16. Oktober 2021 The Highlights of Happy Hour Saturday
Position: Biskaya 45º 19.982' N 8º 41.6' W
Course: WSW 257º
Travelled sea miles: 950
Wind: SSE 4 · Temperature: 17ºC
Weather: Cloudy
Hoisted sails: Outer Jib, Inner Jib, Fore Stay Sail, Main Stay Sail, Main Sail, Mizzen
Speed: 7.7 KN
ETA in La Coruña: Sunday 17:00
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Highlights – an English word – meaning important events. So, let’s get straight into it. The everyday life on the Gulden Leeuw is packed with fabulous events.
Tonight, half of us could finally sleep in, as it was decided that only half a watch was required on duty. This led to a very relaxed and rested atmosphere and crew. Since we were all in a brilliant mood, people complained less, when our splendid happy hour was announced. Every Saturday, we have a thorough deep clean of our vessel. This includes all, and we really mean all, of the “wet” areas of the ship. To get an idea of what that means, we were required of cleaning the dorms, deck, toilets, walls, mess, bridge, deep stores, freezers, fridges, and galley until there wasn’t a speck of dust left. We basically cleaned the ship from bow to stern. Our second officer Quinten was so virtuous to overlook the cleaning procedure and had taught us how to clean the day before. His presentation included a very nice demonstration of cleaning a toilet, where he was so thorough, that he even ended up on his knees. Don’t worry, he wasn’t proposing to the bathroom bowl, but he did show us the importance of cleaning underneath the toilet lid. It’s especially important when you only have two toilets for 44 students in the dorms area. Moreover, the dorm had a blanket of dust all over its floors and surfaces, which we partly even had to clean with toilet paper. You can imagine how much dust is circulating. That is to some extent due to a ventilation system that is missing a dust filter. But don’t worry back home. If we suffocate, we’ll suffocate happily. Just kidding! We still get plenty of fresh air. We’ll omit some of the unpleasant details of our toilets in this blog, since we would probably make you vomit.
As a reward for the deep clean, we had some marvelous Italian food this evening. “Pasta al forno”– prepared by our cook Mart and a few trainees. Even the two Italians on board (who by the way are writing this blog) were satisfied and complimented the cook by taking a second portion. The dish was split into a vegetarian and non-vegetarian version. Each dish consisted of penne, eggplant, carrot and was coated with cheese. Besides these ingredients, the vegetarian dish additionally contained zucchini and a basic tomato sauce, while the standard lasagna included a delicious Ragù sauce.
To complete the day, our watch schedule has changed. All watches moved back one slot, and responsibilities will change by Sunday (stay tuned to find out more). Our captain also revealed that we will stop in La Coruña. Our ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) is Sunday at 17:00. Everyone is overly thrilled by the opportunity of buying sweets on land and being able to go for a stroll as you normally would. Hopefully no one gets “land sick”. Never mind… Enjoy your freedom on land, and good night for now!
Text by Federico and Pablo
