By Chelsea McBroom April 13th, 2014 Port went ashore to Palmerston Island while starboard stayed on board to continue with a day of ships work. Melbourne, a man from Palmerston, came by asking if we had any soap to spare and so I brought him a bag full of bars to take back. Some locals […]
By Lily Donovan March 31st, 2014 Editor’s note: Lily Donovan joined Picton Castle as a trainee in Sydney last October and has been aboard ever since. When our regular cook, Donald Church, left the ship in Tahiti for some time off, Lily took over as ship’s cook. She wrote a letter to friends and family
By Chelsea McBroom March 29th, 2014 It quit raining soon after the Picton Castle sailed from Huahine and it somehow got even more hot and sunny. We had hit a high and there was barely any wind (and, it seemed, no air below decks to breathe). We laughed when switching over helm duty, not sure
By Chelsea McBroom March 28th, 2014 After the starboard watch returned to the Picton Castle from their overnight expedition in the monomoy, they told us excitedly that they had sweet revenge on the sand crabs that had bothered the port watch the night before. Late at night they decided to cook and eat them all,
By Chelsea McBroom March 27th, 2014 It was decided at the last minute that I should join the port watch on their overnight trip in the monomoy, our rowing/sailing longboat. It was a Sunday In Huahine, when everything is closed or closes early, and I knew that I would accomplish more on my To Do
By Chelsea McBroom March 25th, 2014 Starboard watch had their day off ashore at the French Polynesian island of Huahine while port watch was aboard the Picton Castle loosing and drying sails. Our original plan for our day off was to rent kayaks for the day and paddle around the island, making a stop at
By Chelsea McBroom March 21st, 2014 It was so hot aboard the Picton Castle I had to sneak out of the foc’sle to the cargo hatch amidships more than once to sleep. I was the only one who did, which probably had to do with the unbelievable gusts of wind that came through Cooks Bay
By Chelsea McBroom March 19th, 2014 The Picton Castle arrived in Moorea in the early afternoon, just hours after sailing away from Papeete, and anchored in Cooks Bay. The water was brown with sediment and the current strong. Moorea is another very green lush island but with many peaks and the full sky of clouds
By Chelsea McBroom March 16th, 2014 On Thursday it began to pour in Papeete, where the Picton Castle was alongside. Even if the rain became lighter, it seemed to always be raining and for two days following. I know it’s just water but it seems to make everything more difficult; it ruins any plans to
By Chelsea McBroom March 14th, 2014 Grocery shopping in other parts of the world is not like grocery shopping in North America. The Picton Castle‘s agent here in Papeete drove me, our new cook Lily, Anne-Laure (apprentice and our French translator for the day) and Maria to the Carrefour – the biggest grocery store in
