Life aboard the Star ~Sept 07

(Chief Mate Max Taber, Danette, Captain Henry Thorpe)
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Everyday aboard the Star was pretty much a struggle for me. I did get to make some really good friends and had some good time, learn quite a bit and even had some great experiences. But besides my commitment of 12 weeks, Captain Thorpe and Max are the only reason I stayed. They are amazing people and I loved working with them! I can't say enough about them.

Most people are pretty excited when they get to leave American Cruise Lines, including myself. Well, Max, Ned and I had a count down going on the bridge window of when we were leaving. This is mine, three days left to go. Captain and Max drew faces for me so I drew my own also.

(Independence Shore boat)

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My last week, both Captain Thorpe and Max let me drive the launch. I had so much fun! I love the launch anyway, but then even with passengers aboard to get to pretend to be a captain! So much fun! And they even let me dock it, or attempt to dock it anyways. I almost hit a couple of boats, but either the captain or mate was there to give me good directions to get out of the mess I found myself in. I think I was getting the hang of it towards the end. But it could have all just been in my head. I never actually hit anything though, so that was good!

(Lobster pots)
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I wish these lobster pot buoys showed up a little better in this picture. I just wanted to give you a bit of an idea of what we were dealing with up here in Maine. It was so much stress yet so much fun to try to get through these things. I could usually make it through a two hour watch and manage to only hit one (or two). If it was foggy out though, forget it. Didn't even try, we'd just mow them over. There was no hope for navigating around them when you could hardly even see past the bow.