Wind Surf Day 6 – Maritime Traditions and Nautical Lessons

 “I like the idea of following in the wake of great seafarers...the sort who didn’t have GPS to guide them and spanned the world with a sextant.” 

 Guirec Soudee

Wind Surf Transatlantic Sailing Day 6

The days were beginning to blur into one another, not from monotony but from immersion. Yesterday’s excitement at having to change course had softened into today’s calm, and the ship moved forward like a living thing breathing with the sea.

Time Change on Wind Surf

With the time change last night, it felt like morning came even earlier than usual. However, when we looked outside it was to find another gorgeous, sunny day, and the seas felt calmer than they had so far this trip. Sean tried to photograph the sunrise, but the crew were out swabbing the deck and washing everything down, and he didn’t want to be in the way. 

With the wind and waves of the past few days, the railings and furniture have gotten covered in a thin film of gritty salt, and the crew was working very hard to clean everything up. We are amazed by their efforts.

Breakfast on Deck

We had our usual breakfast of muesli, fresh fruit, coffee and mango smoothies while sitting outside Veranda, enjoying the warm, sunny weather. The sea was a bright, cerulean blue, and there were almost no whitecaps. One of the servers was chatting to us and indicated that this stretch of ocean often resembles a mirror, being smooth as glass. He said it was the storm that was making it rough in comparison. While it would have been really cool to see the ship reflected in an ocean that looked like glass, we enjoyed the calm waters around us this morning, amazed at how much less active the sea felt compared with the past few days. We wondered whether we were getting more used to sailing, or if it was getting calmer out here?

As we finished our breakfast, the Manager of Restaurant Services Biso Mzolo came to find us as we had not come to the dining room last night. He wanted to make sure that we were ok, that we had gotten something last night and wondered if we were enjoying our meals on board. Once again, we are stunned by the amount of care that the crew puts into everything they do and how much they strive to help passengers.

Enrichment Talk 

At 9:45 AM, we went down to the lounge to listen to the second part of Pat and Rosemarie Keough’s presentation on Greenland. In today's talk, they provided a little bit of information about its economy, defence, and politics. Greenland is the largest island in the world, with a population of just over 57,000 people, and although it is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, it has control over its own natural resources.

Much of its economy is based on fishing, and interestingly, its fishing fleet includes dog sled teams. The reason it is in the news at the moment is that it is rich in minerals, and although there are relatively few active mining claims at the moment, there is potential for more. This has made it a target for annexation and threats by the United States under the current administration in the same manner as parts of Canada are.

 

Trivia with Matt O

After the presentation, we stayed in the lounge, having the best intentions of catching up on photo editing and writing our travel journals. However, the next event in the lounge was trivia with Matt O, and we were soon caught up in trying to answer a list of random questions that covered topics ranging from living things to NASCAR driving, to Greek Gods. We were only able to correctly answer 11 of the 25 questions, but we had a very good time trying.

When the trivia ended a line dancing class began, but we felt the need to get up, move around, and warm up after the air-conditioned lounge. We made a stop in our room on the way outside, and were very grateful to see that the laundry we had left outside our door last night had been returned, and the staff had even hung up the clothes we had requested not be put in the dryer to dry. The staff on board are wonderfully considerate. After this welcome discovery, we headed back on deck, looking for signs of wildlife in the calm waters. However, apart from a few flying fish, all was quiet on the wildlife front.

Captain’s Noon Announcement 

As we passed the bridge, the Captain made his daily announcement. It seems we have covered 248 miles since yesterday, travelling at an average speed of 10 knots per hour. In the coming days, the wind is expected to decrease to 12 - 24 knots, and the seas have 2 - 2.5 m swells, which feels relatively calm.

The nearest point of land is still Guadeloupe, which is now 980 miles behind us. At some point last night or this morning, we crossed the Mid-Atlantic trench, and at some point tomorrow during the next day, we should cross the halfway mark in the voyage, being closer to the Gran Canary Islands than to the Caribbean ones. The big news for today was that we will be stopping in Las Palmas on Gran Canaria, and that we expect to reach them next Wednesday (six days from now)!

 

Lunch at Veranda 

After this news, we made a stop in Veranda for a small lunch. As usual, we chose a selection of salads, which change every day. Also, as per usual, they were delicious. We finished the meal with a tiny pot of key lime mousse and a little square of carrot cake, both of which were lovely.

 Perhaps by this point, it sounds like every day is the same while at sea – we eat the same food, do the same things, and have the same routine. While on one level this is perhaps true, at the same time it is anything but boring, and each day is actually very different courtesy of the ocean itself. I’m not sure either of us could find sailing or being in the Atlantic to be boring.

 

Sextants and the Stars

After lunch, we made our way back down to the lounge for a demonstration by the first officer on the use of a sextant. He explained what it was and how to use it to calculate the ship's position. 

While modern ships are equipped with GPS and have many backups in place to ensure they don't lose the use of their electronic navigational aids, many vessels still have the old-fashioned backup in place as well. There is something very comforting about this thought.

 

Hot Tub on Deck

After the lesson in sextant use, we decided to head out to the back deck to try out the hot tubs. The hot tubs and small pool on the main deck have been closed for repairs since the day after we boarded, but this morning the crew filled them all back up. Apparently, they are filled with seawater that is run through a filter, and somewhat strangely, they did have a bit of sand at the bottom. 

We weren't the only ones eager to try out the warm tubs, but after a short wait, during which we read a little more about the Via de la Plata, we hopped in. If it is true that they were filled with warmed-up seawater, this means that we literally swam in the waters of the mid-Atlantic! It felt nice to soak in the warm water, but the afternoon sun was very strong, and we soon got a little hot. This was easily fixed by moving around the corner and stretching out on a shaded lounge chair in the breeze.

 

Scrapbooking and Photographing the Wild Atlantic

When we returned to our room, Sean was delighted to find that the staff had kindly printed out the daily programs for the first four days on board and delivered them to the room as he had requested earlier. He collects items like this for scrapbooking purposes. (Oh yes, every one of our adventures has given way to the creation of several scrapbooks on the shelves at home.) 

       

We also found the rest of our laundry had been delivered, which was very nice indeed. Being on a smaller vessel with so few passengers relative to the number of crew has not only allowed us to get to know some of the staff a little, which we’ve really enjoyed, but it also leads to an incredibly high standard of service, which is humbling to be at the receiving end of.

Enjoying our time in Compass Rose, the crew brought out a range of canapés which included watermelon and feta cheese, fried potatoes and herbed goat cheese. Each was a wonderful treat.

As we waited for dinner, Sean edited some of the bird photos he took during our first couple of days at sea while enjoying a drink in the Compass Rose. He got some excellent photos of flying fish, as well as pictures of four or more new seabird species! It was very exciting to go through them and try to use the Peterson Field to identify them; now we could see the markings. When our field guides fail us, more often than not, the Bridge Officers and crew are amazing resources for IDing species. On the day, it had been far too wavy and windy to hold the binoculars still enough to see the details of their markings. Yet somehow Sean continues to get clear shots!

Dinner on Wind Surf

Around 7:00 PM, we headed down to Amphora for another excellent dinner. We sat right at the front of the restaurant, wishing the windows could be opened up. Sean had a toasted brie, walnut, and pear salad for a starter, and I had a tomato and mozzarella salad. For the main course, we both had lentil balls with lemon pesto, which was delicious.

 
While we ate, one of the musicians, Danyi, strolled through the restaurant serenading the diners with his violin. There is nothing quite like enjoying delicious food in the middle of the ocean while being serenaded!

 

Evening Trivia with Matt O and the Crew

After dinner, we joined a large group of people in the lounge for trivia. The twist tonight was that it was the crew against the passengers. Three crew members, including the boutique manager, hospitality manager, and doctor, had to each answer a suite of 5 questions by themselves, followed by a final set of questions where they could work together. They were competing against teams of passengers who were allowed to work together for all the answers. In the end, the passenger team won by a single point, and fun was had by all. Matt O once again was superb at keeping things lively.

 

Sailing Under the Stars

After the trivia, we headed up on deck and enjoyed a moonlit walk to the front of the ship. There are no lights at the front, and the bridge is kept dark so the crew can see, so the view of the night sky is amazing from up there. It is as though we were sailing under a canopy of stars. 

We could even see the band of the Milky Way, as well as a passing satellite and an airplane. For the first time, the wind was less strong, making it enjoyable to stand up there and simply feel the emptiness and space around us.

We ended the night by sitting outside the Compass Rose listening to the live band playing. Towards the end of the evening, a squall passed through, raining hard for a few minutes. After it passed, the wet wood of the deck reflected the lights and railing, making everything look very romantic. The result being that Sean ran for his camera while I headed off to bed. It was another lovely end to another beautiful day at sea.

Another sunset and glorious night sky at sea reminded us that every day aboard is both fleeting and eternal. Tomorrow would carry us further still, with the Atlantic continuing to weave its lessons into our journey.

Read about Day 7 of our Transatlantic Crossing on Wind Surf →