Halifax to Boston – Days 2 and 3

We made it … sort of.

My first thirty-six hours at sea were great. We left Halifax at 8:00 pm on Monday evening with a pilot onboard to help us navigate the 8 mile channel leading from Bedford Harbor to the north Atlantic. Once we got rid of the pilot, we increased our speed to a screaming 10 knots. I don’t know exactly how fast 10 knots is, but I feel sure that I could walk faster than this ship moves.

Once underway, although I felt a little nauseous, I am happy to say I did not get sick. However, our web person and new assistant cook did not fare as well. The assistant cook was down for the count for the first 18 hours. But by last evening he was feeling better and - as I have been told – a happy cook is a good cook.

Tuesday was great. I got up and got some campaign work done, preparing for my presentations at all the stops over the next month. After finishing a day's worth of work, we had a great barbeque on the aft deck of ship. The main course – venison ribs. I’ll be honest, I was pretty worried about the food onboard, but the cook is a former traveling chef from Cirque de Soleil, and the dude is good. The food has been amazing, with a nice variety – from vegan to meat lovers.

After dinner, I gave an hour-long presentation on the campaign to crew in the ship's hold. It was a little loud, but with an LCD projector, I was able to give them my awesome power point presentation. It’s really important to include the crew in as much of the campaign work as possible. They want to do more than just swab decks and paint; they want to feel like they are part of the campaign – which they are.

I have not had the best nights sleep of life in the past two days. Between the engine noise – and every item in my cabin vibrating - it’s hard to sleep. So I got up at about 6:00 this morning and went up to the bridge to check our position. While I was up there, we saw at least a dozen whales. It was really nice – I spent about 2 hours there before going down and starting my chores. This morning's chores … you guessed it ... more bathrooms. It's all worth it because over lunch the crew told me how much it meant to them that I was willing to clean the bathrooms. This is good because - as I posted earlier – they were a bit cold upon my arrival.

So back to the “we made it … sort of." Upon arrival into the Boston Harbor area, we again had a pilot board to help us navigate our way to our berth in Boston’s inner harbor. However, it was a short trip. Because the ship was not carrying an AIS transponder – a device that allows the coast guard to identify us, along with indicating our course and speed information - they refused us entry into Boston. So I am currently sitting about 4 miles from Boston at anchor. It’s been a beautiful day, with tons of fin whales around the ship all afternoon. One came just past the bow while at anchor.

We hope to procure the AIS transponder by tomorrow morning, and then try again for Boston. Stay tuned …