The Captain let us sleep in till 8 today, the crew was very appreciative of that after such a long day yesterday. After breakfast I started packing my things to go over to the Eagle. The Captain had my arrangements all set so I had to pack fairly quickly to get over there in late morning. I said good bye to all my shipmates and was given a ride over in the Yawl boat. I got on board the Eagle with a warm welcome and soon had a bunk and my stuff stowed before lunch. I forgot a couple of things at the Californian so I found a ferry and went back. While I was there I had lunch and was able to send out some logs at the harbor office. I made my way back to the Eagle and had some time to look around the area that they were in, South Street Sea Port Pier 17 before it got to late. That night I did some writing on the ship and settled in to my bunk for the first night aboard the Eagle. So far it is really different that the Californian. For starters it is much bigger and the protocol is a lot different. It is going to be an experience that is for sure.

The crew was excited about the day even at 4 in the morning, that is the time we had to wake up this morning. We had a quick breakfast of pancakes with fresh fruit and Ruby Red Grapefruit juice. We started putting the ship together for sailing and getting the drinks on ice for the passengers. At 5 AM we boarded passengers and left the dock to motor out of the harbor to meet the fleet of tall ships that was anchored and ready for the parade. As soon as the Eagle appeared out of the mist coming toward the parade route we knew it was happening. We fell in line a couple of ships behind the Eagle and headed in. It was spectacular to see all those great ships inline coming in to New York. You could never imagine the sight of all those ships in one place. Every thing went a lot smother than the rest of the past parades. The Coast Guard kept a real tight blockade to keep the small boats away. After the parade was over we docked, cleaned up the ship and the crew took showers, naps and rested up for the night. Some of the crew and I went aloft to the top yard to watch the fire works, I think we had the pest spot in town. When the largest display of pyrotechnics was over we all went to bed real fast, it was a long and hard day for the crew.

Today was great! I got a chance to look at the Academy before we got too busy cleaning the boat. We started boarding passengers at 8:30 am to participate in the schooner parade down the East River to New York Harbor. There were many different types of schooners there. It was amazing. I even got to see the Alabama, a schooner that had an article in Wooden Boat Magazine on its reconstruction. We sailed past the South Street Seaport Museum and fired a broad side and a swivel as a salute to them. As the afternoon went on we sailed around New York Harbor and arrived at Liberty State Park around 3 to disembark the passengers. The rest of the evening we cleaned up the ship after the passengers left and after a small squall that came through later that night.

Today day was so hot! We had to do open house from 10 in the morning to 6 in the evening. I had the morning off to do some writing and some looking around town. When I came back to the ship for the tours there were so many people on the pier, it was crazy. The crew rotated spots every once in a while answering the same questions all day. We closed for tours at 6 in the afternoon and planned to leave and head down to the Merchant Marine Academy at King's Point for the night. When we got ready to leave, our stern was hard aground. We played the tide by the half-hour so some of the crew that did not have a chance to take a shower did at that time. We soon were able to get underway just before the fireworks started at Glen Cove. We saw great fireworks on the water on our transit to King's Point, where we docked for the night.

It was long day for the crew today, standing in the hot sun during the ships open house. People were standing in line for up to 90 minutes to walk down the series of cobbled together barges and tour the Californian, Mabel Stevens, Idea Due, Phoenix, Kalmar Nyckel, and the Norseman. Several local volunteers helped with crowd control, and lifeguards manned two towers at either end of the long pier. Also a small ferry ran visitors out to the navy frigate John Hall. Thank God for cold drinks -- it was so hot and muggy we could not have been of any use with out them.

We left the Liberty state park marina at 7am this morning to reach "hells gate" at slack water. "Hells gate" is were the East river, Long Island sound and some other river (I forgot the name of it) meet and is supposedly a mad house of currents. We motored up the East River to Long Island sound and got through "hells gate" with no trouble. After we entered the sound, a wind came up so we set sail and headed up the to a place called Oyster Bay. We arrived and had the anchor set just after 4 in the afternoon. It was a small quaint protected bay with amazing scenery. Every body helped clean up the ship and organize the watch bill for the night, so people could go ashore. I was on the second boat in after dinner. We had hamburgers with sweet fried onions and the last of the cold sodas; the ice is running out quick. A small group walked around town and found a neat ice cream place to get a cool refreshment. It was getting late so I headed back to the harbor to take a shower and meet up with Holly a volunteer crewmember. Together we found the local pub were some of the other crew had gone. Charlotte one of the new crew was there so we all sat down and had a drink. We also got brave and had some of the local oysters, on the half shell. They were really fresh and amazingly good. It was getting close to the last boat out to the ship so we finished up and started back to the ship. I had the next watch so I stayed up till 1:30am doing some writing for myself and my log.

We tried sailing in the morning but there was just no wind, so we motorsailed most of the way up to New York. At the entrance we set sail and a nice wind took us into the harbor. New York looked absolutely spectacular coming in. We had to work our way to the main part of the bay, but watching the statue of Liberty coming into view with the skyline of New York behind it, the Twin Towers and everything, just sent chills up my back. After some sailing in the bay the yawl boat was launched. Tom, Robin and I went in the boat with all the cameras on the ship and took some great pictures of the Californian sailing by the statue. We headed over to Liberty State Park Marina, were we docked for the night for the first time in the Big Apple.

Today was our first whole day at sea on the trip from Baltimore. Last night we went through the C&D canal, which connects the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. I was only able to see the beginning of the canal because I had the 12 to 4 a.m. watch, and we were stood down after we entered the canal. When I woke up for breakfast we were in Delaware Bay, sailing down to the Atlantic Ocean. The bay looked big at first glance, but if you squinted you could see a rim of land on either side. After a look at where we were I had breakfast, pancakes with real maple syrup and English muffins along with some great orange juice. I had to push myself to stay awake while I caught up on my writing, because our watch only got 4 hours of sleep before we were awakened for breakfast. When I finally completed the last couple of days' logs, I was sound asleep in my bunk, almost with pen in hand. On my next watch, from 12-4pm, we had a great sail running down Delaware Bay. The wind died as we motored north along the Jersey shore, but as we passed the Ambrose Light, a breeze began to help us into New York Harbor. Nothing exciting happened on our watch as we rounded Cape May, but I could see the lighthouse in the distance. A thunderstorm warning all afternoon caught up with us in the evening. It was not bad, just a lot of rain & lightning.

Another busy day: an open house from 9-1, a daysail from 2-5, and a reception from 6-10. I ran the store with Holly most of the morning. After lunch we cleaned up the boat and got ready for the daysail. To help, I went out in the head rig and loosed the stays'l and the jib. Back on deck, I shackled the stays'l sheets to the clew and led them through fair leads to their cleats.

We have been taking out Ocean Spray employees and customers on daysails at every place we stop. Today on our sail I saw Fort McHenry for the first time. (I was down below when we first came in the harbor.) It's one of the neatest looking forts I have seen, but I haven't seen too many forts. As we sailed into the bay we went by a buoy painted like the U.S. flag. It is to mark the place where the ship that held Francis Scott Key was anchored when he wrote the Star Spangled Banner. There is a little history 4 you.

I slept through a great breakfast of veggie frittatas, steak & onions, and fresh fruit, due to a long sleep less night. I did have a good lunch, chicken breast with a pineapple pesto, Spanish rice, and a garden salad. My watch had the 12-4pm. We had been motoring all morning due to the fact of no wind. The wind did come up in the afternoon so my watch was putting up all the sail, with the help of the people that were on deck. Again today we set all sail. When we do that we call it "light air sailing." We got to the bay where we were going and sailed around. We had to wait for the "Pride of Baltimore" dock so that we could raft up to her. The "Pride" is like a cousin ship to the Californian. She is not exactly a sister ship. There are some differences in her rig and hull. We spent the night rafted to her and all the crew and passengers got a chance to visit the area.

We all got up at 7, had a great breakfast of chicken hash, poached eggs, toast, & more Ocean Spray Ruby Red, and did a wash down. Some of the crew started the work of tuning the rig and the rest of us headed over to the Eagle, where LJ, one of the cadets who sailed with us from Miami, took us aloft. We listened to the safety briefing and climbed up to the topmast crosstrees for a birds-eye view of the festivities. LJ also gave us a tour of the engine room and below decks area. Back on the Californian, some people got the afternoon off, but the mate, bosun, and deckhands continued the rig work. I went to a nearby community college and sent out some email. Back on the ship, I also sent out an IMMARSAT mail to get every thing up to date, and spent a couple of hours on my writing. I also helped clean the main salon and galley with Robin and started picking up things below and above decks so we could get stood down and have dinner. After an all hands dinner of chicken cacciatore, Nettie and I went to the mall. We both needed some company away from the ship. We walked around the mall talking and picking up a couple of things we needed and a couple we did not need. It was already late and we both needed a shower. We went back, showered, did her laundry and talked about the way different ships are run.

The wind came up this morning and cooled the place off a little. We had a very refreshing breakfast of sliced oranges, grapefruit, and pancakes. After the rituals of wash down and clean up we opened up the ship for tours. I worked below the whole morning stripping the bunks of their mattresses and cleaning them from head to toe with hot soapy water. I got the rest of the day off to do some writing. I sent out some more log entries from a computer at a nearby library. I came back to the ship and got ready for a party where I represented the Californian and informed people about the ship and my writing. Later that night I was back at the ship below decks while some caterers and the band cleaned up and guests were leaving an on-board reception. Someone came along and told the ships that a big squall was coming in an hour. To get ready, we cleared the deck of everything that was not stationary, doubled up on our mooring lines & added more fenders before it really came down. You could see and hear it coming; the closer it got the louder the thunder & the brighter the lightning. All at once it was right on top of us. Within seconds of the first drop of rain you could not see twenty feet in front of you. I was often blinded with flashes of lightning and deafened with thunder. We had two feet of water washing around the deck and the force of the wind (60 knots) laid us over about 5-10 degrees and made a fierce howl in the rigging. It lasted about 15-20 minutes. We were not damaged at all, but there were some class A's that got blown around.

We opened the ship for tours at 10:00, after we cleaned up and set up the ship's store. I was stationed at the break of the quarterdeck and later the gangway, helping people to board safely. I got the afternoon off, so I did some shopping, found the library, and saw the town. After a look around and a trip to the mall I sat in a park near the ship to do some writing and talked to some people that walked by. That night we had an Ocean Spray reception on board. There was enough crew present for me to stay below, take notes and write some postcards. I left the ship at a quarter to 10pm to watch the fireworks that Norfolk put on for Opsail2000. It was spectacular to see the bursts of light behind the rigging of the ships.

We got up at 7:30 this morning, had a quick cold cereal breakfast and started boarding passengers from a pilot boat for the "parade of sail." We raised anchor, got underway and fell into position for the parade route. Set some sails, killed the engine and had a great sail in and amongst all these great huge tall ships. I think there were at least another forty ships. It really was a sight to see, all of those spectacular ships. As we sailed in to Norfolk harbor we were greeted with several navy ships in dress, (with flags and pennants, sailors along the side) and a formation of jets from the air force over head. When we went by one of the anchored ships we gave a formal solute, dipped the ensign, fired a gun and gave a hip, hip, hooray. We soon found our slip and got moored up. The rest of the day we cleaned up the ship and moved a lot of stuff (promotional banners and signs.) That night I stayed on board to get some writing done. It was such an exciting day; I do not think it will be comparable to New York though.

The first thing I saw on deck was land, the first time in 6 days, and a very welcome sight too. We had a quick breakfast and started to prepare the ship for a day sail in the bay. The wind was on a steady rise all morning and it was a unanimous vote to go sailing. We left the anchorage with out even starting the motor, which was awesome! We sailed around the bay for a couple of hours, looking at all the other ships that were anchored in the bay. We came back to the anchoring spot about three that afternoon and had another swim call. The water was so refreshing after a long day's sail. Every body got out, cleaned up and the group that was not on watch for the next 8 hours when ashore with a pilot boat. I stayed and filled in for the Eagle cadet that does not get very much liberty. Tomorrow will be big, the parade of sail into Norfolk Harbor.

Today I slept through breakfast, catching up on a late night's sleep. I was up in time for lunch and we had veggie, turkey and hamburgers with onions. The captain waited until after lunch before calling swim call again. The water had changed color so you would think it would change temperature. Yes, it did, it was about 10-15 degrees different than last time. After swim call we all went our own way, the next watch got some sleep and the off watch did some day work. I had the 8-12 p.m. watch and we had to keep a close eye on the boat traffic. We were getting closer to land. We were expected to arrive at Hampton Roads Bay in the next watch. We had a really good day except the heat. It is really hot. I hope when we get to land that it will cool off.

Today was so much fun! I was on the 4-8 a.m. watch. That is one of the better ones to be on, you get to see the sun come up. My watch was in charge of the wash down, we just did the basic salt and fresh water. I had a great breakfast of fresh pineapple, cooled bread pudding and sweet fried onions, with a lot of Ocean Spray juice (they are our main sponsor.) Just before lunch the captain called a swim call. Oh, the water was like taking a bath! Not to mention we were right in the middle of the Gulf Stream. We spent quit a long time in the water; we didn't want to get out. We got cleaned up and dried off and soon had lunch. There was not very much wind so we motored until a light breeze came up and we set a couple of sails to help with the roll of the ship. Later that evening we had a luau on deck for dinner. We all got some kind of festive clothing on, got the music out and the food and played pictionary and hang man as the sun gave us a spectacular sun set.

Today was our second full day at sea. My watch had a quick breakfast before going on deck for the 8-12am watch. Yesterday's Wind died down last night and it was still calm this morning. Small clouds flowed by, and the day was hot with a light breeze. Ian, the first mate was busy all afternoon making wind scoops for the ship. These simple tubes made of sheets or old flags help funnel a breeze below decks, where it can get squelching hot. Just before my dog watch from 6- 8pm, as I was typing up my log, someone spotted a pod of dolphins. They swam up to our bow wake and played there for some time. Becca, one of the ships crew, was hanging from the dolphin striker chains under the bowsprit and almost touched one of the dolphins. The day ended with sea shanties (songs that sailors used to help keep in rhythm, now used for pleasure) and a phenomenal sunset, yes I got pictures.

We had a great day of sailing today on our first full day out, with about 15 knots of wind. The Gulf Stream helped as well to push us N-NE, right where we want to go. The ship heeled over under the press of the four lowers (mainsl, foresl, staysl, and jib) causing everybody to walk in that jerky unstable way peculiar to the sea. The day started at midnight with the change of watches. Underway, the ship sails throughout the night and the crew is divided into three watches, one of which is in charge of the ship at all times. One person steers, another is assigned to bow watch, and a third does "boat checks," checking all systems and compartments. Safety first! The officer of the watch will take the deck, dictate the course, plot our position on the chart, and make major decisions about the set of the sails and status of the engine. This evening we celebrated LJ's birthday with delicious, if tilted, "starboard tack brownies." An excellent day overall.

Today was one of the best days so far, despite the craziness of preparing the ship for sea. The fuel truck was late, the gangway gouged the Governors Cabin hatch, and we still had to fill the fresh water tanks and stow personal and ships items for sea. We hit the deck running after a quick breakfast of quesadillas with egg, ham, and cheese. As usual we did a wash down and clean up of the deck. We also boarded two cadets from the Eagle for the trip to Norfolk. They were a very welcome addition to the crew. I will jump ahead a little. After the parade of sail leaving, we had a spectacular sail. The ship heeled over with a nice fresh breeze, water poured through the scuppers and crashed of the bow. With the exception of two squalls and their accompanying down pours it was a great sail. Upon arrival in Port Everglades, we dropped off our day sail passengers and picked up the passenger that would sail with us to Norfolk. We left early and started watches as soon as we cleared the breakwater.

We had a light breakfast of eggs, bagels and cereal. We did our normal wash down and clean up about 8:00 a.m. I had the day off from my crew days so I left the ship at about 10:00 a.m. to go see the Eagle for a behind-the-scenes tour. The night before a couple of cadets came over from the Eagle to see our ship. They offered to give anyone who came over a tour. A young lady named Alie gave me the tour. As we walked the corridors she pointed things out. Like the male first, second, and third class sleeping quarters. She also took me places like the crew long, mess hall, the officers' territory and the Captains aft cabin, (which by the way has a print of the Californian in it.) I then took a couple of turns around the deck and took some pictures. I soon left, thanking them for their courtesy and found a nice place under a palm tree to do some writing. I spent most of the day catching up on the two previous days. After I finished my writing and taking some pictures I called it a day.

(1) What was the most fun?
(2) What meant the most to you?
(3) What was most valuable to you?
(4) What was the greatest highlight?
(5) What made the biggest impression?
(6) what were you most thankful for?
(7) Has it had any impact on planning your future?

We understand that you had and have been picking up passengers.
1) How many?
2) Do they get off at a port?
3) What do they do?
4) Did they have to pay?
5) Where are they from?
6) What did you have to do to get to be a passenger?

Eye of The Wind -If they have seen "White Squall", the movie was filmed on Eye of the Wind so they can get a little bit of an historic view.  Pass that along and if they haven’t seen the movie White Squall, they can rent it. But they haven’t seen it they should wait until after his trip because he might get a little scared going on the trip. So mention that and if they haven’t seen it, don't see the movie until after the trip as a courtesy. They might run into some rough weather, so who knows.

We have wake ups at 7:00 a.m., breakfast at 7:30 and what we call a "turn to" at 8:00. A turn to is when we start working on the ship or on things that have to do with the running of the ship. We always start out with a wash down and brass polish. That will take about 30 minutes to an hour depending on how dirty the deck is. Then we start preparing the ship for the tours, putting up banners, informational signs about the ship and what we are doing, and setting up the ship's store were we sell things like shirts, hats, cups, pins, post cards and our bi-monthly flyer. We open for tours around 10 and they normally go till about 5 or 6. There are three different stations that have to be manned; the ramp, the break of the quarterdeck and the main deck. The first two you basically help people come aboard and welcome them, the third is just answering questions and giving out info on the ship. When the tours are closed we pick up the signs, banners and any thing that may have to go inside. We have dinner about 6 and after that the crew that does not have duty can go do what they like. That is our basic day at dockside.

Our typical day at sea is a little different.

a) mugs (has our Millennium Voyage logo in color)  ($10.00)
b) hats (the Revenue Cutter Californian logo in color)  ($15.00)
c) t-shirts (Millennium Voyage logo in color on front - ship line drawing on back)   ($15.00)
d) postcard (the Californian & USCG Cutter Tybee)   ($1.00)
e) cloisonné pin (Millennium voyage logo in color)   ($5.00)

That's about it. The items are for sale on the ship - we don't have stock in the (California) office.

2) <EDITOR:  We will attempt to assemble an order for items on a first come first served basis and forward it to the ship through the California office.   Check back for ordering information.>>