July 1, Canada Day started by sailing off the hook from the harbour at Wreck Bay as we departed the Galapagos Islands, bound for Pitcairn Island, about 2800nm away. Shortly after Picton Castle got out to sea, the Canadians on board met to plan and organize an event to celebrate our national day. The crew are happy to have things to celebrate, so we hope to do something for the national day of each of the nine nationalities we have on board, and maybe a few nationalities we might not have…
The Canadian festivities began at 1630 with all of the crew dressed in Canadian outfits, which included lots of red and white, but also a few interesting costumes – we had Rick Mercer in attendance, along with Avril Lavigne, a couple of hockey players, a lumberjack or two and a Tim Hortons employee. We started with the singing of “O Canada” then moved on to a human bingo game where everyone had to go around to find out who has done the typically Canadian things on the bingo card. Once they found someone who had, that person signed the square. The first person to have their whole card filled won. It was funny to be asked if I had shot a moose, gone curling, lived in Nunavut, or driven a zamboni. Partway through the game, Tim Hortons opened up in the port breezeway. Meredith and Paula were giving out Timbits (donut holes, to you do not know Tim Hortons, the nationwide coffee shop chain, like Dunkin Donuts), coffee, hot chocolate and peach juice in exchange for answers to Canadian trivia questions. The next event on the main deck was a hockey game. Deck brushes were turned into hockey sticks, a crushed can was the puck and two crew members holding hands on each end were the goal posts. Goalies Davey and Jehle had pillows duct taped to their shins for padding. Rebecca refereed and the final score was 3-1.
The final event of the afternoon was curling. Like the hockey game, we had to make some small adjustments to play on the slanted deck of a moving ship in the tropics. The playing surface was marked with masking tape and wet down with salt water to be more slippery, the deck brushes stood in once again as curling brooms and we used little plastic jars of peanut butter and honey as stones. The celebration wrapped up with two Stan Rogers tunes – Northwest Passage and Barrett’s Privateers. With some help from the Canadians, dinner included poutine (a dish of french fries, cheese curds and gravy) along with beef, salad and Nanaimo bars for dessert.
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