Solide ground

Beyond the gray foggy sky you could a see house after house, and here and there one and other fishing boat was poking through the thick, heavy weather. At the same time you could hear how the lookout screamed ”Land I sight” back to the Captain. Slowly we came closer and closer to the American city Galveston in Southern Texas.

The morning was filled with the song ”Happy Birthday to you” that echoed over the deck and through the student corridor, the two birthday children Eskil and Sixten woke up to the happy news that after a week off at sea we could stand on solid ground again, which we all thought was quite nice. We free watches ran all around board to fix ourself to go ashore as quickly as possible. The line for the showers stretched through the corridor, nails were painted in a rush while hearing the sound of the hairdryers in other cabins.

When the US police had checked everyone’s passport and filled another page in the passport with stamps, it was time for Midships and Port to step ashore in the new harbor Galveston. Everyone hade thought ”Here it will be cold” and therefore were we dressed in jeans and had a sweatshirt hanging out of the bag. However, we quickly had to switch to cooler clothes, because the cold had not yet come.

MOD coffeehouse became the first stop of the day and we drank the first good cup of coffee in a long time, and suddenly, the coffee dependence was back. The coffee-place whit a green patio that obscured the sun rays and wonderful coffee was a place we quickly became regulars at - at least on the few days we spent in Gavelston. The coffee made us full with energy to continue explore the island. When large bike-cars were seen on the street it became the obvious way of how the day would be spent. The yellow bike-car was rented and all five of us beat us down and began to pedaling to take us around the island and se as much as possible. Gravel roads, sidewalks and car roads all became our roads where we drove forward shaky. Laughing we drove past people how - if possible laughed even more than us at how clumsily we took the veacile forward.
It was now impossible to hide the fact that we were tourists. The bike ride offered lots of fine views and of course a coffee break on the road became necessary.

The sun started obscuring and it was time to say goodbye to the yellow bike. When the darkness hade settled we sat down on a restaurant that we had gotten an eye on during today’s sightseeing. Although we have spent
our resent time in the home country of tacos, tacos became the obvious choice for dinner. You could never get tired of tacos. Happy and content we stepped on board home at Gunilla who was slightly cooler than in Mexico despite the continuously absent AC. The day started by being rocked by the waves at sea and ended on fixed ground with new memories from another city of the world, Galveston. The city that offers sun, coffee and an eternal bike ride - if you are up for it.

Maja Hiller
Midships