Or.. uh... maybe not. But a sailor's life, for sure.

Yesterday my friend called me and asked me to go to his cabin. His cabin, which is accessible only by dory (look in my scraps for a picture of a dory, because unless you're a Newfoundlander, you probably don't know) . That's right, unlike sissy city folk "cottages" we build our cabins somewhere isolated.

Actually, the ride out wasn't in a dory. His grandfather's dory was left out at the cabin. The ride out was in his father's speedboat. There was just one problem. There were all the bags on board, plus his father and grandfather sitting in the front of the boat, and myself, my friend, my friend's girlfriend, and my friend's sister in the back of the boat. Speedboats aren't very big. We weighed it down so much that it would hardly move at all, so we decided to head back and make two trips. So, myself and my friend got out while everyone else went on the first trip. That might not seem like taking a lot out, but, my friend and I aren't small by any means. Taking us off meant near 400 lbs gone. So, we stayed on the wharf and talked for a bit... walked to the store and bought us some drinks. Then when his father came back, he had to go and get gas and such. And while he was out there, he picked up some other guy and brought him back, presumably just for the ride. Anyway, after another wait of about a half an hour, we finally got on the go.

Speedboats are pretty cool... Like the name implies, they're pretty fast, so it didn't take us too long to get out there. But, it was a little rough, so we had to stay in near shore at one point to get away from the biggest waves. Once you were out of the shelter of the islands, the winds picked up pretty strong. But... as easily as I get motion sickness (in cars, etc. And I can't go on rides at the fair), I cannot get sea sick. No matter how much the boat is rocking, of how rough the water is, I will not get sick. Anyway, once we got out there, we unpacked our stuff, and hung out in the cabin for a bit. It's a really nice area where they have their cabin. There's a nice long sandy beach, and a few brooks around. Some woods and stuff. And a field with lots of wildflowers, and a lone gravestone from 1913.

We cooked up some steaks, hamburgers, and Kraft Dinner, ate that, then my friend, his girlfriend, and I (his sister only came out for the ride, she didn't stay) walked down the beach further and made sandcastles. Well, that is to say, they made sandcastles. I attempted one but gave up in 5 minutes. I'm horrible at it. Theirs were really good, though. My friend made a dark temple thing with a giant head in its courtyard (detailed with eyes, a nose, a mouth, seaweed hair, and angry eyebrows), and he had a rock which was an altar for sacrificing virgins and such. Really detailed. And his girlfriend had a lighter one, which had a big cube type thing inside a fence, and it was adorned with a rope spire, wildflowers, and various grasses and branches. It was really nice. I was going to pick a winner, but I couldn't decide. I gave them both a 19/23.

After that, we came back to the cabin and had a campfire and sat around it and talked. Then we went inside and played cards for a while. (I KICK ASS at skat). After that, we went to bed. My friend's grandfather took one room, my friend and his girlfriend the other. I got the fold out couch in the living room. It was really comfortable. But my back hurt this morning.

Things didn't look too good this morning. The wind had picked up, and it looked like we wouldn't be able to make it offshore. We ate breakfast, and cleaned up the cabin a bit. Then we had nothing to do but wait and see if it would let up enough for us to get the boat off. No speedbaot to take us back out, we had to use the dory this time. And it has to be pretty calm near shore to get them off. Anyway, while we waited we played cards some more (and I kicked ass once again), ate some lunch (beans and weiners... mmm), and went for a walk (to look at the gravestone). When we got back, we lounged around a bit, then my friend's grandfather came in and told us to get our stuff ready. We were heading out. It had calmed down just enough to get the boat off. So, we got our stuff together in a hurry, and headed out to the boat.

We pushed the boat off so far, then we jumped in, and my friend and I had to push it out with the paddles. Once we were out far enough, the outboard motor was started and we were off. At first we were all sitting in the back, but I got moved further up to try and even the weight out some. ...That wasn't pleasant. I love it in dory, but this just wasn't nice. As a dory moves, the front of it bobs up and down. When it's rough water, it bobs up and down REALLY FREAKIN' HARD. So the ride consisted mainly of shock after consecutive shock to my lower back. And I have back problems, so that was not fun. It wasn't so bad after a while, once I figured out a good way to brace my back from the impacts, but for the first half.... owww. Damn, it was horrible. But... it was still fun in some ways. I just love it on the water. It was slightly foggy, so for a lot of it we couldn't see land at all. To be off like that, with only sea as far as the eye can see... It's an indescribable feeling. It's amazing.

Eventually we made it back home, and that was the end of that. It was a fun excursion. I hope I'm able to go back out there again sometime.

At current count, it's 264 days (approx) until I leave Newfoundland for good. If last night has taught me anything, it's that the one thing I'll miss in this place is the water. I really love it on the water.