Put a fork in me I’m done!

medallion4Wow, I’m soooo F’n tired.

I’ve been grinding, welding, cutting, demoing, building, from  7am (getting up at 5:30) to 7:30 – 11:00 pm every night since I’ve been here. Only 6 more days to go, I want to go home. Sometimes I wonder if I can make it?

All I do is get up, do a little stretching, go to breakfast, and go to work. After work I go to dinner, come back to my room, have a few beers, go to sleep, and do it all over again, it’s like evil groundhog day :( I don’t go to lunch so I can have a quiet hour during the day. I haven’t been off the ship since I got here. I saw the moon the other night and it made me smile. I want to feel the wind and rain soon.

The ships moral is a  low as they have so many tired, hungry, and away from weldinghome men with taxed attitudes. A few fights have been breaking out.  Management could treat their people (us) better and I must say I’ve been a bit pissed off as to how some of us are being treated. The ships crew is also not so happy to be doing this dry dock and there is some hostility towards the contractors, it’s unfortunate, but just the way it is.

I used to run crews much larger than this (Production manager/Line producer) and I always went out of my way to take care of my people and make sure they were happy, well paid, well fed, and respected. I liked being a crew manager but don’t want the responsibility anymore. I believe I was good at it. I do think I’m doing a good job here but will be more than happy when its over.

medallion I show up to work sober, not hung over, and work hard for over 12 to 15 hours a day which is more than I can say for some. I’ve been yelled at twice for nothing, and watched my boss belittle other men for no reason. It’s unfortunate how some people treat others.

All this being said I have a good room mate (Chuck) and its good to see my friend Darrin, we got really drunk the first night.  My supervisor is really cool as well of some of the management. There are a lot of good, hard working men here. When they ask me what I do and where I live it blows them away. “where do you make all the money possible for such a life style”, when I tell them they cant believe it.

If you want to see video of the refit you can go to princess cruises .com and watch the videos of the Grand Princess dry dock / refit, they post a daily video log. There is over one million man hours going into this dry dock/refit, pretty amazing the amount of work being done on this goliath ship.

I tend to gravitate towards metal working. I like metal and welding.

medallion1 I miss writing my blogs, waking up on my beautiful sailboat and living a simple life. The money will be nice and I want to get Splendid to a place where I can comfortably live and charter. This is a means to an end.

Sorry if I seem a bit down but I’m really fried and my moral isn’t the best. I just want to do my job well, get paid, and go home!

Peace, Love, and PANAMA!

-Alex

Author: Alex

I'm just a sailor bum ;)

30 thoughts on “Put a fork in me I’m done!”

  3. I am a long time listener first time caller.
    Alex, I started reading this blog in mid 2009, your blog inspired me to follow my own dreams to sail. I was a long time expat OZy, (lived in the North East of the States for a few years). In 2009 I was living in Spain, the economy was bad, I was drinking to much and I was bored.
    Thanks to your inspiration I left Spain and scuba dived my way back to Aus via the Red Sea and Thailand. Now I am back in OZ, I am a few thousand dollars away from paying off a 12.5 meter steel ketch and later this year completing its refit (it’s on the hard).
    I required a change of career, something that will complement a cruising lifestyle and make more money than I make as diving instructor. So, I am studying full time for half this year, have study work due Monday and have been working night and day. Is a great boots to see and read your blog, thank you.
    Devoted Fan OZy John

    Reply

  4. Hey Alex! Hang in there brother! Like you said “it’s a means to an end”. It’s great you are coming into contact with the fellow workers there. Maybe after they hear more about how you maintain such a great life that they too will start looking at how to improve their life!
    Can’t wait to hear about you re fitting YOUR boat!
    ..j

    Reply

  5. I am a long time listener first time caller.
    Alex, I started reading this blog in mid 2009, your blog inspired me to follow my own dreams to sail. I was a long time expat OZy, (lived in the North East of the States for a few years). In 2009 I was living in Spain, the economy was bad, I was drinking to much and I was bored.
    Thanks to your inspiration I left Spain and scuba dived my way back to Aus via the Red Sea and Thailand. Now I am back in OZ, I am a few thousand dollars away from paying off a 12.5 meter steel ketch and later this year completing its refit (it’s on the hard).
    I required a change of career, something that will complement a cruising lifestyle and make more money than I make as diving instructor. So, I am studying full time for half this year, have study work due Monday and have been working night and day. Is a great boots to see and read your blog, thank you.
    Devoted Fan OZy John

    Reply

  6. Alex:

    Princess has to love ya. Keep on hangin’ in there buddy. In cosmic time, it’s a finger snap and you will be home. Just click those heals together and say, “There’s no place like home…”

    Busy here. A couple of Key West charters with a loop to Boot Key, a two dayer on the 3rd and 4th, then on the 8th to the Dry Tortugas and back for a 5 day charter and then a personal trip to the Dry Tortugas with 6 other boats with a stop in Key West for a couple of days. It’s all good.

    Added a couple of solar panels, 260 watts. It helps and had to replace my ‘ol Rayathon auto pilot. Arrrrgh. So the dough comes in and goes out. Just like the tide…

    I’ll be catching up with you. Take good care of yourself and think good thoughts.

    Capt. Paul
    s/v Panacea

    Reply

  11. Wojtec, sell Namaste, no way. I’m so happy she lives with you now. I have very deep love for that little boat as she took me so far, and in so many ways. Namaste bought vision to my life .

    I’m 15 or so miles off the florida coast and will disembark in the am.

    I’ll never work for this company again.

    I’ll write more about it tomorrow.

    Reply

  12. Was Namaste always a cutter rigeged vessel or is that some thing new? Also are those roller furlings new or did you have them on Namaste when she was yours? She looks beautiful. I had an opportunity last year to pick up a westsail 28 cutter rigged. I thought at the time she was too small. i kick my self today.

    Curtis

    Reply

  13. Alex,
    I’m sure we’ll bump at each other and you’ll have a chance to touch her again….

    Curtis,
    W28 is a cutter by design. Originally the staysail is on a boom, but that boom is a real bummer wanting to sweep you from the boat every time you’re close to it. So I did away with the boom. After installing new pipe bowsprit I have moved the existing furler from the headstay to the forestay and got a new self-tacking staysail made up for it. The headstay received a new Alado furler that has twin groove which will let me fly twin headsails from one
    stay… I have also added hard life-lines (1″ tube) that give so much secure feel when I walk around…

    Wojtek

    Reply

  14. Freedom!!!!!!! I changed my ticket and will spend a week in the states till the 11th. My friend watching my boat needs me to make up some rigging, I want to buy some tools, and see a few friends, I’m sooooo happy to be off that SHIP!

    Reply

  15. Freedom!!!!!!! I changed my ticket and will spend a week in the states till the 11th. My friend watching my boat needs me to make up some rigging, I want to buy some tools, and see a few friends, I’m sooooo happy to be off that SHIP!

    Reply

  16. Freedom!!!!!!! I changed my ticket and will spend a week in the states till the 11th. My friend watching my boat needs me to make up some rigging, I want to buy some tools, and see a few friends, I’m sooooo happy to be off that SHIP!

    Reply

  17. Hey Wojtek
    Thanks for catching my mistake and thanks for sharing your photos!
    She looks great!
    ..j

    Reply

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