Wednesday 10/14/09

Emotional wires are wearing thin and quarters seem closer than ever before. Food is abysmal, the water undrinkable, and tensions are on the rise. This has become a test of spirit, and through it all I have done my best to stay positive. Tom had it out with eric again, and though a very easy going guy, has not learned to let the passive aggressive nature of a crusty old salt slip. I admit it is not easy at times to put up with the rigid and strange manner that many years spent alone has engendered in this captain, but it is usually best just to keep one's mouth shut. This spat was about the food situation on the boat, which is indeed terrible(which i think is pretty fair coming from someone who will eat almost anything). Tom was making a grilled cheese sandwich for a snack, and Eric made some passive aggressive comment about him not eating lunch(some less than desirable leftover canned turkey concoction with canned mushroom soup) and hogging the cheese or something. Like I said Tom is having a harder time adjusting to such a weird diet, and has hardly been eating. I imagine he has lost a good deal of weight on this trip- I know I have! He finally let fly the resentment of the, as he put it, "over the edge nature of an old fart". Not very respectful, but at the same time I understood his resentment. Eric is very stubborn about being the "chef" and has made the same few dishes over and over, all out of canned or preserved food. No fresh veggies, no fresh fruits, and he conjures up strange things like sardines and pickled chutney that only a Brit in finest form could do. We are allowed to go through the "snack locker" if we are hungry during the day, which is comprised of stale oat and raisin cookies(which brings back the good ol' days at south emporia bible chapel :)), some old chocolate mints, and instant tomato soup-hardly enough to satisfy what is now a constantly growling stomach. One day I got out a can of mixed fruit cocktail from, unbeknownst at the time, the "chef's locker" and he jumped down my throat saying that he needs to know exactly what was there for sake of inventory and he can't have crew rummaging through. I didn't even know it was "the chef's locker"- it was just an unorganized jumble of canned foods! I brushed off the ridiculousness of it all and apologized saying it was an innocent mistake(which it was). Another time later in the week, I humbly asked for permission if it was alright if I cooked a box of macaroni and cheese. He was hesitant, saying we need to watch our stores(there were like 15 boxes of them!) and let fly some comment about his cooking not being good enough. I told him we had more then enough to see us through to San Fran, and that I would buy him more boxes when we got there if need be. He reluctantly acquiesced, albeit with some other passive aggressive comment that I chose to ignore. What is far worse than the food situation is the water situation. The first part of the trip I didn't really notice how bad the water was, but for about a week now I have hardly been able to drink any without feeling sick. It has a strange metallic aftertaste which tingles the spine and leaves one wanting to wretch. Not even the instant coffee or tea masks it anymore! The water is clouded with particles and like I say, just tastes toxic. It is either bad dock water from Dutch Harbor or a dirty tank- I get the feeling it is very much a combination of the two. I tried foregoing it for a few days and just getting by on coca cola and beer(which for the first time in my life I was grateful for the cheap so-called "water-beer" that I have always ragged on). I would wake up for watch with a parched throat and suck on a stale chocolate mint to get my saliva running again. A can of warm millers genuine draft is not exactly my idea of a palatable drink at 4 in the morning in high seas. My urine turned as yellow as daffodils and I was slowly feeling the effects of dehydration on my body. I have finally resorted to choking down a few sips of this bad water at a time throughout the day, or as much as i can manage before feeling sick. Toxic or no, it is better than the raging thirst, and at a certain point even the bilge water looked tempting. I just have to shrug my shoulders and keep a silent countdown in my head for when we raise San Fran. The first thing I will do(after a shower of course) will be find a tasty ribeye somewhere with a fine red wine, and swish it all down with a chocolate milkshake for desert. Right now the ETA is saturday morning. Although I have enjoyed this trip I can't wait for a break from this mild lunacy!