Rise up

So for the last two months I’ve been deployed sailing in the Arctic with the navy, there has been a great journey overall, I’ve been keeping a journal and can post it here when I’m home if interested. I will be home in three days, however I have the funniest story to tell you, that just can’t wait.

Today the waves are 4 meters high and the ship was swaying insanely, it was honestly fun! It was side to side, then up and down, sometimes it was side to up and side to down, so we are all walking like drunken pirates on the flats, if someone was not walking like a drunken pirate they wouldn’t have their sea legs at all, thankfully o haven’t seen that. Some of the sailors are extremely sea sick, I feel so back for chronic sea sick sailors, I can’t imagine how awful that would be.  Anyways back to the story, my friend Elisabeth and I (we have become quite close friends) decided we wanted to go outside to watch the waves, this is her maiden voyage so she is so excited about these things, don’t get me wrong I also am excited too but she is first time excited. So we put on our fleeces and toques then find out what decks are open, (in wild weather they sometimes close off decks they feel are too dangerous.) and we head outside to the quarter deck, that is the farthest back deck lowest to the water. We are watching the waves, commenting on the big ones and moving out of the way so we don’t get splashed, we thought we were fine, well the sea had other plans, and what we didn’t realize which we stupidly should have, was that and our feet are quite big holes so that the water on deck can drain out. We are standing and gleefully looking and commenting when boom a waves sneaks into those hole and soaks us from waist down! Completely drenches us, there is no saying it was just a little, no the waves didn’t just give us a high five or a love tap, no, it full on tackled us, I have to imagine it went like this. “ look at those two avoiding every wave that comes near, there must be a way to soak them, I bet someone to figure it out.”  Then one must have said said here hold my seaweed and watch this.” Resulting in sneaking up on us and completely soaking us, then, after we got absolutely drenched I bet it went back to the sea took back its seaweed from the other wave and laughed to high heavens.  Ellie and I laughed and laughed, then we went inside and changed, we were so wet I literally had to wring my sock out in the sink, we changed uniforms and boots and then went and told everyone the story of how the waves rose up (pun intended) to meet the challenge.