To Thee Camp Fuller By-The-Sea

THESE EVENTS TOOK PLACE: Saturday, June 13, 2009 (USEDT)

To thee Camp Fuller By-The-Sea
We will always faithful be
Our motto true we will fulfill
Because we can and surely will
To thee Camp Fuller By-The-Sea
We will always faithful be
(From the official Camp Fuller Council Fire Song)

After the absolute epitome of a long and arduous journey, I finally arrived at YMCA Camp Fuller By-The-Sea on Point Judith Pond in Wakefield, Rhode Island, USA.

At least the ridiculously long (I'm talking 10-15 minutes here), bumpy, winding dirt road entry into camp gave me an insight into the true hilarity of Alex's personality. In addition to his sarcastic commentary of the dynamics of Camp Fuller Road, Alex let rip a verbal tirade about his relief in finally having a fraction of the early-arrival international staff grace him with their company.

In hindsight, his lighthearted jokes and jibes about being trapped on camp for over a week in a small cabin house alone with Head Counselor, Jessie Williams, are even more hysterical. Let's see if my narration of the rest of camp and its characters paints the picture of why. It shouldn't require a great deal of explanation.

Despite the main Administration Building obscuring the far left of my view upon rolling through the gates, it did nothing to take away from how completely awed I was by the beauty of Camp Fuller. Atop the far-western crest of the property, the gates of Camp Fuller overlook the entire 65 acres of the sweeping green and blue expanse of fields, buildings, roads and waterfronts. While you can't see everything, you can see enough.

My first focus was the glimmer of water smack in the centre of my vision made visible by the 'V' break in the trees that divide the central Soccer Field and one of the four docks on Point Judith Pond. The water literally sparkled in the sun and was in its finest form with sailboats and speedboats upon it.

We veered left downhill past the main buildings and a cute cottage Alex noted as Jaime's. The foot of this tree-lined road eventually revealed another spectacular sprawling view of camp, the northern half that contains another main field and three quarters of the cabins. Taking another left at a major crossroads and go in a more northerly direction, we passed another cottage that Alex claimed as his own shared home, we eventually parked in front of the Infirmary building perched high and overlooking the aforementioned field and cabin-dense section of the property.

I discover that this will be my first short-term residence at camp along with the other handful of international staff that had arrived early for Lifeguard and High Ropes training.

Alex lead me into a room packed to the rafters with rusty old bunk beds and scattered luggage. Apparently my new roomies were off touring the property and had asked that Alex come and notify them when I arrive. Alex disappeared to do as much and left me to settle in and rest. I'd barely had time to choose a bunk, thrust my stuff in a corner, do something resembling making my bed and get halfway through doing a wee when I heard the echoes of English voices merrily hollering "Nicole?! Niiiicoooooole?!".

I emerged from the bathroom to find five excitable British faces grinning at me from ear to ear. These faces were Heather, Franky, Charlie, Rachel and the lone male, Matt.... a motley crew they were, but a welcome one too.

Heather, 23, was thrilled to have another "granny" on board. Franky, 19, was the proud baby of the group. Charlie, 21, was the rambunctious but super-sincere token "blonde". Rachel, also 21, was the super cute Scottish contingent. And Matt, another 21 year old, was perfectly at home amongst a group of girls and did little to keep his Man Points up.

Matt also bore a striking resemblance to Robert Pattinson circa Cedric Diggory. I vowed to take sneaky photos of him for my girls back home to assess.


So, what do you think? Cedric double?

I also later met Kerrie, 22, another Brit and "Borts" (Alex Borts), 25, a Yankee who were both long time camp staff.

The Barmy Army, happy to have some fresh blood among them and especially such an elusively missing number as myself, asked an endless array of questions and listened with rapt attention and appropriate sentiments as I regaled them with my Stranded Story. I was deeply appreciative of the girls validating me by solemnly agreeing that they'd have all been in tears in my shoes and that they'd be horrified to be without their luggage. They were also quick to offer to share their belongings as well.

I was even more grateful when they didn't rib me for not coming along on their kayaking adventure and happily left me to shower and sleep.

Kayaked, well-slept and showered, we all ventured out for a short tour around the main buildings in the centre of camp. We put the crapola computers in the dingy staff room under the Dining Hall to good use, especially me (contacting concerned parties), then looked like a comedy act cleaning out and rearranging the entire room to look like something resembling a respectable place for staff to sit and chill.

I met an array of personalities upon my arrival and first meal at the Dining Hall and discovered the [slightly] wider population of people already on camp. With a small family group holidaying at camp, there were dribs and drabs of staff about, the directors, a few key staff, a few sailing instructors, a few kitchen staff, etc. Even so, we barely numbered two-dozen and were lucky to use even 10% of the hall.

We sauntered around doing all sorts after the meal and eventually joined Program Director Scott and the family group in the more luxurious of the cabin Divisions "Sherman" for a campfire.

The 8 year old son provided most of the entertainment. Between believing wholeheartedly in the myth of chanting "White Rabbit" to ward of smoke and taking one of the most almighty stacks I've ever seen a child take, never mind without crying or carrying on about it, this kid had some pluck.

Note: I also established at this point, once and for all, that my camera is definitely faulty. It just flat doesn't work in low light and no manner of settings helps. This has been seconded, thirded, fourthed and then some by a bunch of frustrated camp staff.



My British mates attempted unsuccessfully to teach me how to play a bizarre card game before my first day at Camp Fuller came to a close.


Apart from the fact that Matt is much prettier and doesn't have an odd nose-profile, you MUST see the resemblance?!

I don't know if it was because of the ordeal I'd been through or because I'm just not very princessy, but I had none of the gripes about the bunks being beyond uncomfortable to sleep in. I was out like a light and fresh as a daisy the next morning!

Now don't fret, please note that I will be doing a separate post solely dedicated to photography of camp.