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.