Well today seems like a quiet enough day to write an update. I left on what was supposed to be a 4 month deployment sailing the seas, I was prepared mentally, physically, and was on ship at sea. 5 hours after leaving Halifax I got called into the office on ship and was told that I am being recalled back home, I am to fly home at the next port. To say I was disappointed is an understatement, I was wrecked, heart sore and furious, why does this happen I am already sailing, I am already here, I have done everything I needed to to be here and I am called back just like that. After taking my moment of frustration and yes tears, taking the moment to feel the emotions then I thought well I will just have to live up my 8 days at sea the best I can thinking I will have evenings of games with the crew. What I did not count for was that this ship is a tight knit family orientated ship, but not for new comers, being always the new person on ship I am constantly trying to integrate, this tight knit ship doesn’t want to integrate with new people, in the mess (where we eat and relax) they are only playing video games and watching very inappropriate shows (a lot of adult scenes) this makes it very hard to want to hang out in there, I have brought my cross stitch in there sometimes when they put on shows that are not huge on adult scenes, but I only last maybe 10-15 min, it really bugs me how tv and movies are the main thing, there is no conversation or interaction. The other thing I did not take into consideration was the fact that the command crew is furious, no they are not furious at me, but considering I am the one leaving then they are taking it out on me, it is extremely hard not to feel like the target.
The last couple days they seas have been in extreme sea state, to the point where minimum manning was put into place and the crew was sent to their bunks, myself and many others did not sleep well that night because of fear of being tossed out of bed, even with our bed belts on it was still hard to sleep due to being violently tossed around. During the day, my chair moved from one side of the room to the other and therefore makes working very hard to do. Today the seas have calmed to 2 meter swells and that is very nice to move around and work on.
I wont sit here and say that this is horrible, unfair, wrong, maddening (Yes I have thought those things) because I am going to sit here and say to myself, you get to be on sea even if its just for a week, you get to see a new place (The Azores Islands), you get to watch the dolphins play in the waves we create everyday, you get to learn even more things ship life wise, and you get to be home for the summer, first time in a few years.
Definitely not what I had planned for this sail, but I am taking it in stride, and see what crazy amazing awesome adventure will come next.