Cooking on the Deep Blue: My 23rd Birthday!

I guess I will start with the highlight of the week, my birthday. I started the week knowing that we were going to be busier than usual because of a corporate audit of the ship and special dinners and parties we had to do. I kind of thought I wouldn't do any more than have a drink in the PO bar with the chef. Well, I was wrong. All week everyone was talking about a big party. I was very excited. The exec chef asked me to cook some American food, so I did. Some of the guys cooked Filipino food and the sous chef gave us a bunch of beer and liquor and said have a good time. Wow did we ever have a good time. It was a great birthday. One of the guys brought his guitar and was playing all night. The guys in the galley gave me an apron after everyone had signed it as a present from all of them. It was pretty cool. The only thing was, I forgot to take pictures until the end when most people had left. Oh well, I certainly enjoyed myself.

We had a big meeting at the beginning of this week about how our ship's rating has been for the Alaska season. It turns out we are number one in the fleet for the season. We are doing very well, and it was good to hear that our hard work has been acknowledged. Now more than half way through the season we won't be having any more discussions about ratings. Which is good because we can all see them and it takes an hour out of the day to have these sit downs.

I finally went on a hike in Skagway. It was great to get out into the woods and breath some really fresh air. It was great to get a different view of things and to do something different. I mean for the last 11 weeks I have done almost the same thing consistently. I didn't see any wildlife, but the lake and the falls were amazing. I hope to go on the hike again this week and maybe take one of the other trails and share some more pictures.

In Ketchikan I was able to catch up with Martin again. He took me to his restaurant and cooked up a couple of burgers. We sat out on the patio had a beer and just chilled. It was nice to relax a little and enjoy eating a meal. Usually I have 10 or 15 minutes to eat, so it is almost difficult to remember exactly what I even ate. It is good to know someone at one of the ports.

I am headed back on the ship for another week of fun in the sun, ha ha just kidding. What sun, I almost never get out to see the sun, and most ports it is overcast and cloudy. But seriously, it's back to work and life on the ship.