1st Term ~ Week 5. ⚓🚢

Week 5.
Ok. 5 weeks onboard already. So I have done more than half of my term 😱 . Time really goes fast when you are busy and having fun! 😜

I do not even recall all the things we did this week. Oh yes. So we discharged in Pasajes 🇪🇸 then sailed to Bayonne 🇫🇷 but had to wait a day at anchor first ⚓️.Trust me that was not a problem to relax a little and of course…. Have a swim call just before the pilot came on board in the heat and ☀️ !

Once in Bayonne, it was a bit difficult to be so close to the beaches with such sunny weather because we were once again not allowed to go ashore. It is a bit frustrating but at least we also know we stay healthy!
The agent there was pretty nice. His English was not too bad at all; probably because he was also cheating being half danish… 😉

He brought me a big box of earth from his garden for my lupine forrest 🌱! So guess what I did this week…. Again a bit of gardening. From 1 bottle I am now at 8 bottles! Hopefully, they will enjoy having more space for their roots and more food in the earth… I should maybe start thinking of giving them away to the people around us 🤔.

I am not sure if captain H. likes all my experiments…. He said it was starting to become a farm in the bridge…. Let me explain…. In Bayonne, we loaded grain again. Corn. One of the best qualities ( Mais waxi pro) that is used for food ( jelly, Amidon, maïzena and else) as it is edible. We ate some. It is super tasty. Well, I picked up a full bucket of course and I wanted to wash the corn ( mind you that cargo is realllllly very dusty!!!) and try to boil it or even make popcorn of it – wait, do you think that by planting one single corn 🌽 I could get a plant of it? 🌾 I’d love to see what happens and if it is still good or not! If it is then I will continue washing the rest of the grains and make small pouches for the popcorn to eat in front of a movie in harbour our maybe to give to our cookie for meals!

Well yeah… He said it was a farm…. Well I disagree, I always clean up my mess and till now I do not see the pigs and cows yet… unless…. Where is that smell coming from? Who farted just now? … never mind 🤪🤭

Leaving Bayonne we had a four and a half-day sail to Hamburg to discharge. We had so much weather in the channel. For sure we were lucky to sail south and swim because the winds were increased on our stretch back north. On one of my watches, I had for a couple of hours 40+ knots established…. 💨 🌊 it was mostly downwind which made up fly and surf the big waves but when I think of it… I remember the times on the tall ships ⛵️ where you would steer outside with 4 layers under your foul weather gear, speeding 10 knots with a tiny storm sail…. That was some much fun. Hardcore. But fun. Here I can still enjoy my cup of coffee and the foam from the frothed milk doesn’t even blow away… #spoiled. Books do not slide from one side to the other, although I must say the vessel gets a bit more “nervous”…. Nothing to compare with though. This is a comfort I do really appreciate too. I am probably getting a bit older. (🤫chuuuut!)

In Hamburg, one of our ABs is flying back home to Indonesia 🇮🇩 …. And we are welcoming back our fresh and rested one. Crew changes are always nice and sad at the same time. A lot of mixed feelings. Next week it will be the turn of our captain too. I am not looking forward to so much change right now… Rules in Indonesia are pretty strict… after a COVID-19 test, even if negative, he will have to be in quarantine for two weeks in Jakarta then 2 weeks home before being able to finally enjoy his family after 6 months. I hope he has a good book and that is data bundle is big enough to…. We will see what happens next!

Hamburg 🇩🇪 will be busy: internal audits, annual safety checks, discharging, loading, ballasting, deballasting, changing berth, cleaning the cargo hold, moving the bulkheads… all in two days. But we are sailors. 🚢 🚢 ( I say that now, we will see next Sunday if I still say that haha)

Take care all of you! And especially to all the moms out there as it is in France Mother’s day. I love mine to the moon and back 💕 and I am the luckiest person alive to have her. Je t’aime maman ❤️ ❤️ ❤️.
Tchuuuusssss ✌🏻 Sopietje ⚓️ 🚢 ⭐️
@ Port de Bayonne