By Katie
While aboard Pride of Baltimore II, Katie stopped in Alpena, MI for the Festival of Sail. Next stop in the TALL SHIPS CHALLENGE® Race Series is Midland, Ontario, July 22-24.
Upon our arrival in Alpena, I was awoken at 6:30 in the morning to help prepare for docking. Having gone to sleep at 4:30 that morning (due to having A watch from 12-4), I was groggy and had my fingers crossed for more sleep as soon as we were done. Little did I know that sleep would only come sixteen hours later after a very full day.
Once docked at Alpena, we began setting up the gangway, cleaning the deck, and other maintenance to ensure that we were ready for the crowds to come. Though I helped with a lot of this, for most of the day I was on duty. Being on duty is a responsibility that cycles through the crew and includes sweeping, mopping, doing boat and security checks while in port, completing various miscellaneous tasks, and generally being responsible for the security of the boat. This, most importantly, means that I cannot leave the ship, with a couple exceptions— for example, I was able to steal away to the showers in order to get clean. It was the first time I’ve been truly clean in almost a week, and the exhilaration I felt to finally be able to shower in warm water for a long period of time was absolutely unmatched. I came back to the ship finally feeling like myself again and ready to look around Alpena.
After a couple questions and some poking around, however, I was able to transfer duty to my crewmate for a couple hours while I went out with two other crewmates to explore Alpena. It’s a small Michigan town, with a museum full of shipwrecks (which didn’t seem like a good omen to us sailors), plenty of friendly locals, and a smattering of bars and restaurants. At the recommendation of a passerby, our cadre went into a restaurant full of taxidermy and ate ourselves full of pizza, and then out for ice cream. The ice cream was delicious, the kind that melts in your mouth and bursts with flavor, and there could’ve been no better end to the day. I went to bed that evening feeling a gentle calm inside, like soft waves lapping against the lakeshore.