A week into shipboard life.

I'm a week and a day (or so) into this current rotation at sea.  Hypothetically, if I complete all the time allotted to my contract I'll be aboard for 126 days.  My plan is to avoid taking a trip off (like I did last time - so that I could move out of my place in Houston) and just get all three West Coast - Asian trips done in one clean swoop.

Doing all three trips isn't necessarily the best option for my mental health but, it's definitely the best option for my bank account and annual timeline.  It's definitely a mindset and I'm working on attaining said mindset right off the bat.  I think it was one of the reasons I packed so many 'extras' this go around.  I mean honestly, I'm looking forward to my daily chocolate out of my advent calendar!  Looking forward to small things goes a really long way.  Hence the extras.

It's been radio silence around here.  I attribute that to a small dose of 'hibernation' (ie I've been taking more naps than required....maybe just a touch of 'joining the ship blues'), limited internet (can we all agree I should be grateful just to have a small amount of internet in the middle of the ocean?!) and, plain old laziness.

Here's what the past week looked like:

First things first - setting up my bed with comfy flannel comforter and bottom sheet.  Aaaaah.  Cozy.  I love cuddling up.

November 23rd.  

Next on the agenda was getting used to early morning wake ups once more.  Of all the watches, 04-08 / 16-20 is my favorite.  Most times you get the sunrise and sunset.  

November 24th.

Our first morning out of Oakland was foggy yet sunny.  I'll take it.

November 25th.

I tried to get back in the groove by documenting my coffee with a sunrise.  You know....my signature shot.  I got foam blown all over my fingers.  I had to laugh out loud.

November 27th.

Dutch Harbor on arrival = Gorgeous.  Dutch Harbor on departure = snow blowing sideways and an aborted undocking due to high winds - the ship couldn't breast off the dock.

November 29th.

The exciting thing about December First was being able to dig into my Advent Calendar!  Thanks Trader Joes.  Those little chocolates are scrumdiliumptious.

December 1st.

This morning was gloomy.  So, so gloomy.  It was also Thursday instead of Wednesday - after all this time I STILL find the International Date Line confusing!  It's official folks, I'm in East Longitude.

December 4th.

There you have it!  A week in a post!

I hope your Thanksgiving was lovely and that you're gearing up for the Holidays with style!

Packing Light. Or not.

Do you know what I've never been accused of?  Packing Light. 

I'd love to say that after almost ten years at sea I'm a light packer but that couldn't be further from the truth.  For years I had to fly to meet my ships - most times flying Internationally - my luggage was severely restricted.  That being said, I was returning to the same ship over and over so I had a serious stash of goodies that I stored in a storage locker.  

I'd love to say that I had a list that I followed scrupulously but instead I usually fly by the seat of my pants.

See that blue backpack in front?  Wanna know what's lashed to the bottom?  Coffee and a milk frother.

See the target bag hanging off the red duffel?  Wanna know whats inside?  My work boots.  Because my bag was so stuffed I couldn't fit them inside!

See the orange duffel?  Full of food.  Oatmeal, nuts, dried mango, tea...

See the blue shopping bag in the back?  Christmas.  Lights, narcissus bulbs to force, candy to make goodie bags for the crew, a Gingerbread House Kit.  I mean come on, you can't go to sea for Christmas without a Gingerbread House Kit!

So what?  I didn't pack light.  I'm currently snuggled up in a flannel duvet cover (that took up a lot of room I'll have you know).  It's the little things.

I got a ship!

I just absolutely scored at the Union Hall.  

It's a good ship for me because I was just on the sister ship so I'll know my way around a little bit and, I'll also know the run.

I'm not looking forward to freezing temperatures in China but, a couple pieces of good gear go a really long ways.

I ship out on Monday - which gives me ample time to finish packing my sea bags.

i love how this photo divides the room into color and black & white naturally

(and trust me I need time...as you can see my suitcase / sea bag situation is an explosion)

I'm just plain old tickled pink!!!!!!

Blue & White

My favorite color combination.  I've documented it several times here.  Like when I was in the Azores and found a beautiful blue and white church or, when I just posted a single photo of Mediterranean Blue.  Once, I even wrote about having the blues and then spotting some dolphins.

Sometimes (and maybe more times then I care to admit), I stand on the bridge wing and just take photo after photo of our bow wake crumbling into blue waters.  I literally have hundreds of archived photos of various bow wakes.  

There is something so soothing about an ever changing array of white against blue.

Crossing the Pacific (on September the 8th to be exact) - I did just that.  I stood on the bridge wing and let an endless array of blue and white soothe me as I snapped away.  They're not even all in focus and for some reason out of focus works for me.

It's criminal how many of my photos end up in a digital archive.

I hope these soothe you the way they soothe me.

An Early Morning Panorama

I was sitting on the bridge on the morning of September 5th and I was assaulted by a pastel sky.

It was the kind of morning you want to commit to memory.  It was the kind of morning your camera waits for.  It was the kind of morning that is so gorgeous it actually feels overwhelming.  It was the kind of morning that makes you want to call and wake up a friend so that you're not the only one to enjoy it.  

I did my ultimate best to get a panorama with my iPhone...and was glad I did.

This is a scheduled post to keep you company in case I'm incommunicado while I'm Going Nomad!  Thanks for your understanding!  xoxo

The ever elusive dolphin...

Nothing gets me fired up to blog quicker then getting a great shot of a marine mammal.

I've posted quite a few throughout the years here.  Most recently it was of a fin whale.  My archives are a mess from transferring my blog a few times and so seeing older dolphins is nigh impossible.  

The thing is 9 times out of 10 I don't get the shot.  Of all the photos I take of dolphins and whales its very rare for me to get a gem.

They almost all look like this:

I've been trying for a little transparency on the photography front so I figured I'd share a dolphin splash.

For the record, I'll photograph dolphin splashes all day long if it means I might get a gem!