Day 9 - The Tall Ship Festival

July 22

The next morning I awoke and wandered down to the hostel kitchen to see what was happening.  People often assemble here to make breakfast from the food they bring.

The hostel kitchen was awesome!  It had a couple of huge fridges for guests and tonnes of cupboard space, along with several coffee mugs and not to mention the free coffee in which to fill them!  They didn't have sugar, but I'm sweet enough (cheese alert!).

Shortly after seating myself, Steve arrived.  We got talking about our respective plans for the day.  He was riding down to Pegg's Cove for the day.  I had laundry that was in desperate need of doing (I won't tell you how desperate!), plus I wanted to head down to the docks to check out the Tall Ship Festival!

Except leaving a hostel without running into people and connecting with them is hard for me.  No sooner had Steve left that I met Danielle - from Emerald Park (i.e. Regina!). Small world!
Shortly after meeting her, her friend Rob introduced himself to me.  Rob is a waiter at one of the local restaurants.  After learning that I was new to the area, he immediately sat down and starting pointing things out to me on my tourist map.

Rob spoke to me in great detail about the cools things to do, many of the things not already on the map!  I was taken aback, he was going out of his way to offer help, and I hadn't even asked for it! I was getting a great taste of maritime hospitality!

I wandered down to the local grocery store to get some lunch for the afternoon.  I wanted to get some fruit and whole grains in me.  I try to have them when I can on road trips.

While I was standing in the grocery line, I heard a voice say to me "you don't find the tabloids very interesting, do you?"  I turned around to see a young girl.  "Not really I said".  "I don't blame you, she said". She had an accent I didn't quite recognize, so I asked her if she was from Halifax.  "No, I'm a crew member of the tall ship Providence". Providence as in Providence, Rhode Island.

"The Providence is the party boat", she said.

"Oh really" I said. "And how does one get invited"

"Luck of the draw".

"And how do I get the luck of the draw?"

"Well that's up to you", she smiled.

Hmmmm, step out of my comfort zone....

I followed the lovely lady down to the parking lot.  She was wearing a flower dress, and had an umbrella to block out the sun's powerful rays. The sun was full on today.

"Hey Providence!" I yelled, as I didn't have this woman's name.

"So my words got your attention?" she replied.

"The words 'party' and 'boat' do", I said.

She laughed.  I joined her for her walk to the docks.

We got talking and I found out that Channing is a deck hand on the ship. 

We got to the docks, and walked around, listening to the wonderful buskers performing.

There was a Scottsman dressed in full regalia, blowing mightily into his bagpipes.  I looked around expecting William Wallace to come charging on the scene, but no luck.

We came upon a middle aged man playing the ukalalie (sp?).  In fact it was an electric one.  Channing and he got talking, and I learned from the conversation that Channing also plays one.  She also plays the clarinet.

She and I got talking about ship life.  I asked her why she sails on tall ships.  Her answer was "Why not?"

She went on to explain that you cannot be selfish or weak on a tallship.  I think she meant weak as in character.  Being selfish means the ship will not function.  Having said that, she said her crew was disfuntional, but in a funny way that works for everyone, most importantly the ship herself.

We soon said goodbye, as she had to make a phone call.  No invite.  I was slightly dissapointed, but very glad I spoke to her.

I wandered around the docks.  The place was alive with activity!  There was a group of young people huddled together singing sea shanties.  There were the buskers.  And of course there were the tall ships. 

For $5 you could buy a pass that would get you a tour of any of the tall ships, as many times as you wanted.  I was on this like a fly on peanut butter!

After wandering a bit, I saw something that blew me right down to my landlubber socks.  I saw the tall ship Picton Castle.

For those of you unfamiliar, there was a reality show (well more like a documentary) that came out about 10 years ago called the Tall Ship Chronicles.  Joel Younghusband (you may know him from Canada's Worst Driver) became a volunteer crew member of the Picton Castle.  His camerman filmed Joel and his life and that of his other crew members while the Castle sailed 18 months around the world.  It was not your typical reality show.  In my view, these shows are scripted at times.  This was 100% pure real.  The people on this ship were real.  They laboured and bled their working hands red together.  They formed lasting relationships, and some came right of their shells.  If you get a chance, watch this program.  It will make you fall in love with tall ships.  It certainly did for me.

I boarded the Picton Castle and was instantly vibrating.  I gazed upward at her tall masts.  They reached high into the heavens, going on seemingly forever. I could see the rat tails (thanks to Channing for telling me what they are called).  These are the rope ladders the crew uses to scale the masts and open and fold up the sails (pardon the laymen terms, I am not fully versed in the language!).

I checked out the communincations room, and got to see the kitchen.  It was tiny and hot as hell!  I imagined this to be the worst duty on the ship!

I was only allowed to explore the upper deck, as everything else was roped off.  I was still thrilled though. 

BTW, for a cool 60 grand (at least that is what it cost the last time I looked), you can be a working crew member on her next aroound the world voyage.  They leave this October.

I explored a few other Tall Ships, including the Bounty.  Yes, that's what I said!  She is a replica, and was used to represent the original in the movie the Bounty. She also played the role of a litle ship called the Black Perl, in the Pirates of the Carribean movies.  Perhaps you have heard of them? ;-)

I continued down the waterfront.  Once again Channing and I crossed paths.  She was still talking to Mike, the ukalalie player. 

She asked me if I was joining her and Mike and the ship's crew for their private party.  It was due to start at 5pm, right after the tours of the ships was done.

"Ummm, yeah!"  I exclaimed.

I ran off to fetch a bottle of white wine.

I got to the boat, but security was there.  I yelled to guy on the boat "Is Cocoa [her nickname] there?"
"Yeah!" returned the man.  "I see you come bearing a gift." 

"Yes, it's wine" I said.

"well in that case, you may come aboard".

I climbed aboard and joined the party.

Channing was right, it was a real motley crue.  And they were awesome.

I met James, the fellow who gave me permission to come aboard.  I found out James has lived in Switzerland as an outdoor instructor.  He has visited Russia twice, once during Communism and once after it fell.  Man I wish I could have visited Russia before the iron curtain fell!

I met a few of the crew members who were on board for just a few weeks. They were volunteering their time and told me how much they were loving the experience.

The whole time spent on the ship was had to music and cheer.  Channing with her clarinet, Mike with his ukalali, a young fellow with his bongos, all joined for a big jam session.  Wine flowing and cheese and snacks for all to share!

Soon after dark the party on the Providence ceased - it was time to move to a new venue - the tall ship Peacemaker!

After arriving on the boat, we were quickly offered root beer floats.  Ahhh...

Not long afterwards the began.  This was a nightly occurence of the Tall Ship Festival.

After an hour of live music and talk, our crew headed back to Providence. There we were going to take on new guests - pirates!

Shortly after we got back on the Providence, two pirates from the Bounty arrived.  And not only did they dress like pirates, they spoke just like them.  Many "arrghs" were uttered.

I got talking to one of them.  In his "normal voice", he told me that he is an IT guy during the week, a pirate on the weekends during the summer.  There is about 4 of them who own the company Pirates of Halifax.  They even have a B team of pirates for when they get overbooked!

Suddenly strong words and emotions came about, and this wasn't because of any pirate activity.  James was furious at Channing.  Apparently she was considering a move to another tall ship in the coming days. In the end I think it was all a big misunderstanding about schedules and commitments.
Everything ended peacefully, but hurt feelings did remain. Thankfully there were no swords drawn or muskets fired!

Well the pirates were off.  I told the pirate I was speaking to my name.  I then asked for his.  He stopped, turned around, and said to me with a smile and a wink, "Davy Jones".

It was now time for me to make my leave.  I gave Channing a big hug.  We promised to keep in touch.

I walked home feeling very tired, but in high spirits.  Take yourself out of your comfort zone, I thought to myself.