The Atlantic

Atlantic Ocean... 11.12.07

It’s 16:39 I’m off, lying in my bunk, listening to music enjoying being alone for a second, it doesn’t happen a lot… I tried a few days ago to write an email to my blog, but eh somehow it didn’t work, so eh I’ll just save it on my laptop and post whenever possible, it won’t be long… we crossed the 1000Nautical miles limit a few watches ago, so we expect to see land within the next 36hours, if the wind is with us and everything goes as planned... it would mean we did and amazingly fast crossing, 2700nm in about 11-12days. Not bad at all, they’re setting our stunsails up on deck, I should probably be there and de interested, but I’m not, so eh I’ll stay here in my cosy little bunk, writing this and mentally prepare myself for yet another night watch, I actually like them, I like just sitting in the dark and gazing at the stars thinking about nothing and everything all at the same time… the last few days, I’ve been thinking a lot about people I loved so much who are not here anymore! The other night I was standing on the Foc’s’le (the most forward part, where we keep a look out at all times) all alone keeping a sharp lookout for dolphins and icebergs (there’s none, it’s about 25* Celsius at night)… but eh I was thinking about my father, wondering if he knew what I am doing and if he’s still around somewhere, asking if he could still feel me, at that exact moment I saw a shooting star. Hmm I don’t know how much meaning I should put into it, but it did something to me… apart from that, I’m all good. Still having a good time, still enjoying it, mentally preparing for all the boring cruises we have coming up, Christmas and New Years at some beach bar in the Northern Caribbean. This is not a complaint, but I will miss the night of the 24th of Dec. I miss meeting up with people after midnight and have a good time together! I wish I could be there!
Well in mind I am…
I’m looking forward to get rid of these old farts we’ve got onboard at the moment, in general they’re really nice, I’m just tired of people!
We are heavy rolling in the infamous Atlantic swell, and it’s impossible to sit relaxed at the table eating with a fork and a knife and at the same time have a glass of something in front of you, everything slides of the table, even though there’s plastic-thingy on it. It’s been like this for the past week-10days and they still try, so everyday they smash at least 3glasses and cover the entire longroom in coffee, milk, juice, soup or whatever liquid they can find. Eating was supposed to be really nice, but by now especially the crew (the guests are still learning) are all eating like animals. Your arm around the plate holding on to it and to a glass, in the other hand a fork. You ask he person sitting next to you to hold on to your glass for a sec while you cut up everything on your plate in to eatable bites, then you just chow down your food. Meanwhile, glasses with whatever is flying cross the room ‘cause some old fart lost his balance, while trying to cross the longroom, with a plate, a bowl of soup, cutlery, napkin and a glass of wine, obviously no hand for the ship so he and his food ends on the lap of the captain of another guest. They apologize and try again! Waiting for somebody else to clean up their mess… anybody who knows me, know I like food, I enjoy sitting down having a nice chitchat while eating, now it’s just impossible! But eh that’s life… maybe the day after tomorrow we are at anchor and can eat nice and relaxed and then go for a swim! Uh that’s gonna be very nice too… a swim! It’s hot, and the sea looks so tempting, but eh I can’t even touch it, so I have to wait a bit!
We’ve had fair winds all the way, making good speed, so we haven’t done the same as last year, where we had a Mid-Atlantic Swim stop. That was crazy, swimming in the middle of the ocean, knowing there’s more than 4000meters to the bottom!
Oh by the way, we’re not alone on the Ocean, we’ve met several little yachts all participants of the ARC (Atlantic Race Challenge) they too left Las Palmas and are all going to Rodney bay on St. Lucia, since we’re a bit early, we’ll go there too, before dropping of the guests in Fort de France, on Martinique. From there we go to Barbados to pick up the guests for the Christmas cruise.
Oh well it’s dinner time, circus time… the animals are being fed!