Post-sailing

Well, it was certainly an amazing trip.
10 days of sailing, from the very bottom of Vancouver Island to the very top. If you've never been in desolation sound, you have no idea just how beautiful it is.

So I woke up at about 4:30AM July 25th, and didn't have any problem getting out of bed. My dad drove me to the airport, and by 7:00, I was sitting in my seat. At 7:30 (BC time now), I landed in Victoria International Airport, picked up my bags, and headed to the White Spot for a quick breakfast of waffles with whipped cream and strawberries. Next, I heaved my bags over to the desk of the shuttle bus, bought a ticket to take me to the Empress, and commenced sitting in the bus for another hour, iPod in hand. We got underway, and I was dropped off in front of the magnificent Empress Hotel, right across from the Victoria public warf. Lug my bags across the street, and have a seat on the docks, knowing I have an hour still to go before I can get on the boat at 11:30. In a few minutes, the Swift motors into the harbor, and a flurry of shutters and beeps announces it's arrival. Yes, I took 2 pictures as it came in, but that was the most touristy thing I did. A few minutes later, I spotted someone I knew! Krystal, who happened to have sailed with me last year, was on this trip as well! It was really nice to see a familiar face right then. Of course, it was right around that time that a whole lot more people I knew joined us, until we had a group of about 6 of us, all from trip 1 last year. Fun times! Anyways, 11:30 rolled around, and everyone clamoured aboard the Swift, anxious to get going. We all stood in line to go down to the aft cabin, to 'check in' and get notes and such. Knowing the routine, I strateigically placed myself near the head of the line in order to get a good bunk. Luckily, I was the first guy down below, so I got my favourite bunk, number 25. My head is right beside the galley (kitchen), and it's in the middle, so it's not too squished like the top row is, and it's not at the bottom, where everyone sits. I think it's really the best bunk personally...
Ok, so now I'm on the boat, trying to start learning names. You can tell the people who have never sailed before - they're much too scared to talk to anyone right off the bat, so it's the returnees who do a lot of the talking. That goes away pretty quickly though! By the time we went below for 'the talk', I was pretty confident with a lot of the names, unlike last year. So yeah, the crew go through a bunch of things that we need to know, and then by 1 or 2, we start the engine and motor out of the harbor.

From there, I don't think I'll recount the rest of the 10 days to you, because I can hardly separate the days myself. Either way, it was an amazing trip, and I'll have to tell you about it in person sometime soon!


And before I go, I just want to give a quick update:
I am currently at Shuswap, hoping to be coming home on Monday, but possibly as late as Wednesday, depending on how things go. I am dying to talk to everyone, so either send me an e-mail, or arrange a time to be on MSN, and I'll do my best to match that.
Wow, that trip changed SO much of me, I can't even begin to describe it. There are definitely parts of my life that will never be the same again, and there are some things that I worried about that I will never think about again. There are some things that really bother me about the trip, like the distance between where I live and other people live, particularly because I'm never going to see them again. That's what really bothers me about the trip. But I also love it, because when I was on that boat, I had a family of 38, and I loved every single one of them. To sing when you want to, heck, to start singing and have everyone else join you? It doesn't get much better than that. I miss it already.

I miss you already.

I want to talk again.