I've been promising this post for a long time now - my adventures across the Atlantic.
Sorry I've neglected this blog for a while - the month of April saw me busy with the A-Z Blogging Challenge
here.
So here it is! Enjoy...
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| Our route |
“You’re going WHERE?” enquired friends.
It was not so much my destination(s) that
fascinated them: Guadeloupe,
Martinique,
Colombia and
Costa Rica – rather the fact I had
chosen to get there by ship, no – not a cruise ship but a passenger on a Del
Monte ‘banana boat’…a container ship if you will.
“But why?”
asked my father.
“The
journey’s all part of the fun…besides, you should understand, being an ex man
of the sea.” Having been nurtured since
birth on stories of the great high seas and countries afar, my wanderlust for
all things original had certainly been, in part, from his gene pool.
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| Boarding the ship |
I boarded
the Hornlinie German Del Monte ship in Le
Havre.
Registered in Liberia,
she was an impressive sight – the bridge aft with the containers forward of
that and as I was lead up the gangplank by Stewerd Slava, I felt a growing
excitement well up inside: 5 weeks round
trip – 11 days at sea until our first port of call: Guadeloupe.
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| My cabin |
My private
cabin rivalled that of any cruise ship – champagne and flowers greeting
me. Unpacking I opened my cabin door at
the knock and found a German couple standing there: Bernd and Christina from
Breman. They helpfully advised that
there were 5 other passengers, the rest would be crew. Bliss - only 8 of us!
My days
were spent writing, reading, being shown around and educated about the hold:
cargo included electronics’ and cars to the Caribbean, swimming in the small outdoor exercise pool and
chatting to the Latvian Captain on the Bridge.
I inadvertently found myself thrown into the unofficial role of EFL
teacher to the crew – a new career opening, perhaps?
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| Fire drill training |
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| Not 'haute cuisine', but delicious nontheless! |
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| Captain & Pilot on the Bridge |
Eating with
the senior crew three times a day – salads for lunch, delicious meat and fish
dishes for dinner and experiencing sunrise and sunset at sea is an experience
beyond explanation. The captain
explained in his 25 years of sailing, he had never missed a sunset – always
hoping to catch a glimpse of refraction…that green light that bounces off the
horizon when the sun hits – he’s only ever seen it twice, and no such luck for
me either that trip – proving just how rare this phenomenon was.
24 hr stops
at our destinations allowed just enough time to tour the main sights: bustling
local markets of the French Antilles, colonial architecture and the Walled city
of Cartagena as well as armed guards with Alsatians tending our ship at Turbo,
Colombia (pretty scary, but we were well looked after).
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Loading in Turbo, Colombia
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For me, the biggest impact of this
trip was the sense of peace being at sea affords you: how life is put into
perspective out here. Seamen are quite
spiritual people deep down, despite this crew’s Eastern European dour
demeanour. These 5 weeks spent at sea
with them – I am starting to see the appeal.
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| Sunrise - day 1 |
Hence my decision to undertake another trip in the summer of 2013 - read about my proposed plans
here.
