A Successful First Meal at Sea...

We set off on the second leg of our voyage, departing St. George, Bermuda at 3:30 p.m. Friday, December 2nd. The skies clear and the seas calm…

As we hit the open sea the water went from vermilion to a deep sapphire blue, unlike any ocean I’ve ever seen before. Absolutely stunning.

Slow moving 3 to 5 foot swells coming from stern to bow eased us along. In gentle rhythm we rose up one side of a swell and slid down the other. A choreographed ballet as opposed to the frantic, free-style, rock opera we were being tossed about in a week ago.

With Tom gone, I was now on watch and DM chose me as his watch partner so that he would be fed, and as captain and chef, we had the best watch – 8:00 to 12:00 AM and PM.

I successfully served my first meal at sea, but even in what are considered “calm” seas, our meals were still a challenge. I held the refrigerator door with one hand because as we rode up one side of a swell, the door slammed in on me and as we slid down the other side, the door flew away from me. With the other hand I removed the meatloaf and mac’n’cheese which were parked on top of the lasagna but when I set them on the counter they slid away from me and risked being thrown on the floor. After five minutes of trying to figure out how I would get what I needed and secured what I had without making a mess or breaking something in the process, I finally called for backup and Chris came and held the refrigerator door. Next I had to get two microwaveable containers with covers and portion DM’s and my food into them. Sounds relatively simple, but in my first attempt, one of the containers slid away from me and came to an abrupt halt against a wall leaving a Jackson Pollack in sauce in it’s wake… With the coffee pot put away, I found that I could use the space in the coffee maker (which is below the microwave) as a cubby hole to hold my containers while I worked. Fifteen minutes later I had successfully microwaved dinner for two…

I then had to fill two water bottles with water from a 2 ½ gallon dispenser. This required lifting the dispenser out of it’s safety of the sink and placing it on the counter, holding it steady between my arm and my body, centering the opening of the water bottle under the spigot, opening the spigot and keeping the water bottle and water dispenser steady enough to fill the bottle without getting water all over the kitchen floor. A much more challenging task than it may seem. With two bottles of water, forks and napkins tucked into the pockets of my shorts and two (covered) warm containers of food in my hands I made my way to the pilot house to serve the captain his supper and to enjoy my own as well. Of course, he asked for seconds…

By the second time around I felt like an old hand and come this morning I had a pot of coffee made, found two travel mugs with spill proof lids and rubberized bottoms and was able to offer El Capitan his daily dose of caffeine before he even got comfy in the pilot house. I made myself a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich and brought the captain some fresh fruit.

Two meals down, fourteen to go…

When we left New York a few weeks ago, dolphins jumped along side us as we sailed out of the harbor. Flying fish skimmed the surface of the waters as we left Bermuda…

Feeling fully indoctrinated into the world of seasickness and sailing through a storm, fairly confident that the worst is behind us, and modestly comfortable functioning in a kitchen at sea – I am once again filled with excitement about the journey ahead…

If the seas and the weather are in our favor, we expect to arrive in St. Maarteen sometime between the December 6th and the 8th.

I look forward, as does everyone else, to having a day off. I haven’t had a day free since November 14th, unless you count the four days I spent clinging to the toilet and praying to God for dear life…