Time to play ball

Today was our last day on the wonderful island of Sao Miguel in the Azores. The day started as per usual at 7 o’clock and then breakfast that the galley rats had prepared. The lineup at 8 am came after with some information for the day.

We aren’t leaving the island until 4 pm so we had plenty of time to kill before the departure toward la Palma. Luckily, our teacher onboard had planned some activities for us. First things first though, we’ve got a food delivery arriving at 9.30 am. Starboard had watch today, so they were tasked with unpacking the delivery. So now for the fun bit. After starboard had unpacked the food it was time to go and play football at a field on the quay. However, due to my previous trauma-like football experiences (I’m just really bad and didn’t want to embarrass myself), I decided it was best to stay out of it and watch from a competent distance. Team Long ended up winning against team Across nonetheless.

After my extreme participation, I and many others decided that it was time for a swim, but before that, we must not forget ice-cream time. All hail ice-cream time. I had chocolate and passionfruit in a cone. We soon found a great swimming spot near Gunilla, and we decided to stay there until lunchtime. We ended up eating at a nearby hamburger place. We had to get back to the ship once everyone had devoured their hamburger, as departure time was nearing. Departure towards la Palma was on-time and sea-watches were set. My watch had the 8-12 shift for this stretch, so I decided to get some sleep before then. Once on watch, it was relatively quiet and calm until someone yelled ”dolphins!”. Everybody rushed to port-side and there they were.

They looked stunning as they launched through the water and back in again. The whole scene was made even more beautiful by the "mareld" (bioluminescent particles) bouncing around underneath the water surface. Sadly, we have no photographic evidence of this occurring, because we aren’t allowed to have our phones on watch. We were all very tired by the end of the watch, so we just had some tea before a great nights sleep.

In summary, this was a great day with lots of different activities and, don’t forget, ice-cream. All hail ice-cream.

Carl Sigbrandt, Midskepps