Ah, the first of April…
For watch 1 the day started with a rather rude wake up, where we were told the ship was anchored and then drenched with water at watch exchange by watch 6. Sails were then doused and packed, at which point our soaked clothes became a bit less amusing. Helming was a stressful affair as we steered up the busy river at low tide.
The drenching continued with a belated soaking marking 18 and 19 rotations of the earth around the sun since Alex and Kailey first popped into existence.
Watch 6 were promptly frog-marched to the red salon and „given a port suspension“, although this particular prank was promptly ruined by a smirking Renée.
Lessons were refreshingly stable- with no waves the projector did not slide a single mm and students were able to use the world wide interweb for research projects for the first time in yonks. Anchoring finally took place at 10.00.
„Poisson d’avril“ stickers started randomly appearing on people’s backs and students were informed that unfortunately the vertical farm trip scheduled had been replaced by a visit to the second biggest button museum in Belgium. Surprisingly they all fell for that one hook, line and sinker!
Meanwhile, in the kitchen Macy, Scarlett, Andy and Valentina were cooking up a sushi rice and miso soup storm in the kitchen. After dinner we had our port presentation where we considered the diamond trade, the history of Belgium and our resident expert-on-all-things-Belgique Sophia gave us some top tips for making the most of our shore leave.
Students then luxuriated in a long night’s sleep sans night watches and dreamed of walking the halls of mythical button museums…
Rob
Sailing info:
Time: 1000 UTC-2
Date: 01/04/2023
Latitude: 0 deg W
Longitude: 50 deg N
Average Speed Last 24h: 0 knots
Distance in last 24 hrs: 0
Total distance traveled this voyage: 12539 nm
Total distance to destination: 13 nautical miles
Temperature: 4 degrees C
River state: F1
Sailing status: At Anchor
Log Keeper: Rob
