Almond Cheesecake with Raspberries

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Captain Jill

PHILADELPHIA Almond Cheesecake with Raspberries Recipe – Kraft Recipes.

I LOVE cheesecakes! I like all kinds of cheesecakes. I’ve never had one I didn’t like. 🙂

This one looks absolutely amazing! I don’t have any raspberries at the moment but I do have strawberries and I’m sure they would work just fine. The recipe even says to use whatever berries you want. 🙂

I am a little curious tho, they make the crust here with the cake mix instead of the usual crumbs. They don’t mention baking it before you pour the cheese mixture into it. I’ve never done it like that before. I wonder if you’re supposed to bake the crust a little first like usual and they just forgot to mention it, or if it’s really supposed to be done that way.

Has anybody done a cheesecake like this before? How does it turn out?? Does the crust cook along at the same time as the filling?

Hey, raspberries on sale at Krogers for only 99 cents! I’ll have to go get some! 🙂

A Word A Week Photograph Challenge- Orange

Posted on June 1, 2014 by Captain Jill

Here’s another photography challenge entry. This one is from the blog A Word In Your Ear. Here’s the link to it if you want to get involved…

http://suellewellyn2011.wordpress.com/2014/05/31/a-word-a-week-photograph-challenge-orange/

Here are a few of my photos that show off ‘orange’…

orange wave (sculpture on Gwangali Beach Korea)

orange flowers (Jayu Park, Incheon Korea)

orange food? (fish market, Incheon Korea)

orange sunset at sea

orange sunrise, Tarawa Kiribati

orange beard (Surfside Texas)

orange umbrellas (and hair)

orange fish

another orange fish

orange spots on another fish

orange boat(s) alongside at Fourchon, LA

orange uniforms on the boat (me and Jess on the DS-5)

orange sky at sea

orange chopper (USCG)

one more orange boat (lifeboat)

I hope you like these. These photo challenges are fun. I really wish I had the time to go out and take some more pictures for them but no time so I have to use some from the past. 🙁

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge: Water

Posted on June 1, 2014 by Captain Jill

I haven’t done much with these photo challenges lately. I do really enjoy them. Looking at what everyone else is doing and trying to come up with something to fit the theme.

This one is from Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge. Here’s the link in case you want to get in on it… http://ceenphotography.com/2014/05/27/cees-fun-foto-challenge-water/

This one is easy for me. Water. It should be easy for me. I have so many photos of water in all its various forms, it’s really hard for me to pick out a few real good ones. 🙂

But, I did manage. Here you go…

out on the water

no waves on this beach!

water makes patterns in the sand

water sprays in Singapore

beautiful beach Riviera Maya

water from the air

water- 3 kinds- clouds, rainbow, ocean

Those were a few of my favorites. I hope you like them too. 🙂

Travel Is The Best Teacher

Posted on May 29, 2014 by Captain Jill

More Affordable Than University, Travel Is The Best Teacher.

Here’s another great post from the Dollar Vigilante. They always have a lot of great information on their website. I’ve been a subscriber for a while now.

I really couldn’t agree more with his post. I’ve been a traveler since I was born. 🙂

My father used to work as an engineer (before he said the hell with it all and started fishing). 🙂

He used to take on contract jobs for all the big firms. Sperry, Northrup Grumman, Corning, etc. I remember living in Boston, Rochester, Syracuse, Phoenix, LA, El Paso. Lots of other places in between I don’t remember. I was born in Minneapolis. My brother was born in East Hampton (we were staying on grandpas boat).

For a while we all lived in one of those old style cab over campers. Mom, dad, me, my little brother, the dog and the cat. We would live at a campground for a few months at most while dad did whatever job he was contracted to do.

We finally settled down in Florida. My dad took a job with Honeywell. Maybe because it was time for me to start school. I really don’t know for sure. My dad found the love of his life, (the schooner Island Girl), and my parents got divorced.

By then the travel bug was in my veins and I’ve been infected for life! I LOVE to travel!!

My grandmother did too. She was always off somewhere interesting and exciting and she would bring us little presents when she came to visit. Sometimes I was lucky enough to go with her.

I remember one time she took me skiing in Aspen Colorado. I was about 13. I had a blast! Another time she took me (along with her sisters) on a long road trip to pick out a boarding school for me. (I was a bad girl)

I refused them all. I just didn’t think I would fit in at any of them.

Good thing for me! I wound up going to school with the Oceanics out of New York City instead of any of those nice, fancy, expensive schools my grandmother wanted for me.

That experience changed my life forever. I wound up sailing around the world on large traditional sailing ships. I LOVED it!!I decided I wanted to be a ship captain, sail around the world and get paid for it. My grandmother never got over that I didn’t want to be a doctor anymore.

I wanted to keep sailing and traveling and never go home. I did wind up staying after for a while. I tried to find a job working my way back home on a ship. I was only 16 and didn’t have any seamans’ papers yet, so that didn’t work out very well. 🙁

I wound up talking my way into a position on board an old Thames sailing barge in London. The CIV was the name of it.

I had a blast!! The guys on there were such a fun group. I was supposed to cook and keep the place clean while they got it ready to sail across the Atlantic to the US. I don’t know if they ever made it. I had to fly back to the US before they got it ready. 🙁

I learned so much on that trip. MUCH more than I ever could have or would have learned in any kind of normal classroom environment.

We had class on the ship. We learned about things like navigation and seamanship. We learned them by DOING them. Most things we learned outside of class. For example, I learned how to work as part of a team. I learned to be a good shipmate and how everyone on board is there for a good reason and just as important as anyone else there.

We had to keep a journal (good practice). We also had a class called ‘cultural studies’. When we went ashore we learned about the countries and the people we visited. We learned the languages of the countries we were due to visit.

I learned how to communicate better, sometimes even non-verbally. I learned how to be flexible and more accepting of how things were instead of how I thought they should be.

I learned how other people dealt with the same kinds of things we do at home but in their own ways. I learned that my way (or my countrys’ way) was not always the best way.

I learned that most people are basically the same, wherever they live, they all want/need the same basic things… food, water, love, connection, a home, etc. We’re not all that different. 🙂

I learned there is such a great, big, wonderful world out there. I learned about myself that I never want to stop learning and exploring.

Travel is SUCH a great teacher, in so many ways. I encourage anyone and everyone to get out there and DO IT! 🙂

Inspiration!

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Captain Jill

This whole thing with my blog started a long time ago, out of my growing desire to move away from the US. Why? That’s an issue for another post. 😉

Because of my desire (need) to move out of the States I’ve been a subscriber and reader of International Living magazine for decades. They’ve given me inspiration and lots of good information.

So why am I still here? Good question! I’ll move as soon as I can figure out SOME way to support myself outside of the USA.

I’m too young to retire and I don’t believe social security will be there for me anyway. I can’t leave the US til I find another country to accept me and no other country will allow me to move there and take a job away from one of their native citizens.

That’s where the travel writing and photography comes in. 🙂

I’ve been trying for YEARS to find SOME way to earn an income where I don’t have to be physically present on a boat in the Gulf of Mexico. I have been trying to find a way to earn an income where I can really enjoy life instead of always being at work at a job I no longer enjoy.

So far I’ve tried vending machines, rental property, stocks and now travel writing/photography/blogging. I’ve been working on all of them off and on since at least 1995. STILL working on most of them, tho I did pretty much give up on the vending machines. 🙁

IL Editor Jennifer Stevens came out with a travel writing course through the magazine that I did on my own at home years ago. I never followed through to send anything in to any magazines. 🙁

Later IL worked together with AWAI (American Writers & Artists Inc) to start offering workshops.

They have workshops on travel writing and photography (and other things like copy-writing, etc). I’ve gone to a few workshops and enjoyed them all.

I have tried to get my photos accepted twice now on a couple of the stock photography sites. I’ve been pretty discouraged. I’m told I don’t have a good enough lens in my camera for my pictures to come out with a high enough quality to be accepted. 🙁

I don’t have the patience to spend hours on the computer trying to eliminate every speck of dust that somehow makes its way into my camera lens (even on my favorite Sony camera)!

I can’t bring a big fancy camera with me to work since I’m limited on luggage. I travel a lot on my way to/from work. So….

I heard there was a way to earn money from blogging. So I decided to start a blog as a way to get my writing and photography out to the general public without having to go through any approval process.

I wouldn’t need to get an editors OK for my writing. I wouldn’t need a big fancy camera for my pictures. 🙂

When AWAI (now GEP- Great Escapes Publishing) offered a blog add-on to their travel writing workshop in Boston last year, I signed up for it. I got this blog started in order to have something I could get feedback on.

I’ve been having a lot of fun with it. I enjoy interacting with people from all over the world. I sometimes wonder how people are finding me and what caught their interest. Especially when I see people from really out of the way places.

I still have no idea of how to ‘monetize’ my blog. The recent Blogging 201 challenge had one assignment about that. I’ve been working through that challenge but I’ve been late and tho I’ve read through the Day 13 challenge on monetizing, I haven’t actually DONE it yet.

I don’t really see how I can make any of what they suggested work yet. I just don’t have enough views or followers yet. It seems I’m building my numbers, but VERY slowly. 🙁

I did just get some very encouraging news on my other attempts to get my work out there. 🙂

I was recently published (twice!!) in the Maritime Executive magazine! The first time, they used my photos in an article about ECDIS. The last time they actually used my entire article just as I wrote it and my pictures too!!

I had just returned from my latest GEP travel writing/photography workshop in Seoul, Korea. I had been thinking about this article for a while. When I got home and had a bit of spare time, I finally put it all down on paper (computer) and sent it in.

I was SO excited to hear it was published! I guess the workshops have been helping me after all. 🙂

I think the biggest challenge is just to ASK!

Check out this video from GEP. I met most of these people in Boston (or Chicago the year before). They’re all doing great. They’re very inspiring to me. I see that they’re living their dreams and making it work so hopefully I’ll be making more progress soon too. 🙂

Poll: How Did You Find Capt Jills Journeys?

Posted on May 22, 2014 by Captain Jill

I’m still working my way through the Blogging 201 challenge. This is my attempt to complete the assignment for Day 12 (create a poll/survey to gather feedback from your readers on your site and its content).

The Blogging 201 challenge actually ended a couple of weeks ago but I wanted to finish it anyway. I’m hopeful that by following through I will continue to learn how to make my blog better.

I hope that will help me grow my audience.

So, here’s a poll. Please feel free to add anything you’d like to say in the comment section below (as always!). I’m interested to know how people found my blog (and also what they like about it).

Thanks!

Blogging 201: Day Eleven- Buddy Up

Posted on May 22, 2014 by Captain Jill

Late to start. Late to finish. That’s just typical for me. 🙁

I started the Blogging 201 challenge a couple of weeks late. Too late to really get into the whole community aspect of it. IMHO, that is the best part of it. Interacting with all the other bloggers working on the same challenge and all their different takes on it.

Since I was so far behind, everyone was working on totally different things than I was. I just kept an eye on what they were doing and tried to catch up.

The challenge ended a couple of weeks ago, but I hate to quit anything I’ve started. So, here I am again, plugging on with the Blogging 201 challenge.

The assignment for Day 11 was (is) to “find a blog buddy”.

I did read the assignment only a few days late. 😉 I’ve been thinking about it since (in the back of my mind). I haven’t yet come up with anybody specific to ask to ‘be my buddy’. 🙁

I wonder if it would be better to try and buddy with someone with similar interests (offshore, maritime, travel, politics, nature, sailing, boats, philosophy, liberty, food & drinks, music, books), or someone with interests that I really don’t post about much here (fashion, beauty, celebrities, family, kids, relationships, sports).

I think for now, I’ll still just keep this idea in the back of my mind. I really haven’t had the time to work on this blog as much as I would like to lately. I’d hate to have someone else depending on my being able to keep to a writing schedule right now. 🙁

At some point in the future, I’d like to try to use the guest blogging idea. I think either way (like/unlike my blog) would work to try a different audience.

Has anybody else been participating in the Blogging 201 challenge? Did you complete the assignment for Day 11? How did it go?

Does anybody want to be my buddy?

Capt Jill Gets Published!

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Captain Jill

I got home from my weekly Campaign for Liberty meeting tonight to find an email informing me that a story I had written had been published in the Maritime Executive magazine. I am still so excited! 🙂

This is the first time my writing has been published in a major magazine. I had been published in a couple of school newspapers and had written a couple of things for the Women’s Maritime Association.

The Maritime Executive used my story just like I wrote it. I expected them to edit the hell out of it since I’m not a professional writer (yet). They also used my photos for the story. 🙂

I wrote about what it’s like to work offshore where you get to work by helicopter instead of by car. Check it out, here’s the link…

http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/Zigzagging-to-Work-on-a-Helicopter-2014-05-20

I would have liked to have put a photo in this post, but I just dropped my main computer off at the shop today (hoping to get bugs removed) and so I don’t have access to my photos. I hope they’ll have it fixed by the weekend.

Let me know what you think about my article. Did you like it? Want to know more? Want to know more about different aspects of working out there? What do you REALLY want to know about it??? 😉

Thanks!

Behind the Scenes: Capt Jills Journeys

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Captain Jill

I’m still home. I’m still on the hook, waiting to hear if/when I’ll be going back to work. I’m still having computer issues. 🙁

I thought it might be a good time for me to catch up and reflect a little on what I’ve been doing here- on my blog.

I started this blog last August. August 15th, to be exact. I was going to a travel writing/photography workshop in Boston which had an add-on blogging workshop and I wanted to have something to work with there.

By the time I got to the workshop (which started Aug 21), I had my blog up and running and already had 1-2 followers. I had it linked with my personal Facebook page which is where most of my ‘followers’ come from. Now I had actual BLOG followers! I was so excited just to see my first real follower!

The next month I was thrilled to see my numbers increasing across the board! I had steadily increasing viewer numbers and a total of over 1000 views for the month! I was really excited to think my blog might be one of the few to grow so fast. 🙂

But the next month I had to go back to work and so I couldn’t keep up with the posting like I had been earlier when I was home and could concentrate more on my blog. My numbers fell off a cliff. 🙁

I joined the Zero to Hero challenge in January, which helped me grow my blog. 🙂

January turned out to be my best month yet, even to this day. It really was a challenge for me. I was at work, so I lost a lot of sleep. Not that the tasks were that difficult, they were but I had already figured out how to do most of them on my own after a lot of time and stress. I wish I had known about this challenge BEFORE, when I was first starting my blog, it would have been a lot more useful to me then. 😉

Since then, I have been noticing that when I can find the time to post a lot, once (or more) per day, then I get lots of views. When I can’t manage to get here to post something for a few days, my numbers take a dive.

I’ve been working on this for 9 months now, my stats show I’ve made 480 posts which have received 614 comments (thanks everybody!). According to my blogs home page I have 841 ‘followers’. I don’t count all of them as followers tho, since they are coming from a few different places.

For instance, 388 of those 841 are just Facebook contacts (from my personal page). Contacts may never even see what I’ve been posting. I do have a few regular people who like and comment on my Facebook page, but I’m sure it’s nowhere near 388 people!

I recently learned that the Facebook page I started for my blog has not been working at all. I just started a new one. Now I’m trying to build traffic there instead of only on my personal page. I hope more people will find it and ‘like’ it. 🙂

I also started a google+ account and page. I just started it so there’s not really much there yet.

I have 12 followers on Tumblr. I have never seen anything from any of those people, so I have no idea if they’re really seeing or liking my posts.

I have another 90 on Twitter. I do see a little bit of interest from Twitter, but I really would expect more interaction with 90 people looking at the kinds of stuff I post. Especially to Twitter! I think I put more out there than to anywhere else (check out the feed at the bottom right of my blogs home page). Maybe most people are like me and have a hard time limiting themselves to only 140 characters so they never comment?

The followers I’m most happy to see are the ones who follow this blog. Today (last night) I passed a milestone. I now have 351 followers of this blog! Plus another 8 that follow “comments” (I’m not sure what that means).

So, in 9 months, I’ve managed to grow my audience from a low of 0, to 350+ followers of my blog. If I keep going like that, I could hope to double that by this time next year. Maybe I can increase my followers on my other networks by the same amount or more. 🙂

I wonder if there’s anything else I could do to increase my reach? Other than just posting more since I already post as much as I can find time to do. Does this seem normal? high? low? for numbers?

I’ve been trying to sort through my stats to see if there are certain things my viewers like more than others. From what I can tell, they actually seem to be interested in a lot of the same things I am. 😉

I was a little surprised to see that they liked the maritime stuff as much as they did. People really liked the videos of the Costa Concordia and the Rat Infested Ghost Ship. 😉

I’m glad to see they appreciate my photos. 🙂

I’m not too sure where they stand on my politics, but since that is such a huge part of who I am I’m just going to keep on with that anyway. 😉

I did notice a big (relative) increase in traffic when I was involved with any of the blog challenges. The photo challenges, the blogging 101 (zero to hero) and blogging 201 were all great for getting out there into the blogosphere. I did (barely) manage to finish the zero to hero challenge but still haven’t finished up the blogging 201 challenge. 🙁

I was traveling (in Korea) for most of the time it was going on and so I just didn’t have time to check in and do the assignments every day. I started on it so late that I missed out on the whole community aspect of it. That is really the most important part IMHO.

I’m still working on it, it’s still in the back of my mind, but I hope the people behind it at WordPress will do another one when I’ll have the time to really focus on it. I do think their challenges are helpful in making better bloggers. 🙂

I’m still trying hard to improve my blog and hopefully to increase my numbers. In the meantime, I’m still having fun with it and love to hear from people whenever they want to comment. 🙂

So, that’s what’s been going on behind the scenes here at Capt Jills Journeys.

Video: Freedom From Choice

Posted on May 17, 2014 by Captain Jill

I got this in my email today, I just HAD to check it out. This film looks like it will be a real eye-opener and I sure hope it gets the attention it deserves.

The email (from The Dollar Vigilante) said that the first official screening of the film will be at the Freedomfest (Las Vegas Jul 9-12).

I went to Freedomfest a couple of years ago and had a great time. I hope to go again this year. I’m not sure of my schedule yet, so I haven’t made plans. I definitely recommend it for anyone who is into freedom and individual liberty. There is SO much good information there, SO many interesting people, and the atmosphere is just amazing!

Positive energy for a change. 🙂

Here’s what Jeff Berwick (the Dollar Vigilante) has to say about Freedomfest and the new film… “… Freedomfest is probably the largest conference on freedom in the world and so I decided I couldn’t pass it up. Also, at Freedomfest, they will be screening the first public airing of “Freedom From Choice” a film on the state of the US tyranny today with appearances by Peter Schiff, G. Edward Griffin, myself and many more.“

I checked out the link on the email from TDV and liked what I saw. I can’t wait to see the full movie. I even donated a few bucks to help make that happen. (You can too if you want). I think Kickstarter is a great idea (and another example of the free market at work)!

Check it out and let me know what you think. Do you like stuff like this? Do you care about these kinds of issues? Are you concerned about the way things are going in the USA (or the world)? Are you involved in any projects to help change things? I’d really like to know. 🙂

Songs of the Sea: Sloop John B- the Beach Boys

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Captain Jill

Here’s another oldie but goodie. I always liked this song. I even learned how to play it on the guitar (but have forgotten since). I miss those days, hanging out after class with my friends in the OMT (Ocean Marine Technology) program.

We used to have a blast! We would go to classes and learn all about how to run a boat. Some days we even got to go out on one to practice all the things we learned in class.

On the weekends we would go down to the beach and have a big bonfire. We’d roast hot dogs and marshmallows. We’d play guitars and sing and camp out overnight sometimes.

I miss doing that sort of thing. All my friends from school moved away (or just got older and gave up all that kind of thing). I forgot how to play guitar. 🙁

Anyway, here’s the song. If you want to know more about it, I found a good link (here). It’s got a lot of interesting stuff on there. 🙂

I’m heading home (from Korea) in the morning. I hope things won’t be so hectic and I’ll be able to catch up with things on here soon. 😉

Songs of the Sea: Beyond the Sea- Bobby Darin

Posted on May 6, 2014 by Captain Jill

Another Song of the Sea. This one is for sure an “oldie but a goodie’. 😉

I remember when I was growing up, my father used to love this song. He would sing along or dance around the house to the music. I always liked it too.

I was surprised to hear the mate really getting into it out on the Ocean Alliance last time I was on there. He had the whole bridge team (including me) singing along and really getting into it! (Thanks A.)!!

I really like it too. I hope you all will enjoy it as much as I did. 🙂

Here are the lyrics so you can sing along. 😉

“Beyond the Sea”

Somewhere beyond the sea
Somewhere waiting for me
My lover stands on golden sands
And watches the ships that go sailing

Somewhere beyond the sea
She’s there watching for me
If I could fly like birds on high
Then straight to her arms
I’d go sailing

It’s far beyond the stars
It’s near beyond the moon
I know beyond a doubt
My heart will lead me there soon

We’ll meet beyond the shore
We’ll kiss just as before
Happy we’ll be beyond the sea
And never again I’ll go sailing

I know beyond a doubt
My heart will lead me there soon
We’ll meet (I know we’ll meet) beyond the shore
We’ll kiss just as before
Happy we’ll be beyond the sea
And never again I’ll go sailing

No more sailing
So long sailing
Bye, bye sailing…

Top 26 Margarita Recipes

Posted on May 3, 2014 by Captain Jill

Top 26 Margarita Recipes : Recipes : Cooking Channel.

Another holiday with special drinks coming up! So soon? Yep, its almost Cinco de Mayo. 🙂

Get ready for all kinds of events and parties featuring margaritas and Mexican food. 😉

I found this post online today. It has 26!!! different margarita recipes.

I like margaritas, but I haven’t tried most of these. Heck, I’ve never even HEARD of most of these.

Cucumber Jalapeno margarita? Chipotle Grapefruit margarita? Lavender margarita? Raspberry Lemon margarita…

For all you moonshine aficionados out there, there’s a Moonshine margarita!

There’s even a recipe for a Mint Julep margarita in case you want to combine your Kentucky Derby party with your Cinco de Mayo party!

And a Watermelon margarita in case you want to get ready for Memorial Day. 🙂

I definitely want to try the Magical Low-Calorie margarita asap. 😉

With this list, you can margarita all year round. 😉

Derby Punch

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Captain Jill

Derby Punch Recipe – Kraft Recipes.

In honor of the Kentucky Derby this weekend, I figured I’d post this recipe for Derby Punch. 🙂

It looks good, but personally I think it’s a little light on the booze. 😉

I have to say, I haven’t tried this recipe yet, so I don’t know for sure. I think it’s something that can/should be adjusted for personal taste.

I’m still in Korea and my travel writing/photography workshop starts in the morning, so I’m pretty sure I won’t be having any Derby Day celebrations here. So, be sure and have some punch for me and let me know how it goes! 😉

Blogging 201: Day 9-10

Posted on May 2, 2014 by Captain Jill

Yes, I am still trying to finish the Blogging 201 Challenge! I’ve been traveling in Korea and so busy. I don’t want to spend all my time inside on the computer when there are so many interesting things to see and do going on outside my hotel room!

So, I know I’m late but I’m still trying to complete the challenge. The one for Day 9 was “to create a page or section on your blog to display links to your online presence elsewhere, and make sure your other presences reflect the brand you’re developing on your blog.”

I’ve been thinking about this challenge for the last couple of days. I don’t really think I want to make a special page for that. At least not right now. I already have links to my Facebook page, About.me page, Twitter feed, and Flickr pictures on my home page.

I am online in a few of other places like Pinterest, Tumblr, Oilpro, Linkedin, Gcaptain, and probably a few others I can’t remember right now. That might tell you one reason why I don’t really see the need to make a special page for them here right now. I really haven’t done much with some of these yet (plus I get a bit scattered sometimes). 😉

I’ve barely started with Pinterest. I only check into Tumblr- (islandgirl37- I can’t get a link to work)- every once in a blue moon, tho I do notice my posts here are automatically posted there (which is nice).

I rarely comment on Oilpro, tho I do like a lot of their content. A lot of it is outside my area of interest.

I love Gcaptain and I comment on there fairly often (as JP), tho not as much as I used to. They have a lot of really great back and forth conversations between real mariners (like me) on there in the forum section. Lately, I’ve been following the discussion on the Korean ferry disaster tho I haven’t been commenting.

I’m probably on Linkedin more than a lot of other places. There’s such a wide variety of groups on there. It’s too bad they limit you to only joining 50! I read and comment on a lot of different groups. I thought about linking my blog to it, but I’m still a little leery about doing that since it is really more for business. I’m trying to keep my posting there more professional. 😉

I think the main thing I can take away from the challenge for Day 9 is to go back and make sure I put a link to my blog into each of my profiles on these other sites. 🙂

OK, so I’ve got Day 9 pretty much in the bag. The assignment for Day 10 is to “invest in your community by leaving five comments, adding (or updating) a blogroll, and introducing a comment policy.”

I’ve been leaving comments all along, I enjoy interacting with other people on the things they’re doing that interest me. I’ve never really been one to keep my opinions to myself. 😉

I already have a blogroll and it updates itself according to who I’m visiting (“more good stuff” in the sidebar). I also have a list on the bottom of my home page, but I haven’t really had time to update it recently so I’m sure it’s missing a lot. I was trying to include links that I’ve written about in posts. To have them all in one convenient place, but I got out of the habit of updating that list and so I know it’s going to take some work to catch up on.

I don’t have a formal comment policy (yet) and don’t really see the need to add one at this point. I do believe in free speech and hopefully won’t come up with any reasons to throw somebody out of here. 😉

I suppose eventually somebody might come up with something that pisses me off enough to get rid of them (online), but so far no one has come close. 🙂

So, I guess I’ll just wait and see on adding the ‘comment policy’. Hope ya’ll don’t take this as license to start giving me shit now! 😉

Cancelled: Gwangalli Eoban 2014

Posted on May 1, 2014 by Captain Jill

I went out the other day to go to the Gwangalli Eoban Festival. Yes, I was taking chances. There have been a lot of event cancellations around Korea this year because of the ferry disaster.

The internet said this festival was cancelled, but I figured I would go and see myself since I had heard that the Lotus Lantern Festival was cancelled too, but I went to the park where it was supposed to be held it was still going on.

The Eobang Festival is another fishermans festival, like the Gijang Anchovy Festival I tried to go to the other day (which was also cancelled). It sounded really interesting and I was really looking forward to it. Especially after seeing Andreas’ post in her blog about last years.

So, who knows? I tried it. I got there and – no festival! Oh well. It was a pretty decent day. A little overcast, but that was good for me since I get sunburned really easily. The beach was nice.

There were a lot of local people out enjoying the beach but it wasn’t too crowded. People were out flying kites and walking their dogs. I saw a couple of fishermen. A vollyball game was going on and looked like fun. Lots of picnics were sprinkled around the sand.

People were skateboarding and bikeriding along the promenade. The other side was lined with bars, restaurants and coffee shops. I stopped and had some coffee and watched the scene for a while.

Here are a few photos so you can get the idea. 🙂

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Cancelled: Gijang Anchovy Festival

Posted on April 29, 2014 by Captain Jill

I tried my luck with the Gijang Anchovy Festival but it was cancelled due to the ferry disaster. 🙁

I couldn’t really tell that anything was different in this place tho. There were tons of people out shopping for anchovys (and all kind of other seafood).

There was no festival going on, but other than that, everything seemed normal.

People were shopping for seafood, haggling over prices. Eating BBQ squid and anchovys. Fishing off the seawall. Checking out the restaurants.

Check it out…

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Blogging 201: Day Eight- Create a Social Schedule

Posted on April 28, 2014 by Captain Jill

I am working on the assignment for Day Eight in the Blogging 201 challenge. The task is to “create a 30 day plan for how you’ll grow your presence (and your blog)” on Facebook, which is the social network I chose in the Day Seven assignment.

I’m not really sure of any “plan” yet. I just read over and followed the directions on todays assignment post (here) and created another Facebook page. I thought I already had a Facebook page that was for my blog. I wondered why it never had anything show up on it.

Turns out I didn’t really set it up correctly. I remember it being a major pain in the ass when I was trying to get it started. Now that I can just follow the directions, setting up the page was pretty simple. Its there now and seems to be working so far.

I haven’t yet posted anything to it directly from my blog. This post will be my first test. 🙂

Now for the hard part. The PLAN.

OK, I plan to ‘publicize’ all of my posts. I already do that! Now, I just need to see if they actually show up on my new Facebook blog page. They have (mostly) been showing up on my personal page (except sometimes they don’t. I think I figured out they won’t if I do a ‘gallery’ post).

I used to get quite a few referalls to my blog from my Facebook page, but I haven’t for the last couple of months. I can’t figure out what’s up with that. I hope this new page will correct that situation.

What else for the PLAN? I’ll stick to the goals I made during Day Ones assignment. And, of course, I’ll continue to do what I’m already doing on Facebook. Sharing all the interesting stuff I see that I think other people would be interested in (and generally pissing people off). 😉

I just learned something when I checked the ‘publicize settings’. It will only allow me to post to ONE Facebook page at a time. I guess thats why nothing shows up on my other page I created for this blog! So now what? Do I need to post it once on my blog page and again on my personal page? If I do that will it post twice on my other networks (Twitter, Tumblr, etc)?

I can’t really think of anything else to do with it. Does anybody else have any suggestions?

Blogging 201: Day Seven- Broadcast Your Brand

Posted on April 27, 2014 by Captain Jill

The assignment for Day Seven of the Blogging 201 challenge is to “Broadcast Your Brand”. To “pick one social network you’ll use to grow your blog and connect it to your site in at least one way”.

I’m already connected here to Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr. I use ‘Publicize’ pretty much every time I post. I did have some issues a while back with my posts not showing up on Facebook, but they look like they’ve been posting on there lately.

I thought about adding Linkedin since I’m on there looking around and commenting quite a bit, but I’m a little concerned (paranoid maybe) about how things I post on here might affect my job. I know companies now are looking at things people have on the internet.

Personally, I don’t like that trend. I think you ought to be able to have a work life and a home life. I know I keep them pretty separated. Maybe in my job it’s easier since I am home for weeks at a time and then at work for weeks. I just don’t think what a person choses to do when NOT on the job should have anything to do with what they do ON the job.

For now, Linkedin is out. Too bad, cause I’ve got tons of connections on there. 🙁

I’m also connected on Flickr. You can see some of my photos I have posted on there in the widget towards the bottom of the sidebar. I just started a Google+ account but I haven’t done anything with it yet.

I’m also on Pinterest, tho I don’t really know what to do on there yet. I do have a couple of boards started. I just collected some things other people posted that I liked. I have only put a couple of my own things on there so far. Again, I’m not really sure what to do with that one yet. 😉

So, I choose Facebook for the one social network to concentrate on. I like Twitter, but I tend to go overboard with the verbiage. It’s very hard for me to keep what I want to say so short and sweet! 😉

Tomorrows assignment (or Day 8 for those people who complete assignments on time) is supposed to teach us how to “create a strong presence” on our chosen network. I can’t wait! 🙂

Blogging 201: Day 6- Drive Traffic to Your Archives

Posted on April 27, 2014 by Captain Jill

The assignment for Day Six of the Blogging 201 challenge is to drive traffic to your archives. They suggest a couple of ways of doing that.

1. Use links. I’ve already been doing that for quite a while. I could probably use more of them, but I get involved with what I’m posting sometimes and forget.

2. Widgets. They suggest using the “Top Posts and Pages Widget, Categories Widget, and Archives Widget”. I already have the Categories and Archive widgets. I also have the “Recent Posts Widget”. Maybe I should trade that one in for the “Top Posts and Pages Widget”? It does seem sort of redundant since it just shows the same posts you can see on my home page. Any comments on that idea?

3. Activate the “Related Posts feature”. I had already done that and liked it. I learned from reading the assignment today that you can change the way this feature looks on your blog. I changed mine today to show more than just the post title. So far I like what I’m seeing. Any comments on the change?

4. Compile a “Best Of Page”. I’ll have to think about this for a bit. I think the Top Posts and Pages Widget would serve the same purpose. Is the idea that more people would look at a separate PAGE than the Widget? I’m not sure how many people look at the widgets I have or even if there’s a way to track that. I know the page views are tracked, so that’s something. 🙂

All in all another helpful assignment from the bloggers at the Blogging University. I’m glad I signed up! 🙂

Blogging 201: Day 5- Give 'Em What They Want

Posted on April 27, 2014 by Captain Jill

The assignment for Day 5 in the Blogging 201 challenge is to take a look at your blog statistics and see what they can tell you about how to better manage your blog.

I’m already a stats junkie. I check my stats page every day. I love to see lots of visitors and views. I really like to see where people are visiting from. I think it’s interesting to see people from all over the world looking at my blog and I wonder what brought them to my blog?

From looking at my stats, it seems like I must have a lot of people who like to drink! My most popular posts of all time (other than the home page and about page) are the ones on making your own booze! Peach or apple? Peach has more views, but maybe that’s only because I posted it after I had a few more visitors. What do you think?

After the booze posts, it looks like people are actually pretty interested in the maritime stuff. I wasn’t really sure when I started this if ANYBODY would be interested in that sort of thing, but it looks like there are at least a few. And, to my surprise, they’re not all other mariners! 🙂

It looks like the photography has a pretty good showing too. People like my travel posts, which is great since I haven’t really put much of my travels up on here yet. The food/drink/recipes get a lot of views too. 🙂

Even the political posts get a pretty good showing. The Worlds Smallest Political Quiz is right up there at the top! That’s really encouraging. I had hopes to get people at least thinking more about politics with my blog. 🙂

I can’t really tell much for a pattern as to when I get the most traffic. I seem to remember the weekends being high traffic days, but when I just looked at the most recent weeks it seems I have more traffic on Wed-Thurs-Fridays.

So, what have I learned from looking at my stats? Maybe I should post more home-made booze recipes on Friday to give everybody a head start on the weekend?

I’m already trying to stick to a Creature Feature post on Wednesdays, combining photos (maybe mine, maybe not) with some interesting information about some kind of critter. 😉

I’ve been trying to do a post on the Songs of the Sea on the weekend, since that’s normally when I have more time to get online to surf the web to try and find a video. I do love my music, it’s just hard to put the whole thing together into a post sometimes. 😉

Maybe I should try to put more of the quirky stuff, things I just find interesting towards the beginning of the week, tho I normally only post those things on the spur of the moment when I come accross them.

The thing that really stands out to me is the HUGE difference in my stats from when I had the time to work on the blog. When I had time to post every day (or close to it). When I had the time to post even more than once in a day. Those time periods were when I really got a lot of interest.

I can see that made a difference and I would love to be able to do that well all the time, but I just don’t really know how to make that happen. I’m doing about the best I can with working on the blog along with all my other projects (my JOB, looking for work, keeping my household running, taking care of my rental property business, traveling, photography, etc).

I guess I’ll just keep on muddling along and hope for the best. I’m learning more from this challenge, which is good. Looking forward to more in the Day 6 assignment. 🙂

Blogging 201: Day 4- Get Read All Over

Posted on April 27, 2014 by Captain Jill

The assignment for Day Four of the Blogging 201 challenge is to make sure your site is ‘mobile-friendly’. I checked and it seems that my ‘theme’ Twenty Eleven is already ‘responsive’. That means it should already be OK for all sorts of mobile devices automatically. 🙂

That’s a really good thing, since I had no idea it might not show up looking the same way. I just never thought about it before this assignment.

I did take a look at it in the appearance menu on wordpress to see what my blog would look like on mobile phones and tablets. I think it looks pretty good on both. I only saw a couple of things I’d like to change, but I don’t know how. 🙁

The first thing is that all the ‘widgets’ show up at the very end. I’d like to have my ‘follow me’ widget up closer to the top so that people might be more likely to see it (and hopefully click on it!). 🙂

The other thing is that for some reason, the post’s I’ve done with a slideshow (the Bike and Blues Fest for example) don’t show up inside the screenshot on the phone preview. I’m not sure if that’s something going on with this computer when I look at it, or if it really looks like that when someone looks at my blog from a cel phone. 🙁

I also took a look at my blog on www.quirktools.com/screenfly that another blogger on the Blogging 201 Commons mentioned. Those posts with the slideshows show up the same way there, like they’re way off-center for some reason.

Can anybody out there check it out and let me know? If it IS a problem, does anybody know what I need to do to fix it?

Has anyone else had this issue? I’m trying to look through the Commons but haven’t seen anything yet. I admit, I haven’t had a lot of time to spend on this project so far, but trying to catch up. 🙂

Songs of the Sea: The Downeaster ‘Alexa’- Billy Joel

Posted on April 27, 2014 by Captain Jill

I’ve been in Korea for the last week or so. Seems I still can’t get away from the ocean. 😉

I’ve spent a lot of time going to the local markets. They have a LOT of seafood in their markets here!

Yesterday I went to Gijang. They were supposed to be having a festival yesterday. The Gijang Anchovy Festival. It said on the internet that it was cancelled. I went anyway since it also said the Lotus Lantern Festival was cancelled and it was still on. 🙂

I figured it would be an interesting day out anyway. Yes, the festival was actually cancelled. Yes, it was still an interesting trip. 🙂

I took the metro up to Haeundae Station and then the local bus (181) from there to the harbor where the festival was supposed to be. The town was obviously set up as a place for people to come and buy and eat fish, (more kinds than just anchovys), but I saw no signs of any kind of festival. I guess it really was cancelled (due to the ferry accident).

I wandered around for a while and took a bunch of pictures. I’ll have to take a look at them later and will put some in a later post. I’m trying to stick to my goals for the Blogging 201 Challenge, one of which was to get back on track with my “editorial calendar”.

So I am posting today another Song of the Sea. All that wandering around the fish market and the fishing boats made me think of this song by Billy Joel. It’s about the fishermen in the USA (NE Coast), but fishermen around the world are all the same. 🙂

It’s always hard work and the pay is never enough, but of course it’s still totally worth it!

I hope you like the song as much as I do. Enjoy. 🙂

The Downeaster ‘Alexa’

Well I’m on the Downeaster Alexa
And I’m cruising through Block Island Sound
I have charted a course to the Vineyard
But tonight I am Nantucket bound

We took on diesel back in Montauk yesterday
And left this morning from the bell in Gardiner’s Bay
Like all the locals here I’ve had to sell my home
Too proud to leave I’ve worked my fingers to the bone

So I could own my Downeaster Alexa
And I go where the ocean is deep
There are giants out there in the canyons
And a good captain can’t fall asleep

I’ve got bills to pay and children who need clothes
I know there’s fish out there but where God only knows
They say these waters aren’t what they used to be
But I’ve got people back on land who count on me

So if you see my Downeaster Alexa
And if you work with the rod and the reel
Tell my wife I am trawling Atlantis
And I still have my hands on the wheel

Yeah yo [x4]

Now I drive my Downeaster Alexa
More and more miles from shore every year
Since they tell me I can’t sell no stripers
And there’s no luck in swordfishing here

I was a bayman like my father was before
Can’t make a living as a bayman anymore
There ain’t much future for a man who works the sea
But there ain’t no island left for islanders like me

Yea yea yea oh [x4]

Blogging 201: Day Three- You’ve Got the Look

Posted on April 25, 2014 by Captain Jill

The assignment for day 3 of the Blogging 201 challenge is to continue refining your ‘brand’. I’ve already done quite a bit of that when I was first getting started and then again during the original Zero to Hero challenge.

I also took a critical look at my blog for yesterdays assignment (Audit Your Brand). I think there are a few small things I’d like to play with, but since I’m actually traveling in Korea at the moment I’m not going to do that right now.

I hate to spend my time here playing on the computer for hours on end when I should be out exploring Korea!

All in all, I’m pretty happy with the look of my blog. My brand. I’d be happy to hear any comments or suggestions from anyone as to how to improve it. 🙂

Blogging 201: Day Two- Audit Your Brand

Posted on April 24, 2014 by Captain Jill

Still trying to catch up. The assignment for Day 2 (though I’m actually so far behind it’s really already day 10) is to ‘audit your brand’. The assignment is to look at everything you put on your blog and make sure it’s consistent with your ‘brand’.

I’m having a little bit of a hard time with this one. I’m not really sure of what my brand IS. Is it ME?? Since I don’t have any sort of product I’m trying to sell here, I guess in a way it IS me.

I’m trying to interest readers in my content which consists of my interests. It includes my photography, my opinions, my choices on what to share here, etc.

I’d really like to get people to get excited about the things that I am so passionate about, so I try to present those sorts of things here but I’m not really sure how that relates to ‘my brand’.

I’m trying to look at my blog with a critical eye. I still like the theme and think it works well for me.

I like the font and colors for my posts.

I definitely like my title and tag line.

I could probably tweak the titles of my widgets a little bit but I can’t come up with anything better right now to change them to.

I think I’ll probably move the awards to a separate page eventually and clean up the sidebar a little bit.

And MAYBE I might want to change my header photo. I’m not sure yet. I really love that photo and the feeling I get from it, but I think I might like something more in line with the coloring of the rest of my blog. That orange is just really glaring. It’s very attention grabbing, which was my purpose when I chose it for the header and I still like it for that. So I’ll leave it as is for now.

I did manage to create a new email account just for this blog (captjillsjourneys@gmail.com). It took me a while so I have NOT managed to change the settings yet (but I’ll get to that soon). I think it will probably work better for me if the email notifications re: the blog don’t keep on getting mixed up in my personal email. I lose a lot of them that way. 🙁

I also changed my ‘comment prompt’. I hope it will make people feel better about communicating with me here. 🙂

Does all this carry through to other places I’m online? I only use Facebook, Twitter, and now Pinterest (tho I’m still pretty confused as to what to do there). I’m sure the content concentration carries through.

I use the same gravatar on Facebook so it’s a good marker there. I do have one of my pictures for my Twitter gravatar but it’s actually one of me instead of one I took. I don’t see anything on Pinterest to do the same sort of function. Is there something like that on there?

I’m so far behind with the assignment that I’m not having much luck trying to look at the Commons, the computer just won’t allow me to go back that far. Does anybody have any feedback or suggestions relating to “my brand”? I’d appreciate any comments. 🙂

Blogging 201: Day One- Set 3 Goals

Posted on April 24, 2014 by Captain Jill

I’m late again (sigh), but I’ve been so busy I just haven’t been able to get around to this project til now. I had high hopes for this Blogging 201 challenge, but I’m thinking since I’m so late to join, that I’m probably not going to get as much out of it as I had hoped.

Maybe they’ll do it again some time. I hope so. I’d like to be able to start with everybody else. I think it would help to be on the same page. I’m going to jump right in anyway and hopefully I’ll at least learn something, even if not as much as I could have if I’d been able to get started on time.

So, to start off on Day One (when it’s actually Day 10), the task for the day is to come up with 3 goals for your blog. To “write down 3 concrete goals you want to achieve”.

I’ve actually been thinking about this for a while. Not in specifics. Not “concrete”. But here’s what I’ve come up with now that I’m trying to be specific...These will be my goals for the next 3 months. After that, I think I should think some more and re-assess.

1. Increase traffic to my blog. I’d like to see at least 30 views a day and/or at least 1 new follower a day.

2. Get more organized. I tried to set up an ‘editorial calendar’ while I was doing the original Blogging 101 challenge. I was going to do a post called Wild Wednesdays (or Creature Feature). I was going to post something about some sort of interesting creature I thought other people would think was neat. 🙂

I was also planning to do a series of “Songs of the Sea”. Hopefully every Saturday. So far, I have fallen WAY off the schedule for both of those things. My goal is to get back on track and get at least those posts done every week.

3. Spend at least an hour a week on the Reader, checking out other blogs I’m following. I already get a lot of emails from blogs I follow and I read all of them (just not all on the same day they come in the email). I follow more blogs in the reader and I’d like to keep up with them better.

I spend a lot of time trying to keep up with people who’ve visited my blog so I’m not really sure how much more time I can afford to put into this right now, but I think I ought to be able to commit to at least an hour.

OK, so those are my goals for the next 3 months! On to the next days challenge!!

Incheon Quickie

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Captain Jill

This is the first day here that I’ve been able to use my own computer. So it’s the first time I’ve been able to do a lot of things online.

I’ve been wandering all over and taking tons of pictures, so I thought I’d do a preview of some of the things I’ve seen so far. I haven’t had time yet to edit my photos, so all of these are straight from the camera. Enjoy. 😉

Korean Chinatown

This was the beginning of my first day out in Incheon. I wanted to see Chinatown. I heard it was the only one in Korea. It was very quiet through the afternoon. I left before seeing if it got any busier at night.

Wolmi Island

This was one of the ones I took at Wolmi Island. It’s kind of a playground for kids and adults. There’s an amusement park, a couple of museums, a maritime school, tons of seafood restaurants, bars, coffee shops, etc.

Sunset at Wolmi Island, Incheon

I went to Jayu Park and wandered around downtown for awhile.The trees and flowers were all in bloom and the blossoms were falling all around in the breeze. The petals were covering the ground like snow. I finally figured out I was not going to be able to walk to the fish market, so I put it off for another day.

The next day I went to the fish market. Wow! What a huge place. It was crowded with all kinds of people from the smallest babies to the oldest grandmothers. Whole families were out shopping together. There was every kind of seafood imaginable (and some that I have never imagined at all).

Fresh, frozen, dried, still alive and squirming. It doesn’t matter, you can pick it out and they’ll wrap it up for you to take home, or you can bring it over to have them cook it up for you in the little kitchens in the back. There are also food stalls all around outside in case you want something other than seafood (or you can have more seafood!).

I found out those little pancakes are called something that sounds like “hotdogs” and they’re really pretty good. They’re stuffed with something kind of sweet, I think maybe bean paste. Then they add nuts. I like them. 🙂

After I got tired of wandering around the fish market, I made my way down the street to the Marine Square where some of the fishing boats and ferries dock. It was pretty quiet and I just watched the local people hang out. A bunch of kids were playing with the seagulls. They were pretty entertaining. 🙂

fishing fleet, Incheon Korea

I was about ready to call it a day, but I was kind-of hungry so I spent a little time wandering around near my hotel in search of something for dinner that was not too spicy. I wound up going to a place that I thought had a picture menu (it didn’t). I wound up having chicken soup. It was interesting watching the Koreans cook their dinners at the table.

That was the end of my night and going to be it for me tonight too. I’ve got another busy day planned tomorrow! 🙂

Moving on to Busan

Posted on April 19, 2014 by Captain Jill

Today I’m rested up enough to think about traveling again. I’ve also seen everything I REALLY wanted to see here in Incheon, (tho it is an interesting city and there are a few more things I wouldn’t mind seeing).

I went to explore Chinatown and Jayu Park with its statue of General MacArthur. I went to Wolmi Island (nice place to watch the sunset over a seafood dinner). I finally found the fish market and wandered around from there to Marine Square. I wandered all over the area near where I’ve been staying (right next to Juan (chew-on) Station). I’ve decided to go ahead and make a move.

I’m going to head on down to Busan. For a couple of reasons. They’re having a couple of festivals in the next few days-the Lotus Lantern Festival and the Gwangalli Eobang Festival. I think both of them will be worth seeing.

Also, I wanted to visit the Korean Maritime University there and I’ve met someone online who lives there and has offered to show me around. I might be able to meet up with some of my colleagues from Dongwon who I used to work for on the tuna boat a couple of years ago. It’s also close to Geoje Island where my best friend from Oceaneering has been working for the last few years. I’m hoping he’ll be back in town so we can visit.

I’d like to post some of the pictures I’ve been taking the last couple of days, but they don’t have wi-fi in my hotel (Fox Hotel- 91, Juan-ro, Nan-gu- +82328664477) and I can’t get my photos uploaded. Other than that and the fact that my mattress is very hard, I would recommend this place.

It’s a good deal (approx $50/nt), the managers are very nice and helpful. The lady doesn’t speak English but her husband does. The rooms are not too small and they’re stylishly decorated. They have coffee pots with tea/coffee and a refridgerator in the room (also bottled water). I would stay here again.

It’s very convienient, right accross the street from Juan train station where you can come direct from the airport and go anywhere in the area, including into downtown Seoul (much cheaper than taxi).

The next place I’ve booked is supposed to have wi-fi, so hopefully I can get some pictures on here in the next couple of days. 🙂

I made it!

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Captain Jill

Well, after over 40 hours of traveling, I made it to my hotel in Korea! 🙂

This is just going to be a quick post since I am totally EXHAUSTED!

I left the house at 0400 yesterday, left Houston at 0730. I made it to Washington DC with barely enough time to catch that flight. Flew from there to Beijing (China). Again, I had just barely enough time to catch my next flight (and I never would have made it if I hadn’t asked to cut ahead and go in the ‘fast track’ line).

If you ever go through China, be sure to put ALL your cords in a separate bag. I have no idea why, but the security wants to see all your electrical cords (phone cords, camera chargers, kindle chargers, computer cords, etc). It delayed me quite a bit digging all that out! Oh yeah, they don’t like cigarette lighters there either (they confiscated mine).

So I got to Korea (Inchon airport for Seoul) at about 1830 tonight. I had an easy time getting out of the airport. It was all very modern, English signs for everything, information booths everywhere.

I decided to take the airport train into town. I had to get a transportation pass first. I asked the lady at the tourist information booth at the airport and she was very helpful. I got a pass for 10,000 won. It should last me for a couple of days at least and I can charge it up when I need to. I ‘think’ she told me it was good all over the country, city bus, metro, etc.

Easy enough to take the train into town. I can’t beleive how helpful everyone was! I found the train at the airport and started talking to a Korean man who was just coming home from working in Japan. He helped me figure out which stops I would have to get off and transfer. He even gave me a bag of chocolates from Japan!

I made the first transfer OK, but the 2nd one was a little more difficult. Lucky I only brought fairly small roller wheeled luggage! This station had stairs, stairs and more stairs and no elevators (at least that I could find). A very nice lady helped me, she just grabbed one of my bags and started walking up the stairs.

The tourist information lady had called my hotel for me so she could tell me how to get there (which was what I had originally asked about there), they said I would spot it right away when I came out of the station. OK, I wandered around for an hour and saw no sign of it.

I tried asking people. No one had any idea. One very nice man called them for me. Turns out, I had exited the wrong side of the train station. He took it upon himself to make sure I found the place and led me back through the train station (NOT as simple as it sounds, it’s a maze)! He had the lady from the hotel meet us at the door coming out of the station.

Wow! What amazingly helpful people! I got to the hotel and the lady gave me my key and right away showed me my cute little room and where everything was. It’s called the Fox Hotel and now that I’ve seen it, I have to say it’s really a pretty good deal.

It’s small, but it’s cute and it has everything I need. There’s a little fridge, with bottled water and cans of coffee and something I haven’t figured out yet. It has a picture of a lady in a cornstalk on it. Any clues?

I’ll be here in Incheon for a couple of days. I think then I’ll head down towards Busan. I haven’t really decided yet. Maybe I’ll learn something while I’m wandering around here tomorrow to give me some ideas. 😉

Rambling On: Crew Change, Korea, and the Frontier Discoverer

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Captain Jill

I made it to the airport! I was only out a short time this trip, but going home still feels as good as ever. I was out on the Deepwater Pathfinder. It was a pretty good hitch, even if it was shorter than usual.

I was a little frustrated over the weekend with not being able to get a flight out of New Orleans til early evening. Hard to believe there wasn’t an available flight til almost 1800!

Turns out there is a big golf tournament going on in Houston and all the flights are booked solid.

I was lucky to get a flight at all!

Really, it worked out that I was on the late flight since the weather was foggy with a cold front between us and the heliport. I didn’t get to the airport til almost 1300. At least I wasn’t panicking about missing my flight. 😉 It all worked out in the end.

So, I should be able to catch up a little bit here over the next few days and get ready for my trip to Korea. It’s only about a week away, YEAH!

I really have no idea what to do there other than the travel writing/photography workshop I’m going to Seoul for. I haven’t had time or internet availability to do any research. Anybody have any suggestions? I have a couple of weeks before the class and a week after.

I was thinking I might go down to Busan to visit the company I used to work with when I was on the tuna boat. The new captain on the ship I just got off mentioned that they have a good maritime university in Busan. That sounds like it might be worth checking into.

I’m hoping to go see an old friend I used to work with at Oceaneering. He’s an ROV (remotely operated vehicle) mechanic. When they brought our boat to the Gulf of Mexico to work, he was able to get a transfer to Korea and has been working there ever since.

I would have LOVED to do that too, but Oceaneering only had one vessel over 1600 tons and so they didn’t have any other jobs to offer me. Being a ships officer/DPO doesn’t make for an easy job transfer when there isn’t any other ship. I felt I had no other option but to leave at the first opportunity.

Too bad, they sent the ship out of the Gulf only a couple of months later. When I found out, I was sad I didn’t stay longer. The job I took instead turned into a disaster and I didn’t even stay for the whole trip. 🙁

I hated to quit that job. It sounded so perfect when I decided to take it! I had never really been interested in drilling since it always seemed so BORING. Sit in one spot for months on end, never moving, never really doing much ‘SAILING’.

But this one seemed to be a great option. It was supposed to work in Alaska in the summer and Australia in the winter. I would actually get to do quite a bit of sailing. 🙂

But when I got to the ship, I felt a little queasy. Not because I was seasick!

The ship was in bad shape. It was old. It was rusty. It had issues. LOTS of issues!

It was basically an old ship (built 1966!!) that they had cleared off the topsides, then stuck a new house and a drilling rig on top of it. It had not been taken care of properly. I was not comfortable with it at all. Bad news. 🙁

I’m not any sort of safety nazi, not by a long shot, but I was really concerned about the condition of that ship and the lack of concern for all of the ordinary things we seamen look out for.

I stayed on there as long as I could, hoping that things would improve. I finally had to leave after only 3 weeks. I couldn’t stick around knowing the problems that were bound to come up. No job is worth my license I’ve worked so long and hard to earn, or my life! This one was seriously putting both at risk.

I couldn’t figure out WHY they would want to bring an old piece of sh*t like that up to work in the pristine waters of Alaska, KNOWING Greenpeace would be all over them.

Turns out, they DID have all kinds of problems on the trip to Alaska and since. They’re presently back in Asia in the shipyard (again) and all plans for Alaskan drilling on hold (again).

I wonder if that was the plan all along? If they had a nice, new, fully functioning rig would there have been such an outcry? Would there have been so many problems? Would the oil companies all have put off their plans to follow the success of this adventure in Alaska?

I don’t know, but I think if they had a better ship/rig, they would be drilling by now instead of still spending a fortune in the shipyard. Was all this a case of trying to save a few bucks by using old, worn out equipment? If so, they sure messed up on THAT decision!

Is she, or isn’t she aground? I’m sure glad I got off when I did!

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