Sailing

Sailing from Madagascar to South Africa was probably one of my favourite parts of this year. This 5-day journey was so much fun. We left on Friday morning. School started a little later than normal so we were able to go up to Deck 7 and 8 and wave off people who were staying in Madgascar and watch the deck crew completeing everything needed to start sailing, including raising the anchor which took multiple hours since we had been docked for around 9 months.

Throughout the sail I spent as much time as possible outside. When we are docked, the bow of the ship is out of bounds. But when we sail, as long as the weather is good, the bow is open at different times. Whenever it was open I was out there just enjoying the sun, the ocean and the breeze. On Saturday evening we even did worship out the bow. It was so great to come together as a community to worship together. I spent a lot of time in my hammock, even sleeping there a couple of nights.

There were also plenty of indoor activities during the sail. We played sock golf around the ship, had a pirate party and sang karaoke, the were multiple Christmas activities (which I share about in another post) and so much more. We even got to go up to the Bridge (where they captain the ship) and have a tour one night. It was so cool seeing all the tools used to make the ship go.

And then the fun arrival to Durban. We sat out in the open water for a couple of hours waiting for the pilot and tug boats to direct us in. And then it was all excitement as we drew closer to the port and our berth.

We are now in South Africa for around 6 weeks. There is a lot of work and maintenance that is taking place on the ship, getting us ready to go back to Madagascar in February.