65 hrs in the past week

And I have a day off today. It feels really odd and I have been unsure what to do with myself. Yesterday was a 17 hour day, beginning when I got up at 2:30 am to be to work by 4 and finally ended a bit after 8 pm. Much of it is a blur at the moment but this was the sun rising over the aft of the vessel:




This was leaving the harbor at 4:45:



We went to Kuai to do an open house and it was uneventful, despite the best efforts of the protesters (which brought in the federal marshals as it is a federal offense) and I must confess that the presence of so many guns was refreshing ;-)

After getting home and turning in early (for me anyway), I slept through until 10 this morning. I was exhausted. Now I am all relaxed but I have forgotten what that feels like, so it seems unsettling.

We did some 7p-7a shifts this week, running back and forth between islands and finaly one day (I forget which day it was) we got to cruise during the day and actually see the other islands. Although much of our time was spent cleaning and in classes, I did get a tad nauseous at one point and stepped outside for air as we were going past Molokai and got this pic:



Tomorrow begins a week of "dry runs" with family and friends on fun little trips out to nowhere, so we can practice our skills on passengers who are being comped and non critical before we begin our journeys with paying passengers next week. Maybe then things will mellow to a normal kind of schedule.

I can't say there haven't been days when I didn't have the overwhelming desire to quit, but I have managed to hang in there. I realize that even if we get no encouragement from our superiors (but quite a lot of the "bad dog" verbal slappings), they are as tired as the rest of us, if not moreso, and I personally got a "thank you, great job today" when I was leaving last night. I can't express how good that felt.

I have a deep feeling of satisfaction now and life is getting better and better. Yep, life is good :-)

I gotta go buy some more uniform stuff today, I am missing some things, so until later, love love to you all..........