25/12/11 - Lord Nelson

We came off watch as Christmas Day dawned…singing carols and not really minding the lateness of the hour in this starry starry night…..

Smoked salmon, scrambled egg and Buck’s Fizz for breakfast, followed for most of us by a coach trip up through the beautiful mountainous countryside to see the volcanic crater.
We arrived back to find the permanent crew had prepared a sumptuous buffet for us on the bridge. The harbour side was full of local people enjoying the sight of five Tall Ships in their harbour and visiting the rows of stalls selling all manner of interesting objects, handy for purchasing last minute secret Santa presents.
At 4pm the Raft Race took place with Lord Nelson competing against crews from Alexander Von Humboldt and Tenacious. It was a great race, the crews battling against current and rain, we fought a brave fight but our raft, which would never have sunk but delivered the crew safely across the Atlantic was no match for the other flimsy but faster models. The winners were the German crew from Alexander Von Humboldt.

5pm saw the whole ship sitting down together for a fantastic Christmas Dinner…don’t know how you do it Dave and Maddie! The evening continued with music and jollity in the Bar, the giving and receiving of the secret Santa presents. Emmanuel and Joel, our Portuguese voyage crew, gave everybody a small gift and presented the Captain with a gift from the Organisation which looks after Joel and arranged for him to come on Lord Nelson with his brother.

The evening progressed and we were joined by a number of the crew from Tenacious to help the festivities along.

It has been a great day and the permanent crew have worked hard to make sure all the jobs were done behind the scenes. Now its midnight and here we are again, on watch until 2am. Boxing Day begins and we are looking forward to sailing again by lunchtime, and a good sleep before that!

Alan and Stevie.