Belfast, Northern Ireland: Pubs, Castles, and a Tattoo

 

Wednesday August 12th

Woke up for work party at 7am, way too early. I am on starboard watch for this port and I work Wednesday and Thursday so I get Friday and Saturday off. Today was painting the ship and making her look pretty. I got in the whaler with Young Mitch and we rowed around the boat painting the hull. Later in the day we put up our signal/parade flags which as always was an oh so fun project. It was a long day, but as always we had a decent time. 

Maisie came onboard and after dinner we went and got a pint at a pub called “The American Bar” which was about as American as the “football” photos on the wall. It was definitely a locals bar, however, and we had a great time hanging out and watching the classic Irish pub. We walked a bit around the local area and then I came back to the ship to go to bed early and get some rest for tomorrow. When I got back I found that Cookie had bought an entire sheep from somebody he met at the pub last night and butchering it on the counter in the galley, it was hilarious. I guess we will be having a lot of lamb in the future.

Thursday August 13th

Got to sleep in until 9am, which was downright awesome. Had to wear my crew t-shirt, but it was so cold I ended up putting on 3 layers underneath. We got the ship ready and press folks kept coming by and taking pictures of us. We opened for tours from noon until 6:30pm.

A stage was set up near our ship and all sorts of “important” people were giving speeches about the festival. It was decided that Bounty was to fire off a cannon and then all the ships would sound their horns to signal the start of the festival. Europa, however, sounded their horn early and set off the other ships. I could see the event organizer’s hair turn grey before my eyes as he was on the phone and radio trying to sort out the mess. When the festival did eventually start we fired off a cannon and were all deafened by the blaring horns.

The tours went well and we had several thousand people come through and had to turn away part of the line at the end of the day. Many people knew about the ship and lots of people were very chatty. Thankfully it didn’t rain as forecasted and all in all it was a great day.

After work Amelia and I went off to find a tattoo parlor I had read was the best in Belfast (More on the tattoo later). I had called them in the morning to see if I could make an appointment, they said they were all booked up for the weekend but could call me if anything opened up. So, after work I wandered down there to see what I could do about the situation.

We eventually found the place and I got the same speech when I walked in. I then explained the situation and pulled the “tallship sailor'” card. Sure enough, the artist Shane, who was at the counter, said he would come in earlier and gave me a morning spot tomorrow. I was very grateful.

After that Amelia and I wandered around Belfast. We rode the silly Ferris wheel at city hall, which had an incredible view of the city and surrounding hills. There is so much beautiful architecture in Belfast, and more importantly so many pubs! We meandered our way back towards the ship and saw some fireworks. We went to a movie theater near by and saw the new Harry Potter. After that we went home and I slept like a rock until the next morning.

Friday August 14th

My first day off! I set an alarm and woke up at 9am. Why? To go get my first tattoo! I walked down to the place with Chris and met Shane the artist. Shane is Canadian and we joked that I had to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to Belfast to get a tattoo done by a Canadian. He is a really nice guy and came in early to fit me into their completely booked weekend. We went up to the parlor and we fine tuned the design and got it all worked out.

The design took over an hour and a half to complete and boy was that unpleasant! I got the tattoo on my ankle and foot. If you’ve heard that is a painful place to get a tattoo done, they were right! A little while of pain and it was done.

So the design is a bowline knot (used for tying a line to an object ie person, anchor..)  around my ankle and fading away off my foot as though it were tethered to the deck. So, it has a keep me on the ship and safe theme. In the curve of the line is a swallow, which has two meanings. Firstly it means 5,000 miles on the water and secondly swallows are good luck to bring you home as they migrate such long distances but always come back to the same places. Also to commemorate my first Atlantic or, any ocean, crossing. It is done in classic nautical tattoo style and I am very happy with the job Shane did.

I was very happy Chris was there with me chatting with Shane, because I was in no mood to socialize and I had something to distract me. Plus he documented the event. Thanks Chris! We went off to find the care product and lunch. We hit a little pub we walked by on our way back to the ship. We got a couple pints and a shepard’s pie like dish that was fantastic!

We worked our way back to the ship the long way and I hung around, took a nap, and did a few chores I needed to get done on my time off. I offered to give Shane a tour of the ship because he was so nice to me and he showed up with his wife, kids, and mother in law. They were all very nice people and I showed them around the ship and they chatted with a lot of the crew. Shane’s mother in law told one of the crew that I was more handsome than Frank Sinatra and should be in movies. I had a good laugh. They seemed to enjoy the ship and I was happy to able to repay his kindness.

Later that night I went to the big crew party held by the Belfast Tallships people. We had a whole indoor arena for the event and lots of good cold beer. Unexpectedly, however, we were met with an all Irish Blues Brother cover band and danced the night away to American blues and rock. If you’re wondering, my foot didn’t bother me.

Saturday August 15th

Amelia and I took a bus with Caleb and Rebecca to the castle Kerrick Fergus, built in the 12th century by a Norman knight. Our tour guide was a little more interested in medieval weapons and gore than the history, but the castle was absolutely incredible. We had a great time and went off to explore the surrounding town. The church, built by the Normans as well, was very cool with its crowded little graveyard and extensive history. I was interested to find a plaque to an Irish sailor who drowned when his ship wrecked in the Caribbean in the 1830’s.

We wandered around a bit more and ate lunch at a tiny cafe, very local, every day place; it was fun. We hung out by the harbor and watch the boats before we got back on the bus and headed back. The bus had trouble getting back to the event because the police had blocked off several of the roads. We had to go through a long way and saw where the visitors had to park and take buses into the event. People were in a half mile line to get on the buses to get to the event which was absolutely packed!

After we got back Amelia and I struck out into the city and wandered our way to Queen’s University and the botanical gardens. It was absolutely beautiful and for once there was more sunny sky than cloudy and it felt wondrous to soak it all up. We had dinner at a little Italian place and worked our way back to the ship. Amelia’s folks picked her up from the ship and we said goodbye.

I went out on the town with a bunch of the crew and we all met up at a neat pub, but it was so crowded we tried to get a second round for 20 minutes and gave up to try somewhere else. We went to White’s which, built in the 1600’s is one of the several pubs to claim the oldest in Belfast. Sean, an old shipmate of Adam’s, got us all singing shanties and before we left we got the entire pub to sing “Wild Rover”, which was fantastic.

After that rendition we left and headed for our old haunt Pat’s. We found more of the crew there and all had a few drinks. I left early as I had watch in the morning, went back to the ship and went to sleep with a big smile on my face.

Sunday August 16th

Woke at 7am as I had watch until we left Belfast. Got all the trash off the ship and made sure the water tanks were filled and topped off before we left shore. I chased four different groups of people that had come onto our obviously not open for tours ship. I pretty much had to physically escort one old man off the ship, I walked him to the ramp and when I turned around he was walking back towards the stern and I had to run back to get him.

Roused the ship at 8:15 and we got to work getting the ship ready for sea. The sun was coming out between clouds and the most importantly we had a good fair breeze. We ungasketed topsails and courses and the captain told us our game plan. Before we knew it the ship in front of us was off the dock and it was our turn to get into the parade of sail.

I was on the foredeck so I helped set the forecourse and topsail, as well as the jib and foretop staysail. We flashed it all out and sailed right off the dock! We got out into the loch and had a great time sailing in a lovely parade with lots of pleasure craft sailing alongside.

We got out and decided we would head south through the Irish sea and then up through the channel. At this point it was lunch time and we broke into work party for the afternoon. I ended up doing the aloft and safety training for the passenger and volunteer with us for this leg. Just before dinner we headed more south and into a foul wind. So aloft we went to strike sail.

I am on the 8-12 watch for this transit and so after dinner I took a nap. It was a cold night on watch and with the headwinds and short choppy seas we had quite a bit of bow spray. Staysails were all set so we just motored along with those and headed south; Ireland to our right and the Isle of Man somewhere off to the left.