The Adventures of Lynne

January 17 Oliver, my fellow passenger, has been very kind to let me use his precious internet! I am running out of time, however, and promise to add more pictures as I can. Meanwhile, I hope you will accept mostly text! January 7, 2020 The social engagements increase! We had a New Year/good bye to departing crew/Happy Birthday to the Captain party on January 4. I asked the Captain how many birthdays he had celebrated aboard a ship. He told me it was too many to count. I enjoyed a variety of conversations, learning more about the “Delta” area in Romania from Engineering Cadet (Mirel) and more about Filipino culture from Stewie, ate a delicious barbeque (I ate a whole squid carefully cooked by Vicente) and enjoyed a bit of karaoke later with Tom Jones and other great singers. I even became Olivia Newton-John. This is our second day in China’s seas. I watched as we went over a tunnel in the Hong Kong strait. There are two long sections of bridge coming fr...

January 3rd We arrived outside of Singapore on New Year’s Day.  At breakfast, the Captain, Chief, Chief Engineer, 2nd Engineer and 4th mate all indulged me when I exclaimed, “Land! I saw land!” The Captain teased that I would be less of a land rat (shore person), “Maybe in your next life.” In the early evening, before sunset, as we waited upon the pilot*, I went up to the bridge and then out to look at the view of Singapore from the side decks. Alina (4th Officer) was on watch. As I was entering the bridge again to leave the navigation deck, Alina said, “There’s a dragonfly! I need to get her out!” She attempted to put a glass over the dragonfly to take it outside. It flew away from her, past the side of her head, before she could get it inside the glass. I can tell you, but never tell the crew, that she screamed. Like a girl. Fortunately, I’m a useful land rat and I went after that terrifying dragonfly with my bare hands . It landed on my finger and I took it outside to s...

I write this on December 31st, not being sure when I can post it! You already know that I am on this merchant ship (the Hydra) for three months, going around the world, always east. You may wonder though, what a passenger does when there are no ports for 35 days, traveling from Dominican Republic to Singapore? Well...not much. Leisure, though, is by no means easy. I have the complex tasks each day of choosing whether to have my breakfast at 7:30 or 8:00, whether to read my forest therapy book, my kindle or a French paperback, (do I read the chosen book on the F deck or in my cabin?), whether to walk around the U deck (Upper Deck) for 5 km or 10 (possibly not walk at all?), or should I gaze at the water and sky from the G deck or from the F deck or the usual spot on the U deck? Fortunately, there are distractions from all this stress. I get to do my own laundry! Not my sheets and towels though. Stewie takes care of that. So I have lots of time to think. I’ve been thinking a...