My birthday

The day started just like any other day on Gunilla. It was time to go out of bed since my 04-08 guard was about to begin. Today I will start out as lookout, which is one of the three posts aboard. There is lookout, lifeguard and helmsman. These rotate every half an hour. As lookout it is my job to report everything I see out at sea that sticks out.

Our watch was calm and it was just like any other day, except it wasn’t.
It was my birthday. And as a perfect birthday gift our captain had announced the day before that we would be making a short stop at the Bahamas. We were supposed to sail from Tampa to Charleston but somehow the birthday that was going to be out at sea, now was half a day ashore on Freeport, Bahamas.

Until the last hour of my morning watch I had been working on autopilot
but the minut after I switched to lookout once more, I saw it. The
perfect start to the day, a beautiful sunrise over by the horizon. I
ended the watch as helmsman, the one steering the boat. It was time for
the change of guards so two out of the three guards, mine and babord,
where lined up on each side of me. After ringing the bells eight times,
just like you always do to end your shift, both watch groups started to sing
“Happy birthday”, but in Swedish.

After the shift I had breakfast and then a little nap for about two
hours. When I woke up we had already arrived at the Bahamas. The next few
hours was just about getting permission to go ashore, which we got
around lunch. The lunch, by the way, was sandwich and newly
baked cinnamon rolls that the chefs had asked me if I wanted just some
day before. Yummy!

It was finally time to walk ashore, and to the amazing weather that
Bahamas had to offer. Anna, our director of studies (DOS) rented a car
and eventually, after a roadtrip around half the island, drove a group
of us to a Burger King located downtown. After a nice and cold
milkshake, we took a cab to go to the beach where some of the others
where. Anna had gone to pick up another group of students so we couldn’t
go with her unfortunately.

Anyways, we arrived to the beach, and the driver tried to milk us of
money and got a little more than we wanted. So if you ever rent a cab at
Bahamas, make sure you know how much it will cost before you go. The
beach however was just wonderful. We took a few swims and got a ball so
that we could play some beach-volleyball. After a few hours spent on the
beach, our knight in shining armor Anna, picked us up. We made a little
stop at BK again and I got a burger and fries for dinner.

I am happy that we got back just in time so that I could watch the sun
go down the same day that I had watched it come up. The day came to its
end and I finished it watching the second hobbit movie with some Swedish
candy by my side.

Good night readers,
Martin Hedelin