Tenerife

Photos will follow soon... (at least the internet is up and running again)

Dear all,

I’m writing this message on the 25th of June. Unfortunately the internet doesn’t work, so I’ll see when it’s back up again.

But the great good news is that we arrived safely in Tenerife today! This morning I had my last watch on the bridge from 08:00 till 12:00. It was very foggy, so we couldn’t see a lot, but just a few miles from the ship we could see the island. Since we are docked in Santa Cruz, which is in the Northeast corner of the island, we followed the coast till the pilot came on board around 14:00 and we started sailing into port.

The sail was really nice and smooth. We had a few days with some rough weather and even wind force 10 (55 knots), but somehow it didn’t make the ship move all that much. 

During the calm days we’ve seen a lot of sea life, which I enjoyed a lot! Even when we sailed out of Togo the crew on the bow was entertained by some dolphins, which I rather watched for a little while than work :-) But I did work! I don’t know why, but sailing really makes me sleepy. A lot of people did daytime naps or slept in, but I had to work, so it was early to bed for me…

I have to admit that I had quite some fun with the guys on the bridge. After that I was on day work, which means that I got paint a lot of things on deck from 13:00 till 17:00, which is a nice job with some headphones and the sun out… During our sailing out of port and docking in Tenerife I was stationed on the bow, which I do like. I start getting more and more of what we are supposed to do and when and why.

This evening we were cleared by customs around 17:30, so we could go off ship wherever we wanted. So I went out with a group of dear friends, ordered some tapas and had a mint ice-cream afterward and walked off my sea legs :-)

It’s weird to be back here with a whole different group of people. There are a lot of memories coming back and I’m sure missing lil’ C or D…. (aka Christina)

In the beginning of July we will sail to Gran Canaria to go in dry dock. I’ll write more about that later. In the coming days there will be a lot of nurses and good friends leaving the ship, so the time has come again for me to say some goodbyes. 

But there will also be some familiar faces coming on board during this ship yard period. It keeps on being an interesting and special time to be here. I am very grateful!

Big hug

& Blessings

Maaike