Today's Higlights:
- Culture treasure hunt
- Presentation captain
- Presentation Marcin (PL)
- Presentation Jo (UK)
Today we have been sailing all day, and the sea has been slightly rough again. We have revisited sea sickness with several terrible noises originating from the fo'c’sle heads. The weather has slowly got better today starting gray and gradually moving to bright sun. Today we also played the bucket game again, the last watch to play finally getting their go. The two brilliant mentors headed their own team of two, in order to give Fergal’s team a little competition. Unfortunately both teams’ buckets emptied onto people, adding hilarity and a little moisture to the event. Love is also in the air with some romance appearing amongst the voyage crew.
During the afternoon 10 trainees visited the engine room. The working area of our two nice engine-room girls Jenny and Rachel.
The captain gave his daily presentation and afterwards Marcin, our Polish bosun (adoringly known as ‘Boski’ by the girls on the boat!) told us about Poland’s long and proud history, it’s culture, it’s food, and his life in Poland. Jo (Medical Purser) then gave us a presentation on her home English County of Cornwall in the UK (I think Liverpool should be accorded a similar time spot too). She told us about the history (home of the Arthurian legends of Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table, of Merlin the Wizard, and of its ‘Piskies’ and little people of the moors and the sea). In some ways, Cornwall is an island bounded by the Atlantic and English Channel on three sides, with the River Tamar separating the county from England. Our afternoon ‘smoko’ was a Cornish Cream Tea with Cornish clotted cream, jam and scones.
Forward Port watch took the afore midnight watch. It was a strikingly beautiful evening starting with a colourful sunset. What followed next was quite exquisite. As the twilight established itself, off on our starboard bow, Jupiter appeared in all her glory, outshining everything in the darkening sky. And as the nautical twilight faded, the magnificence of the night sky was revealed to all. All our old ‘friends’ were on parade, the Plough, Polaris, the Bears, Venus and the Milky Way. But what is so special about an ocean night sky is the mastheads. From the deck they appear to touch the void, and as they do, they etch through the night sky their invisible pattern as the ship rolls and pitches through the sea. But all good things come to an end, the watch slipped down into their bunks as their ‘trick’ was done.
Written by the watch of Mike 20.00-24.00