas. The afternoon was threatening rain but our spirits were high and we had taken precautions against getting seasick by taking Dramamine and wearing pressure point bracelets.

Look at the beautiful ship!

Sails and rigging

Alex watching the sea

Mainmast

We had fun imagining that we were Isabel and Devon -- the two main characters from my book.

Jib sail

Heading out on the Pacific

Bow

The crashing sea!

Lowering the sails!

Freedom

As you can see in the video, there was much work to be done, and we were all invited to participate. Alex and I helped hoist a sail, making the mistake of turning our backs to the sea. That's when the seasickness kicked in. Despite bravely pretending I didn't feel nauseous, I soon had to sit down. Alex began to feel sick, too, and as it started to mist and then rain, we huddled under our raincoats and stared at the flat horizon, trying to keep our stomachs from churning. Alex was nobly able to keep her fish food down, but I wasn't. I puked five times, and on one occasion while hanging over the gunwale, I saw a cool dead jellyfish. It didn't help that the kids sitting across from us were having a booger war. As in wiping boogers on each other.

Here are some pictures my mom took of the ship as it came back to the harbor four hours later.





After spending about 3 1/2 of the four hours puking while being doused with rain in the growing cold, it's frightening just how quickly our bodies weaken. The shivering was uncontrollable. Both of our teeth were chattering, we couldn't feel our feet, and my jeans kept trying to fall off because they were heavy with water and I couldn't work my fingers enough to hike them back up. I have rarely been so miserable (except for the other time I sailed on the Hawaiian Chieftain and had the same thing happen) but I would do it again any day. Yes, being in the first stages of hypothermia sucks, but it's worth it to me if it means I get to be out on the open water. I must have been a privateer in a past life!

This was our view for about 3 hours.

Drowned rats

This picture is hilarious for many reasons, one of which being Alex's "I'm already dead" expression. Another is how well it shows one of the differences in our personalities. As much as we're similar, my sister has a tendency to show her emotions as she feels them while I am more reserved and put on a face for others. Like right then when I was actually about to collapse.