Like this:

So in the past week we have all been working tirelessly.  Rachel, a friend from SF who is also with us, is heading up our finishing team, working on making everything look good.  Sanding, varnishing, etc. Noah, whom I met through a friend in SF, and before we came out here I had never met, is continuing to head up the major construction. Building the hard rails around the boat, ceilings, etc. And I have been trying to finish the electrical systems.  Last week we moved our main power board out of the engine room, since it wasn’t safe in there in case of fire, and a few days ago i plug it back in to our shore power (without the previous connectors that were used) and for some reason the one bathroom fan that was on, sparked and caught part of our A/C system on fire!!! But in the last few days I went around and found out that the cable that came with the boat was macgyvered differently than i tought, causing 220v to run through it without a ground. So it was still my fault, but not as much as i previously thought.  So i fixed that and the boat electronics are back in working order, and more importantly they are safe for the crew.  I have also gotten most of the 12v system back in line and wired up, and should be able to be activated in the next few days.  The engine room is also mostly complete.  I finished one of our engines (with the wonderful help of michelle and justin) and the other i am just waiting on the starter celluloid to get back from being repaired.  There is still a lot of little projects to be finished on my side, and i am still waiting on several parts, flood lights, float switches, etc, but should be completely done with all the important aspects of my system soon.

Personally, this has been a hard week to work. I threw my back out last week, which i had never done before, and has been incredibly painful.  Whenever i get injured i tend to continue to push through it, much to the dismay of Dr. Ben and others on the crew.  So it has taken a little longer to heal than i had hoped, but started to improve today, making it much easier to work.  We also had a little visitor this week.  Over the past few months, we have had manatees, dolphins, crocks, etc swimming down past the boat, but never have any of them stopped to hang out.  This week we had a manatee come by and just hang out in the shade of the boat for a half our.  It was pretty cool.  A few months back those of us who were here went swimming with manatees on the west coast of FL, so it was nice to see one of them again.  They really are beautiful creatures (not in some ways definatelly, but they are just so relaxed and peaceful). 

Medical school applications are also in full swing.  Yes i have been crazy enough to apply even with all the stuff here to deal with.  I have put in secondaries to over 20 schools, and still are waiting on a few others, but i decided last minute to apply to the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland.  So i got that one done, and still have a few others to finish for the states, hopefully i will make time to get them done soon.  It is a little stressful getting them done to say the least.

I am also running into a few snags in planning the logistics for the trip.  I have been the one planning and coordinating everyone’s comings and goings, but this week several back steps have been taken as more problems with the number of people have been brought up.  The main concern being how much food we can actually store on board.  So Ben, Sky, Capt. J (who is going to captain our boat for a while), and I are going to have to sit down and figure out the logistics so i can actually have some answers for people.  We still do not have a departure date, but it should be coming soon which will make my job easier.  I have already had to redo the sailing schedule 8 or 10 times, which is hard enough as it is with all the other changes going on, but i guess it just a learning experience that i may benefit from later. 

Anyhow, Sky has worked up yet another amazing dinner, and the table is set for all of us to sit down and go over todays jobs and plan for tomorrow. 

More stories to follow…

Advertisement