Annnnnnnnnnnnnd I'm back under my rock again. This month has not been a good one for my electromagnetic field (aka my ability to break or lose anything of any value) I'm phoneless, watchless and cameraless. But hey- at least my tablet still works (kinda.)

Living the quiet island life this past month. I can count the amount of times I've been drunk on one hand (and the amount of times I fell asleep in the Runaways' toilet on one finger). Hitting low season in it's prime now, although I did manage to sell 7 tickets the other day bringing my monthly income back up to my average after seeing just over 100 people this month in the park.

We've still been getting monkey's daily, trying to steal things from my bag- shaking the tightropes- winding up the dog. The norm. Had 2 tree pythons in one day (bringing my Island total to 5 snakes in 4 months). My latest wildlife adventure though is one for the facepalm.

Soo I have a group of 8 people I'm guiding around the park. It's all going well, everyone is safe, everyone is having fun, nobody has told me to shut up or tried testing my patentice by taking their safety clips off. So far, so good. After about an hour of swinging, climbing, surfing through the jungle I look down at my feet and I see a scorpion. So, being the nature lover I am, decide not to kick it off the platform or kill it etc seeing that we're in the jungle (the scorpions home) so I leave him be. BUT I give the Kiwi guy who I'm going around the park a word of warning to watch his feet because he's wearing flip flops (or as they say in NZ...jandels) and there's a SCORPION walking around next to him...fastforward about 15 seconds and I next to me comes a scream and I know screams are never really good in the park (y'know it's my job to make sure nobody falls or is scared of falling and screaming and falling go hand-in-hand) and I'm like "WOAH dude, you okay?!" he's like "I'm fine, the scorpion just climbed on my foot"... buddy. you had one job.

The birthday boy celebrating the finishing of a bottle of 31 Gold Whiskey

Been trying to get a bit more creative recently with my cooking (fried veg and rice/ noodles can get a little tiring after this many months) so I've been experimenting with coconut milk, cumin, dodgy vegtable soups and even managed to make an oreo cake in secret for Nat's birthday. Such an exciting life these day now my liver is recovering.

Used up my last two days off for the months by finally using my advance certificate in SCUBA I got earlier in the year and doing a couple of dives. Visibility was about 8m but paying the staff rate for the dives I can't really complain and had a great time.

I'm getting itchy feet again now, but with my Visa until December and a few friends (hopefully) planing to visit Koh Rong at the end of the year I've just been told I'm allowed to have a month or so out so I can have a holiday for a little while and come back here for high season. August - mid September and they're keeping my job and room available so now I can start planning what to do with the time, see if Barry is going to join me and stock up on cat food whilst I'm away so Klang can get looked after. The adventure continues.

Photo update!

Christmas in Port Villa 

Racking my brains and trying to remember my last month on the ship! I'm currently in Pai, North Thailand as I type this and I've been neglecting my blog hella. 100% due to my lack of internet and laptop access but here we are and I can get something up right now.

Sending Captain Alan down the Zip Line, best secret santa ever (and his viagra, haha) 

New Year for starters was amazing. Everyone hit up top deck, dressed to impressed. The Edge Team hosted the Crew Bar Olympics which included drinking a beer through a snorkel, jousting with pool noodles and talc, hulahooping, planking with a blow up doll on your back and dizzee stick relay races. Went down a treat! Me and the officer and Edge squad headed to the white party for my bro Daniele's birthday, we swiftly kicked ourselves out of the passanger area for being a bit too boozed and retreated back to the empty crew bar where we made it our own by bullying the cadets and ripping up with uniform. We had the Bosun party, sailor themed. The Captain let me onto the Bridge to sound the ships whistles ("Becca has been asking me to blow my horn, I haven't let her do that yet but I did say that she could sound the ships whistle...thanks for that Captain!) and I rode a Segway around the Bridge too. I'm important.

Merry Christmas from the swimming pool! 

In summary, I was almost counting down the days to go on the ship until my last week where it all just got back up to the hype again and I LOVED it again. My last night was a massive party of course, and the glitter got involved.


And I can't think of a better (or at least now predictable) end my contract than dying in a pile of bins, leaving a glitter cyclone in the bar, having SCECO called and being held captive until the crew bar is cleaned.
There was a massive manhunt for me around the ship with secuity and it resulted in me mopping the bar to Feliz Navidad in a sambrero at 7am in the morning-covered in glitter and having the whole ships company coming down to inspect the damage and laugh at me.
And to have my shoreside manager saying "What do you think these officers are going to think?!" -Cue my officer friends turning around going "Becca, this is hilarious you legend!". and swiftly being told I'm never being rehired hahaha. But I think that day was the best day of my life.

Vanuatu Canyon Zipline

Following this, I have been in Thailand for a week now hitting up a million temples. Riding in a side car. Bathing an Elephant. Going on the sketchiest zipline over a river. Having a Mario themed rave in a Banana farm, drinking a few buckets on Khao San Road and riding scooters to a cave, hotsprings, waterfalls etc. Enjoy a few photos from the trip as I make the pilgrimage down to Koh Phangan for Full Moon Party.

Bye PD!

Till next time!

Seasons greetings!

A spot of Canoeing on the beautiful (and hot) Mystery Island

Another ahoy from the Dawn. Bit of a strange one now though, because it is now December 27^th and I was due to disembark on December 12^th but oops! I’m still here.  My contract has been extended another month. But all is good because I could use the extra $$ and I’ve been up to loads of mischief.

So a few updates- mostly about the parties we've been having; because hey! what else is there to do when stuck on this metallic, oceanic prison?

Oli held a sick after party the other week, inc. his life jacket flashing lights, flippers and the cargo net. Making an appearance from the 3^rd in charge of the whole ship and also our boss’ boss (to be) and an unwelcomed visit from the night manager telling us to keep it down.  We’ve also been invited into the Wardroom quite a few times (the Officers Bar) and despite bundling the Destinations Manager and wrestling on the floor, me and Oli keep getting invited back!

Crew Bar Antics

The Edge team recently got introduced to PreWorkout. Not because we’ve been going to the gym but because it just makes us crazy hyper and results in us staying in the bar until 5am playing makeshift volleyball. So for a while we had a little mafia-preworkout-drug-ring going on, some under the table deals for a scoop.

Taking my job seriously and planking on the flying fox

Kids have been class recently. A couple of weeks back we had a kid called Coby and his Mum, Tracy. They were nuts! We’d put Coby in a helmet and harness for Lasertag, saw him in the Waterfront restraint and it resulted with us all eating a piece of cake with our face. On his last night we wasn’t at the passenger bar; so I’m in the dungeons then I get the nurse and security come up to me like “Becca, why is there a child running around the crew only area shouting “BECCA”?” So I make my way to the pax bar and he’s there and we did a conga haha.

 

Sophisticated with my fishing hat and doubled up drinks

Merry Christmas from the Dawn <3

This being the Christmas cruise everyone is in a great mood. We’ve finally hit some new destinations. Isle of Pines, Mystery Island and finally FIJIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!! Where we hit up some mud baths in celebration of Abi T’s birthday. Bula Bula. Also had a party every night, crew bingo, glitz and glam, engineers party, cambusa party. Tis the season and all that! The Engineers party was a laugh and resulted in everyone (3 stripes and below) getting dunked in the ice water where the drinks got kept in and some very bad karaoke.


We’ve lost Jordan from the team but we’ve gained Terry who used to work for the same company as me. He likes a party and Jordan’s happy to be back in a the free world again so smiles all round! We also lost my partner in crime and foosball, Kayleigh who has been taken from us and transhipped to the Pacific Explorer. But it does mean we have Abi T back, aka the Boss Baby.



 

Apart from when we’re drawing back tattoos on each other, stealing name badges or tools, defacing Andre’s work uniform. We do usually behave. I added a bit of sparkle to the ship the other week. The Safety Officer held a party in the Bosuns store. It was amazing. There was strobes, smoke machines, free bevvies and a shittone of glitter. Everyone was coated from the whole ship. The carpet on deck 12 to the arseholes of a few engineers. A few of my favourite quotes from the following day:

“Becca, my arsehole is full of glitter!” (read funnier in an Italian accent

“Becca, you have got a bounty on your head. You are the most wanted person on the ship”
“The Bridge was like a disco ball”

“OMG on induction you could see glitter in all the senior officers hair!!!”

“When I was delivering induction I just picked on everyone in the room who was covered in glitter”

“AHHH so you must be the Edge Instructor responsible for my whole ship being covered in glitter?”

– The Captain

Christmas on board has been strange, being away from home is always a weird one. But being at a resort in the Pacific Islands is a great alternative! Every day for the past 6 months on board have played Feliz Navidad (you know- the Spanish Christmas song) and normally everyone gets annoyed, upset and even angry. But it kicked off in the bar the other night. Spirits and high and the amount of spirits ordered- even higher.

So, after our first few awkward encounters ; me and Captain Alan are best mates now. He jokes about me being responsible for all his bridge officers showing up for work covered in glitter and wished me a good night at the party and commented that he’ll know how good it’s been by how messy the ship and his staff are  the next day! And on Boxing Day we even shoved Captain Alan down the flying fox (or flying Whale as he renamed it). He even got us a Christmas Card and a box of chocolates!  Legend!

As previously mentioned- I love to feel important on the ship. Whether it’s been because I’ve been granted a pager or for whatever other reason. I managed to blag my way to being an Observer on this weeks drill. So I basically had to follow the First Stage Response team and watch how they responded to the “fire” on board and make some comments on the Bridge for  the debrief afterwards.

AND I FINALLY WON AT FOOSBALL!!!!!!!! They held a girl only competition (through request of someone who didn’t even show up?!) and I was given 5 minutes to find 3 other girls to play, so challenge accepted. I was the only girl who “plays” foosball. But it was a close game (“for realllllll”)- but $100 split between me and Emily went down rather nicely!

If we see litter I was told by one of the Bridge Officers that if we see litter go overboard we have to report it to the Bridge. So the other week I see a ballon fly off the ship. So I call then up to report it…

Me: “Hi Bridge! This is Becca from the Edge, hope you’re okay! Just reporting a Balloon has gone overboard”

Italian 3rd Officer Gary:  “WHAT????????”

Me: “Yeah, just reporting some litter. Enviromental damage. A balloon has just gone off the side of the ship”
-Phone rumbles and rattles”

Irish 3rd Officer Caitlyn: “HELLO BECCA. ) WHAT IS HAPPENING? WHO HAS GONE OVERBOARD??!?!?!”

Me: “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! LITTER, TRASH, GARBAGE, A BALLOON!!”

Caitlyn: “ohh! Okay, just report it to Enviromental Officer J”

so later in the week Captain Nixon goes “AND ANYONE WHO WANTS TO BOTHER ME I’M TOO BUSY DOING PAPER FOR FOR A BALLOON” and apparently it’s logged as something like 0.000000000001 cubic meters of balloon!

Apart from going Jet Boating with the shoppies and hitting up some zorbing and Go Karting  with Kayleigh adventures have been out there, and many more for my final few weeks planned.

So that’s my latest update. A few weeks and New Years to go!

Photo update!

 Pre-Bundle 

 Post Bundle 

Uniform Swap!

 Emily being me at the party, complete with pinapple haircut and zinc

80's party! 

 When in doubt, dab it out. Hosier Lane edition

Pointing out a peeing Oli. Totally sober at this point.

 Optimus Prime and I