December 04, 2012 – December 16, 2012
My watch began the 12am-2am watch when we left Senegal.
Hands down, it is the toughest watch; it goes by quick enough when you’re
actually on watch, but it’s getting up for watch that’s the problem. Be woken
up every night just after you finally get into a deep sleep is not easy, and
most of the time no one even remembers being woken up! Can’t wait until the
2-4!
The days were really nice though for the entire sail. One
day I was sitting on deck with a friend and looking out at sea when we saw
something move; dolphins! Then we saw what I can only describe as a wave of
dolphins! A wave! There were so many jumping together; it was incredible!
Though we spent 12 days at sea, our longest sail yet,
there was so much going on that the days all sort of blended into one. One day
we had maritime studies class where we had an emergency drill. Then, surprise:
swim call!!! We had a swim call in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded
by nothing by open water! It was amazing, and something I know that few people
will ever be able to say they have done!
We also had a couple of celebrations on board, the first
being 12.12.12! At 12:12 on December 12th, a couple of the teachers
and I rang the bell in the Banjer 12 times, and announced 12 seconds of
silence! Hahahaha it was just a silly little event, but fun nonetheless!
The day after that, December 13th, was our 100th
day of Class Afloat, so a group of us sang a 100 days song at colours and we put
up a whiteboard in the Banjer where 100 moments of awesome (we usually mention
a couple awesome things at colours every day, or “moments of awesome”) were
written by the end of the day!
The 13th was an exciting day for another
reason as well; just after supper, a muster was called on deck, and we all
stood there in the dark and counted down as we crossed the equator! No, the
water didn’t boil and we didn’t feel a bump, but we knew that we had entered
King Neptune’s court and an initiation awaited us! We soon became true
shellbacks (meaning we have sailed across the equator)!
A few days later, after a great first Atlantic crossing,
we saw land and the Brazilian Island of Fernando de Noronha awaited us!
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