Graduation & Goodbyes - Valletta, Malta

The sail from the Azores to Malta was a quiet and solemn trip. Although it was our longest sail of the year, it passed by far too quickly. We worked our last galley shifts, did our last night watches, furled our last sails and made our bunks for the last times.

As we sailed into our last port in Valletta, I was standing in the salute line on the aft deck, next to the helm. Valletta is an old fortress city with beautiful stone walls and cobbled streets. Our parents, friends and relatives were standing along a wall in a fort high above the harbour. There were loads of people cheering and screaming as the ship came in. All of a sudden, the Captain shouted: “Prepare for the cannons!” There was a moment of confusion until we saw that below the fort where our parents stood, there were seven canons. They were set off one by one in honour of our ship. We later learned that this was an extreme rarity and they usually only strike one at noon for the tourists.

Our ship was decorated with flags from every nation represented onboard. We had spent the last week polishing every bit of brass and acid washing every patch of rust. In that moment, I was so proud of the Sorlandet, the ship’s crew and also so proud of what we had accomplished this past year.

We came alongside and our parents boarded the gangway – my mom at the front, as usual … we embraced. There was a moment, a sigh, that meant: “yes, it’s over, I’m coming home”. I introduced her to my friends, my teachers and my favourite crewmembers. I showed her where I slept, where I spent time and what I would miss the most. But I knew that she could never really understand, that no one could ever really understand how we had spent the last eight months. We then left the ship to wander around the city and didn’t return until curfew that evening.

PACKING DAY came next. It was quite extraordinary – the amount of stuff that forty teenagers managed to stow on a ship. There were mountains of unwanted garbage, bedding, work clothes, souvenirs, and schoolbooks. You couldn’t walk, you couldn’t move. The banjer (room where we all slept, ate and attended classes) was a DÉSASTRE TOTALE! It took us the whole day to clean, organize and pack. In the evening we spent time enjoying Malta with our families.

The following morning we had a crew brunch and bid farewell to our Captain, Boatswain and an AB (able bodied seaman) who were heading home.

I was really excited to be selected to honk the ships horn as Captain Gunar left the ship for the last time – he was retiring. We all busied ourselves with getting ready for the ceremony and right when we were about to leave, half a dozen people discovered that something in the brunch was not quite right – they were forced to hit the funnels once again. Food poisoning is never a friend, especially on graduation day.

We were led in pairs, divided by watch, along a procession through the town. At St. John’s Cathedral, we met our families who also joined the procession and we all walked to a smaller church for the ceremony.

Afterwards, we changed out of our number ones (uniforms), into party dresses and suits, and headed to a building next to the church for a cocktail party to celebrate. This was where we said a lot of our goodbyes and smudged our makeup with tears.

Sorlandet Pro Crew

The next morning, I officially moved off the ship and was no longer Sorlandet crew. There were only a handful of us still in Malta as most people had already gone home. Some of the crew stayed behind to take the ship to Turkey where it would undergo major renovations in a dry dock there.

Those of us who were heading home stood on the dock, the wrong side of the gangway, and watched as part of our crew prepared for departure.










There were a few last-minute hugs and many tears. I let go one of the aft mooring lines and watched my ship sailed away, disappearing over the horizon. At that moment, and only then, did I realize that this was the end. This amazing, life-changing, unbelievably incredible adventure was over …..

To my Floatie family,

Thank you for an amazing eight months! I will never forget those many sunrises, sunsets and starry nights we spent together.

“I am one with the family I have met; I am the crew of the Sorlandet. With sails filled by the stiffest breeze, let’s all set sail and conquer the seas.”

Fair winds & good luck. Love Naja xxx

Farewell to the Sea

The following blog is a letter that I wrote the evening we took the ship through the Straight of Gibraltar for the last time. It was also the day that we crossed over the same course we made at the beginning of the year. I tossed this letter, addressed to the sea, overboard into the ocean.

To the Sea:

Today we finished a full circle of the Atlantic, so I felt it was a good time to write you this letter of farewell. You have carried me, my crew and the Sorlandet far and wide. We sailed down the coast of Europe, through the Straight of Gibraltar, across the Equator, into the Doldrums, up the Amazon River, through the Caribbean, across the Bermuda Triangle and back across the North Atlantic. You kept us safe. Your fronts and storms challenged us and your high waves washed over our decks and the water leaked onto my bunk. Even so, I fell in love with you. That salty sea spray is the smell of adventure that I will sorely miss. For the rest of my life, I will always want to live by the sea ... I am forever yours. In the beginning, you teased me with rolling waves and sickening motions. I wanted to die and throw up and never leave land again. But I got over it. I learned your rhythms and flowed with your melodies. I hardly notice your rocking now. The creatures of your many seas appeared to greet us. We welcomed dolphins, whales, sea turtles and killer-jellyfish. We caught and ate Marlin and Mahi Mahi from your waters. So, thank you. Thank you for everything. For keeping us safe, but also giving us excitement. I hope to return one day. I have a place in my heart or soul or blood for you. Fair winds. Farewell. So long.

Love,

Lion Fish, Nadia Dale
Sorlandet Crew 2011-2012

Ponta Delgada - The Azores

After 16 days at sea, our longest crossing yet, we were happily anticipating a trip to the grocery store. What we didn’t expect was breathtaking landscapes, a two to one cow-human ratio and a legacy left behind by the Sorlandet crew of 1986.

Incidentally, the Azores is an archipelago of volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic. Technically, one might say that they are the tallest mountain range on the planet, be it mostly underwater. Personally, I wasn’t expecting much from Ponta Delgada. The year was winding down and we thought we had already seen the most interesting things, and had the most amazing adventures … apparently not!

On our port program, we rode a bus along a seaside highway that wound in and out of the grassy hillside. We passed many vertical farms, lots of greenery and cows … so many cows! Our guide took us to a hot springs a couple hours from the city. It smelled awful and sulphuric. We saw boiling mud and steam in the middle of a mossy, forested area.

One neat thing about the hot springs was the cooking holes. During the summer, people from all over Ponta Delgada would come to the springs with a pot full of raw vegetables and meat (no water) around 6:00 am. They would then bury their pots in the cooking holes. Later in the evening, they would return to the holes and dig up their dinner. Our guide told us that food tastes a hundred times better being cooked this way, because without the use of water, and the slow speed of the cooking, the flavours are so much stronger and vibrant.

After visiting the cooking holes, we stopped by an AMAZING botanical garden with a hot spring swimming pool. It was so beautiful and relaxing. Our afternoon was well spent wading in the warm murky water in the garden.

After our long day of touring, we had worked up quite an appetite and gathered a group together to have a barbeque. We learned on the tour that there were fire pits all over the island with free firewood available for anyone to use. When we asked our guide about it and he said that it was supposed to rain and also we didn’t have a light for when it got dark … we were quite disappointed until he came up with a solution.

He told us to buy everything we needed for a barbeque and then he would take us to a special spot. We bought all our stuff at the grocery store – hot dogs, chips, chocolate, bananas, cookies, bread and cheese. Our guide from the afternoon was waiting for us and he drove us to … his HOUSE! His wife wasn’t too happy about it, but we had lots of fun.

The next day, a group of local Sea Scouts roughly around our age, came for a tour of the ship. Then, they took us all to this old sailor’s smoking bar and café. It was the NEATEST place! The walls and ceiling was covered in posters, plaques, life rings, t-shirts and other memorabilia from tall ships all over the world.

We searched the place and found a smoky old Sorlandet shirt that said “Atlantic Crossing 1986”. It was so cool, sitting in that bar, knowing that a Sorlandet crew before us had done the same thing, and docked in the same port. We went back to the ship and returned the next day with a brand new Sorlandet poster. We all signed it and wrote “Atlantic Crossing 2012”. The owner promised he would find some wall space and hang it up! If you are ever in Ponta Delgada, ask anyone and they’ll tell you where the old sailor’s bar is. Our mark will be there.

ll in all, the Azores was quite a pleasant surprise! However, despite the elation of a successful and fun port, we are all saddened by the prospect of our final sail that will pass by far too quickly.

Atlantic Crossing

15 days on an open ocean …

Our sail from Bermuda to the Azores was the longest passage yet. We were out in the open ocean for 15 days without seeing a hint of land or a living soul besides our own crew. On the first evening, we had a “Coffee House” which is basically a crew talent show. Anything goes, from stand-up comedy and puppet shows, to guitar and voice performances. It was a fun night. We were rolling on the ground laughing the whole time.

From our departure, there was an intensifying low pressure system to the North of us bringing gale force winds of 35+ knots to lower latitudes in the North Atlantic and up to 50+ knots off of Nova Scotia and Iceland. This formed a huge cold front. A second low to the Northeast was also moving across the Atlantic and a series of lows were developing over the US. These pressure systems eventually caught up with us. The front came in thick and fast with heavy rain and strong winds gusting up to storm for of 57 knots (105km/hour winds). The storm lasted 12 hours. In less technical term: we got wet. The ship was rolling intensely and waves continuously crashed over the side and onto the deck. It was difficult to hear each other over the roaring of the wind, but it was AWESOME. What’s sailing without a bit of adventure, right?

Minky Whales

When we got out of the storm, everything went back to normal and we continued our lonely passage. Over the next few days we saw dolphins, whales and even a leatherback sea turtle! Dolphin sightings are very common as they are almost a daily occurrence out on the open ocean. It’s so cool! We also picked up a Portuguese Man-of-War (which, BTW, can easily kill a human!) and we kept it as a pet in a Tupperware container on the main deck until someone mysteriously set it free … Poor Manny.

Lessons on deck

About halfway through the sail, we had a snow day! We normally have school EVERY day while at sea (we don’t get weekends) so this was a real treat. I watched an embarrassing amount of Big Bang Theory episodes and we spent the day lazing about. (Never fear, we still did our usual bunk inspections, hour of cleaning, two hours of galley and two hours of deck watch.) It was almost like a rainy Sunday afternoon back home!

The weather slowly got better and better as the journey went on and we had a swim call right in the middle of the Atlantic. It was SO COOL. It was the first time that I felt really small out on the water.

Off the stern of the ship (or the aft deck) we have five fishing lines, each belonging to a member of the maritime crew. They have a bit of a competition going on – in every port they seem to buy flashy new tackle to outdo each other. Surprisingly, we didn’t catch ANY fish durning the entire crossing. But on arrival day, when I was on helm, we caught four tuna in the span of an hour! One of the ABs made seared tuna salsa … it was delicious! And FRESH!

100 pound Marlin caught on previous sail

 All in all, a very eventful passage across the Atlantic. I can’t believe we only have one more sail left.

Bermuda - We survived the triangle … thank goodness!

Bermuda was a lovely stop. Thankfully we arrived safely after sailing right through the famous triangle! We spent our time walking around the disturbingly perfect city of Hamilton and hanging out in quaint little coffee shops or”smoothie” bars. EVERY single building in the ENTIRE city is painted a pastel colour with a white trim. I am not exaggerating. It’s beautiful, but kind of eery.

I

 took some time in this port to just relax and recharge before the Atlantic crossing and the last few weeks of school. There wasn’t much adventuring to be had right in the city, although we did do some really neat things for our port program.

One day, we had a professional Bermuda kite maker teach us how to make out own wooden kites. It’s a lot harder than it looks! Patience was key – my kite didn’t turn out very well … Kite making in Bermuda is a VERY popular Easter tradition, and they were all gearing up for the holiday while we were there.

Our other port program was a hike. We strolled through the local national park and explored some awesome caves. The coolest part was when we went swimming in a cave. It was crazy … and cold.

On the last night we were surprised with our end of year prom! We all frantically went dress shopping/dress borrowing in my case. It was a super fun night. We had a DJ on the main deck and we danced our hearts out.

All in all, Bermuda was a really fun port. I’ve stocked up on snacks and I’m super excited for the big crossing ahead!

Parent Sail in The Bahamas!!!

I have been looking forward to the Bahamas since the last parent port, way back in Barcelona. For one thing, I needed to send a bunch of things home in order to make room in my personal storage (or, lack thereof), and for another, we were taking our families sailing!

We arrived in port with the yards dressed with students (i.e. the yellow horizontal thingies had people in red shirts on them). The ship was quite a sight. I stood on the fore upper yard. As we came closer, we noticed the huge banners the parents had made for us. It was SO exciting to see them!!!! Mum even made me her famous curried chicken and rice with broccoli. It was awesome.

The highlight of the trip was definitely the day sail. We were all really excited to actually show our parents what sailing is like. Dad was crazy. He was like a little kid in a candy store – hauling on lines with one hand, while taking millions of pictures and videos with the other. As you can imagine, Mum was chatting with the captain for a lot of the time and she had lots of fun too. I taught her how to properly coil rope and also haul a line. I don’t think she enjoyed watching me climb aloft … Dad was pretty jealous though.

Bonus: neither of them got seasick! Which is great, but also quite unfair, seeing as I was sick for the first two months! Many of the other parents were terribly ill – hugging the puke funnels or a bucket, or else sleeping down below. Us “salty sea dogs” thought it was quite hilarious …

We had a really great time in the Bahamas. It has made me eager to get home! Only a few short weeks and I’ll be back in Steveston. Can’t wait!

The Dominican Republic … And Homestays!

The Dominican Republic was definitely one of my favourite ports so far. We were docked at the end of a broken down concrete jetty in the middle of nowhere. On the first day in port, we found a pick-up truck taxi to take us into the city of Semana. I feel guilty to admit that, as always, our priority was food and internet. We found a beautiful resort on the top of this hill with an all-you-can-eat buffet. We must have had at least three dinners each. Plus dessert. After a long sail, we are ALWAYS hungry.

We were all very excited to head out on our three-night homestays. A couple of open-air busses came to pick us up at the ship and we headed off. Our first stop was a waterfall hike. We trudged through the mud and waded across rivers until we reached a beautiful waterfall. It was PACKED with people. We learned later that a private jet full of rich Europeans had landed for a forty-eight hour trip. They were all couples and several professional photographers were darting around taking very staged pictures that made their subjects look like models. You would have to be there to fully appreciate the humour of it, but it was HYSTERICAL.

We carried on in the busses for a couple more hours until we reached the community of Las Tarrenas. Las Tarrenas is a unique community comprised of touristy hotels, villas that house a very international community and native Dominicans, some of which live below the poverty line. Some social issues prevalent in the Dominican Republic include teenage and child prostitution as well as illiteracy. While we were there we worked with the Mahatma Ghandi Foundation (http://fundacionmahatmagandhi.com/) on a couple of short service projects. During our stay we volunteered at the local library and preschool, we painted several houses located in poor neighbourhoods around the community and we built a couple of teeter-totters (the first playground in Las Tarrenas). The volunteering that we did was really exciting and rewarding as the impact of our work on the community was very obvious.

I volunteered by painting houses and it was really fun. We painted one house that belonged to a young single woman with five children. We couldn’t get the whole story as we had a bit of a language barrier (the D.R. is a Spanish speaking country) but she was very grateful. Something as simple as a coat of paint can make a wooden shack look comfortable and inviting. However, this work did make a little uncomfortable. I felt as though we were these ‘rich people’ from America, storming into their barrios, painting houses and then leaving again. I suppose that’s just the reality when it comes to doing short-term service.

By the way, the beaches in Las Tarrena are INCREDIBLE. We had tons of fun splashing around in the shallows and lounging on the beach. In the evenings, we had dance lessons at an outdoor restaurant right on the water. We learned some merengue, bachata and salsa from a couple of (very attractive) professional dances. It was a riot!

Another wonderful aspect of our time in the Dominican Republic was our accommodation. We were really excited that we got to stay in actual homes for the first time in six months! Another girl and I stayed with a retired couple from France in a lovely villa. They were very generous. The homestay hostess, Annie, made us café au lait on the stove and fresh yogurt cake (don’t worry, I have the recipe) every morning. Added bonus … they had internet! It was also a great way for us to brush up on hour French as neither of them spoke very much English. C’était formidable!

All in all, it was a great visit. We topped it off our visit to the DR by marching in the local parade for “Carnival” with the foundation. It was all great fun. J I am definitely coming back.