TALL SHIPS ON A WET SATURDAY

Yesterday morning we found out that the tall ships were in the harbor in Sydney. It sounded like an interesting adventure and even though it had been raining most of the morning we took off to find them. Surprisingly we drove right to the harbor even though we had no clue where it was located. There were 4 large ships and 2 smaller ones on display and open to the public, so we paid our $2 apiece and started our tour. Actually, most of the time was spent waiting in line as there was quite a crowd there. Fortunately we had taken our blue rain jackets and we wore them, hoods up, for the whole time we were there. This large ship is the Picton Castle, a sailing training ship. If you are over 18 you may pay $1000 to sail with them to learn the art of sailing. What an adventure for the young that would be! They learn all the parts of the ship, all the sails, all the ropes, and what each one is for, and how to make each one do it's part in the journey. This ship just completed it's 4th trip around the world, and they are now accepting applications for their 2008 trip across the North Atlantic to Europe, then down to Northern Africa, across to South America, and up to the West Indies. If you are interested in signing up (!!!) or if you
just want to learn more about this ship, check out this site www.picton-castle.com . The pictures there of the ship with all the sails unfurled is very beautiful. While they were in the harbor yesterday, they of course had the sails down. I spent a little time talking with one of the young girls on this voyage. I peeked into the tiny cabin and into the small, hot, but functional kitchen. Everyone on the ship shares in all of the duties, KP, watch, sailing, cleaning, mending, etc.

The little ship below was a beauty. The pictures are a bit dark, but the wood on this vessel was a beautiful golden color, and all was tidy and shipshape. I would not like to be the fellow up on the rigging making repairs!

This ship is the Baltimore, a modern replica of a war ship originally built and used during the war of 1812. It also was a beautiful ship with lovely wood work which you can't see because of the angle I took the picture in order to capture the waving flag.

Of course there was a pirate ship too, complete with a Johnny Depp look alike giving autographs and posing for pictures with dozens of admiring young teens. I neglected to take his photo, but he actually was quite convincing in his role!

If I may give you a piece of advice, I'd caution you against sailing with the two fake captains in the final picture unless they took the training offered by the ship in the first picture! The one in the blue rain jacket will not ask for directions under any circumstances, so you would more than likely end up in Antarctica on your way to the North Atlantic, and the one in the dark blue jacket relies on a Garmin, which he proceeds to argue with and ignore most of the time.