Upon my return from Iceland in
September, I was talking to my good friend Laurie about her plans for
the week. She works for a company that provides youth sailing
opportunities working together as the crew on tall ships that sail
around different parts of Lake Ontario and surrounding waters. One of
their ships was at a tall ship festival in Montreal, and Laurie was
on her way to Montreal to help sail it back to Toronto. This sounded
really cool and naturally lead to a discussion about how much fun it
would be for me to join in on the adventure. At this point I had over
a month until my next season started in Antarctica, so when Laurie
called me up the next morning to ask if I was still interested, I
immediately agreed.
That evening I boarded an overnight
bus, arriving in Montreal in the wee hours of the morning. I caught a
couple hours of sleep in the Montreal bus terminal and then headed to
the port to meet Laurie. I was able to pick out our ship, the STV
Pathfinder, fairly easily because I had sailed on her before. After
meeting the crew and settling in, we prepared the ship for departure.
It was an exciting departure as our fleet of tall ships cruised out
of the port of Montreal; with spectators waving goodbye from shore.
We cruised up the St. Lawrence River on
engine power, and as soon as we hit the open waters of Lake Ontario
the captain cut the engines and left them off for the remainder of
the voyage. It was an incredible way to spend the week; I learned a
good deal about sailing tall ships, spent some good quality time
catching up with my friend that I hadn't seen in a while, and spent some
time reflecting on where I was at and where I wanted to go. I really
needed this reflection time, because just before our departure from
Montreal I received a phone call encouraging me to apply for an
office job. This was no ordinary office job to me, it was a position in
expedition operations for the polar travel company that I had been
working for on the ships in Antarctica and the Arctic.
I was very
tempted to continue working in the field, but eventually decided I
couldn't turn down this amazing opportunity to put my experience and
education to work; especially since the position directly related to
my Business Degree's concentration of Operations Management. So
that's where I'm at now, 8 months later, working full time in Toronto for a polar
travel company and really enjoying it! Luckily I still get to spend
some time in the field; this past February I did 2 voyages in
Antarctica working the position of Logistics Manager, and this summer
I have the privilege of working as logistics staff on our voyage to
the North Pole!
The STV Pathfinder
Sailing out of Montreal Harbour
Some of the crew
Going through the locks in the St. Lawrence
Laurie D!
So many ropes!
My reflection time
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