would-be mariners to the tall ship Endeavour John Kahler Spent the first two days aboard Endeavour throwing up. A trip, he told his wife, he would "give his right arm for''.

His ordeal began just hours after eating his first meal and as he climbed to the top deck to stand watch aboard the sea-tossed Endeavour .

"I took two steps and that was it -- right over the side,'' he recalls. From then on he ate only plain bread, crackers and apples -- none of which stayed inside him for very long -- and drank plenty of water.

While the rest of the crew performed the tasks necessary to sail and maintain an 18th century sailing ship, he lay listless and morose alongside two equally unfortunate would-be mariners.

He was the last to recover.

"The funny part about it is that I knew I was going to get sea sick,'' he says of his ordeal. "Because I always get sea sick.'' "(But) I didn't think I would get sea sick for two days. I did take precautions -- they didn't work.'' Despite his lengthy illness, John has no regrets about stepping aboard.

Since leaving Halifax, Nova Scotia, a day ahead of schedule (on Wednesday, October 21), Endeavour has made steady progress and is now some 300-nautical miles northwest of Bermuda.

Unfortunately, recent winds from the west have pushed the ship off course and threaten to destroy the time gained by our early start.

But the crew's spirits are noticeably higher as the ship moved southward into clear skies and comfortable 75 degree weather.

For the past day there has been nothing above the surface of the ocean except our out-of-date ship.

Even a pair of stowaway sparrows hoping for sunnier climes have disappeared.

Life at sea now moves between two extremes. At one end are periods of frenzied activity to adjust sails for a sudden change of wind, or to desperately seek out the last speck of dirt before the Captain's inspection.

And on the other end are the quiet, fleeting moments of an a ocean-view sunrise, dolphins racing alongside the ship, or the phosphorescent glow of creatures too small to be seen.

Everything else is eating, sleeping and getting to know each other.

For example, 82-year-old Walter Foster of Ohio is living out the fulfilment of a dream he once shared with his wife.

He says the two of them learned about Endeavour some years ago and followed the ship's construction and progress through newspaper and magazine articles.

Unfortunately, the couple were unable to catch up with the ship before Walter's wife passed away last year.

As a supernumerary crew, he is spared the rigours of sailing and ship maintenance and is instead free to do as little or as much as he chooses.

But 68-year-old Gordon Wiliden of Canada decided to not to take the easy route.

He moves a little more slowly than his fellows, but is the first to volunteer for any task.

Even before leaving the deep-water port of Halifax, Gordon was hoisting a 88-pound bag of sugar onto his shoulder and carrying it across the platform and onto the deck.

Gordon learned of the opportunity to sail aboard Endeavour the Friday before she left port. Two days later a ship administrators offered him a place on board -- as long as he passed a medical exam and was able to climb the rigging.

"The ship closed at 5 and he told me to come down at 6,'' Gordon recalls.

"And I went straight up there.'' However, once at sea Gordon bruised a rib during a sail-furling exercise. To complete the task, crew members climb more than 50 feet above deck.

Then -- in something very much like a leap of faith -- they step off a wooden platform and onto a rope which hangs below a horizontal wooden beam. The secret to the exercise is to lay across the beam looking directly at the deck.

The sail is then pulled upward in a hand over hand action and secured. The operation takes about 15 to 20 minutes to complete.

Gordon stayed up the entire time to finish his task.

His only regret now is that he will not have the opportunity to furl the sails again -- but he still climbs the rigging every chance he gets.

Robert Miorelli -- "Bob'' to all on board -- was alongside Gordon the same day.

He describes himself as "not an athletic person'' and admits he almost gave up in fear after momentarily losing his grip.

"I had more work to do,'' he says "I had to finish.'' Like many others aboard, Bob was drawn to Endeavour out of love for traditional wind-powered vessels.

"I have a love for old sailing vessels,'' he says. "I can't put it any other way than that.'' "I just really, really wanted to sail on a ship like the (USS) Constitution and this was my opportunity.'' Now that the ship has entered the deep waters of the mid-Atlantic, he describes the stop-and-start pace of ship life a pattern that is "boring and exciting at the same time''.

For 25-year-old Melissa Rey of Toronto, the voyage provides an fun learning experience and an "alternative'' route to a final destination in Central America.

Her first two days at sea were spent alongside John.

"If you'd asked me a few days ago, I would have said `what the hell am I doing here'?'', Melissa says.

Now that she is back on her feet -- and solid food -- her attitude is markedly different.

"I can't see why everybody isn't doing this,'' she says.

TEAM EFFORT -- Crews aboard Endeavour spend time between hoisting sails and cleaning the ship to just relaxing and watching the world drift past.