Christmas: Sea Lion style Part II

I don’t think I could have asked for a more perfect Christmas unless I was home in Vermont with three feet of snow outside, curled up in a chair listening to Christmas music in front of the wood stove. The day dawned bright and sunny (high 80’s) as we cruised past Baja sand dunes on our left and the wide open Pacific on our right. We had a leisurely breakfast before resuming the never-ending work of living on a ship. Mid-morning, however, we were interrupted by whale blows on the horizon. As we sailed closer we entered a feeding frenzy zone of pelicans, sailfish (who leapt out of the water like skipping stones), marlin, minke whales, and dolphins. All the crew were plastered to the bow walls, looking over the edge and running back and forth from starboard to port trying to keep track of everything going on. It was a great Christmas gift for everyone except the fish. 

After lunch Captain had another present in store for us. We dropped anchor a few miles off-shore and the deckhands positioned the lido crane over port side with a rope swing attached to the hook. We took turns swinging off the second level deck and dropping into the 75 degree water. The braver jumped from the lido deck, a good 45 foot drop. When we collected enough water in our ears and noses to make our eyes run, we clambered aboard the zodiacs and did donuts til we got dizzy. The guys tied two bumper buoys together and attempted to ride them behind a zodiac. It didn’t look very comfortable and they didn’t stay on very long. Good times have their consequences, though, and the fun winded down when a deckhand got his foot caught in a line and dislocated or broke his toe. At least it happened after Sea Lion spring break 2008. 

 

After everyone toweled off and the crane was put back to its actual use, we pulled anchor and rounded the tip of the Baja peninsula into the Gulf of Mexico. I’ve been suffering from cooking withdrawl, so I joined Adam and Matt in the galley to cook up some vegan goodness: Presto Manifesto Lasagna from the Vegan Fusion World Cuisine cookbook. It was AMAZING (recipe to come). Matt also made a coconut rice pudding from the same cookbook, which was incredible as well. 

I transformed the dining room into a relatively festive eating area with white tablecloths, red bishop hat napkins folded into wine glasses, baskets of candy, and four Christmas themed centerpieces. The galley wowed everyone with a massive feast of lobsters (thanks to our Mexican friends), mashed potatoes, roasted veggies, fresh foccacia, roast beef, and, of course, my lasagna. Coconut rice pudding and chocolates for dessert. Our after-dinner stupor was interrupted by a shout announcing giant squids off the fantail. We ran single-file through the aft companionway and spread out on the fantail to look for the beasts. We didn’t see any up close, but we could see them splashing around where our lights faded into the darkness.    

After squid-searching we all gathered in the lounge to open secret Santa presents. I got a book: Dharma Punx by Noah Levine. It’s about a guy who eventually finds peace through meditation after years of self-destruction and violence. I can’t wait to start it! My gift (a book of poetry) was very well received, although I don’t think he’s figured out who gave it to him yet. 

I’ve written a lot and now it’s time to watch A Christmas Story. I hope everyone has as merry of a Christmas as I did. Feliz Navidad!

Christmas: Sea Lion style

I thought I was in for another away-from-home Christmas of lame decorations and minimal festivities, but apparently being on a 152 foot ship off the coast of Mexico is no reason not to celebrate the holidays. After Christmas Eve dinner Lavon (our purser) plopped down a big box of DIY Christmas decorations in the dining room and the galley whipped up some gingerbread pieces and neon-colored frosting to build our own gingerbread houses. We also had pretzel christmas tree molds and sugar cookies to adorn. The dining room soon transformed into Santas workshop. Frosting was smeared on the tables, glue guns were oozing glue, gum drops were scattered everywhere, and everyone had their sleeves rolled up to their elbows. I commandeered a gingerbread house set and used a pastry bag filled with sticky white frosting to glue the pieces together. My vision was a candyland palace fit for Hansel and Gretel. The boys, however, led by Sirus, a tatto-down-the-arms-and-up-the-neck engineer, had a different idea. They set about creating a house of doom (which I had to paste together because they couldn’t get it to stand up). I used red frosting for trim around the eaves, they used it for blood dripping off the roof. My santa was a foil wrapped chocolate treat, theirs was laying on the ground with half his head missing due to the impact of crashing into the chimney. I had a bright green wreath over the door, they hung a reindeer head. Needless to say, the houses were complete opposites, but surprisingly the House of Doom turned out quite well if you could see past the gruesomeness.    

  

We spent over three hours making crafts (foam snowmen, reindeer, ornaments, etc..) decorating cookies, making pretzels, and decorating gingerbread houses. Martha Stewart would have been proud. Even though I would rather be with my family doing those things, this has been the best Christmas-away-from home yet. I can’t wait until tomorrow when we open presents and have our Christmas feast. Sea Lion style, of course. 

 

Elephant seals are not cute

 

In fact, they may be the only mammals that I don’t consider endearing in any way. They resemble large, obese slugs sprawled out on the rocky shore and when they lift their heads to gaze at us with their overly large black eyes, their elongated noses twitch and quiver like the bodies of just-born puppies. Their appearance is hardly improved by the frequently loud and repulsive belches they expel with a cloud of snot. Their bodies are a light ecru and afflicted with numerous scars as well as small oceanic critters. I even saw one sporting a large conical-shaped snail. 

 

As unappealing as they are, however, we had a blast gawking at the rock-resembling blobs from the safety of a zodiac. Captain graciously dropped anchor for several hours so we could escape the steel confines of the ship (we’ve been sailing for three straight days now). We scouted the shore by zodiac, laughed at the ridiculous barks of a young sea lion, gaped at the fat bodies of sedentary elephant seals and traded two bottles of tequila and a box of snacks to three Mexicans in exchange for a bag of lobsters. 

I love Mexico. 

I was called away from my computer before I could finish my blog. There were bioluminescence, bow-riding dolphins. How do I explain…? Imagine standing at the bow of a ship at night with the stars shining brightly overhead. As you peer over the edge, the water is dark and the waves crash against the ship in a white froth. As your eyes adjust you see the bioluminescence spark blue above the water. White shapes begin to take form as they race ahead of the ships bow. They’re outlined in blue stars and as they move, they trail a silver stream. They look like ghosts. They’re dolphins illuminated by bioluminescence. 

Southbound

I can’t say I’m sad to be leaving Alameda. The excitement of shipyard ended about two hours after we arrived back in November and since then (minus my two week hiatus) I’ve been looking forward to setting sail for the warmth and sun of Baja. Today was our last full day in port. Tomorrow, once we’ve packed everything up, secured anything that can tip over, and off-loaded whatever we don’t need, (and taken on fuel and water) we begin our six-day journey down to Mexico. These past few days since I returned from Vermont have been a whirlwind of basically picking up the mess everyone else made. The ship was an appalling mess (think construction site in a narrow three-story building), so I’ve spent the last 48 hours trying to put it back together again. Today I actually got five rooms guest-ready – beds made, heads cleaned, cabinets wiped out, etc… Now only 33 more to go… I have six stewards to do that for me though! We have plenty of time to get the ship back in order, weather permitting. If it’s a smooth ride we’ll be done before setting foot in La Paz. But, if it’s rough, we’ll be stuck down in our cabins with Saltines and Ginger Ale and we’ll be scrubbing heads as we sail into port. Pray for good weather! Here’s the Sea Lion in case you’ve forgotten what it looks like or haven’t seen it yet. 

On a vegan note, our pantry chef made vegan mac & cheese today! I think he got the recipe from Vegan With a Vengeance. It was so good! I don’t have the recipe with me, but I’m a big fan of the Fatfreevegan website and her recipe for Easy Macaroni and Cheeze looks really good.

Yoga at JFK

I’m sitting in JFK listening to bad Christmas music and downloading yoga podcasts by Sofi Dillof (from Yoga Vermont). I left home early this morning bound for California where I’ll meet the ship once again. We’ll be in shipyard for another five days, then we set sail for Baja. I enjoyed my two relaxing (but busy) weeks at home. I got my family fix to carry me through the next six months, I found an apartment in Vancouver, I had an amazing two-hour massage and Karen taught me a few things about giving them (plus about a hundred other things). I’m going to try really hard to continue my yoga practice while on board (hence the podcasts). The dining room isn’t exactly the same as our yoga studio, but I love how loose and strong it makes me feel. So, I guess my New Year’s resolution this year will be to have a continuous yoga practice – not one that starts and stops every other month. Anyone know of a good yoga studio in Vancouver? 

I also forget how much I like running, so keeping that up will be part of my resolution too.