January 21, 2013 – February 17, 2013
A month at sea…I can hardly believe it’s
already over. At the same time though, it feels like an incredibly long time.
Really, I just feel like an entire month of my life passed me by without me
really knowing. That’s how it is on the ship sometimes. Well, most of the time.
I call it ship time. Ship time is weird; it drags by, but at the same time, it
flies by. How is that possible? Sometimes, as much as we wish something would
last, and no matter how hard we try to hold on, they will always just pass us
by before we know it.
I’m not going to pretend that it’s easy
though, going into a month-long sail. Never before had I gone a month without
talking to my family and without really being able to be alone. We departed Rio
on the 21st, and things got busy fast. Our first two days at sea
were sail days, and classes hadn’t started yet. It was nice to be able to spend
some time on the ship without having to worry about school stuff, but it also
meant that we stood four hour night watches and day watches, rather than the
typical two hours. The days were good, despite being incredibly long. School
started much too soon though, with classes beginning on the 24th.
The first week was busy as we got used to the ship routine again.
I went out on the bowsprit for the first time
at sea! The bowsprit is the spar that sticks out on from the front of the ship.
I don’t know why I never went out there before – it was incredible! You walk on
the foot rope, clipped into the safety line, and there’s a net underneath, but
below that it’s just the water rushing below! From out there I could look back
at the ship with all the sails set and filled with wind!
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| Sitting on the bowsprit |
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| Hanging out with friends out on the bowsprit |
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| Life is good! |
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| Hanging out on the bowsprit with friends |
Classes continued on, but since we don’t have
weekends while we are at sea (being in port is basically like an extended
weekend), everyone was getting really tired out. It’s hard having school every
day and night watch every night (though I started on the 10pm-12am, which is a
pretty good time) without a break. Then, on February 5th, we were
sitting in class, about to have a two hour English class starting with a lesson
on commas (*groan*), when, suddenly, Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer” began
blasting on the ship intercom system. ♪”Woah, halfway there!”♫ Then, Jenn, our
shipboard director, went on the intercom and called us all up to the main deck
for a snack to celebrate the fact that we were halfway to Cape Town, over a
3,000 mile passage! She also announced a half day of school! Classes were
cancelled for the afternoon, and everyone definitely needed the break! During
that afternoon off I went up to the main royal, which is the highest yard on
the ship, with three friends. It was my first time up to the royal while being
at sea (I had only got up in port), and to add to that, the sail was set which
means the yard was raised, making it the highest I’ve ever been, and will ever
be on the ship! We were so high that I could almost touch the flag at the top
of the mast! I was a little scared (I’m a bit scared of heights), but it was
amazing up there! All you could see was open ocean all around. The view was
incredible, and it felt like we were at the top of the world!
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| Up on the royal with friends |
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| Looking down from the royal |
The following day was a snow day! We were
supposed to have a sleep-in until 10am (our first time sleeping past 7am since
semester break!) but at 6am, we were woken up; there was land in sight! We were
supposed to stop at the island of Tristan da Cunha, but unfavourable wind
direction meant that we had to take a much more southerly course. It was, in
fact, the furthest south the Sørlandet has ever been! We were all disappointed
that we couldn’t reach Tristan, but instead, what we saw was Gough Island! It
was our first time seeing land in over 2 weeks, and I came up on deck and saw
the island drawing nearer, beautiful and green in the golden light of the
rising sun. We had to take in sail as we approached the island. We all went
back to bed to sleep until 10am, but before we knew it, it was 8:45 and the
Captain was on the intercom telling us all to hurry up and get ourselves onto
the main deck; we had visitors! Gough has no permanent residents, but there is
a research team stationed on the Island. We welcomed aboard the research team
leader and a couple from Tristan da Cunha and we got to talk to them about life
on such remote islands. It was pretty cool – not many people have had the
chance to see Gough Island.
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| Gough Island |
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| Gough Island |
After our visitors left it was time for a
quick brunch before departing. We set sail, and as soon as we passed the island
we were up to a speed of 9 knots in a flash! It was amazing! I went out onto
the bowsprit with a couple of friends as we sped across the great blue ocean,
feeling so small in comparison the vastness that surrounded us. I sat on the
furthest, forward-most bit at the end of the bowsprit, feet dangling over empty
air and the water beneath. Just when we thought things couldn’t get any more incredible,
a couple of seals poked their heads out of the water to say hi!
The next day it was lobster tails for lunch
that we were given by a fishing boat at Gough Island yesterday. How awesome is
that?! It was another great day at sea, which ended with a crêpe night on
board!
We were going so fast! From February 4th
to February 8th we sailed over 1,000 nautical miles in just those
five days! We caught so many fish and had delicious tuna steak that was probably
the freshest fish I’ll ever eat!
Three weeks into the sail, we were all
beginning to feel it. We were getting so tired out, and what we really needed
was a break and some sleep. That came on the 12th, and we finally
got a real sleep in, followed by brunch! Two days later was Valentine’s Day,
which was a lot of fun as well! The sea was rough, and during the night a wave
crashed over the deck that was so big it caused a life raft to be released and
we lost it overboard! Don’t worry – there was still more than enough rafts on
board! Things calmed down a bit during the day and we all still managed to get
dressed up for a fancy Valentine’s meal!
The following day we finally saw it: land ho!
After a month at sea, I watched the coast of Africa draw nearer. After over
3000 nautical miles, the longest sail of the year, we finally arrived in Cape
Town, South Africa, where our families waited to welcome us!
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