Trinidad and Tobago, Cartagena and Costa Rica

This entry is going to be a quick overview of the past few ports so that I can catch up on my blog. Trinidad and Tobago was where we spent Christmas. We did dock in Port of Spain, Trinidad for a few days however my favourite part of this port was the time that we spent in Tobago. It’s a beautiful island. We were anchored in a bay. There was a tender service that took us ashore at certain times throughout the day. On the full shore leave day I went scuba diving! We saw tons of fish, a turtle and a massive ray. With the port program we went to see a steel pan drumming session in Scarborough and we hiked to Argyle Falls. We got to climb up to different levels of the waterfall and swim in the pools. Everyone had a really good time.
During the sail to Colombia, we stopped at a deserted island. It was a bit of a surprise from the captain. It was New Year’s Eve as well. It was this beautiful little island in the middle of the Caribbean. The water was turquoise and the sand was white. The boats that took us to shore could not go all the way so we had to swim part of the way into shore. We explored the island. There were a few shipwrecks. I also ate a coconut! It was probably one of my favourite days from the year so far.
Even with the stop at the island we got into Cartagena two days early. We had to anchor because we couldn’t get dock space and we had to do oral exams. We finally went dockside and I got to explore the city. It was really Spanish! Barely anyone spoke English so it was hard to get taxis. On the first full day shore leave I went to the old town and walked around the wall then went downtown and explored there. The next day was port program. It was as bus tour to the fortress and the old town. We also got to try traditional Colombian food which is fried fish, coconut rice and fried plantains. It was really good! I went out with my watch for dessert. Our last day in Cartagena was full day shore leave. I went on a bus with a bunch of other students that took us about 45 minutes outside of town to the mud volcano. It was this mountain like thing with liquid mud at the top that you could go swimming in. We had a really good time and got super dirty! We went for lunch in a fisherman’s village that was right on the beach where we had another traditional lunch. In the afternoon there was a group of us that went to visit the Gloria. It’s a Colombian navy tall ship. We had to all wear our crew shirts, get a letter from our shipboard director and have our friend Arturo, who’s Mexican, talk to the navy people in order for us to be allowed in to see the ship. It was worth the extra effort. The captain gave us a tour and the ship is beautiful!
The sail to Costa Rica was taken up with final exams. We got there early but we were anchored and weren’t allowed off the ship. We had a crew night where people shared their thoughts about the semester. It was then time to go! I said goodbye to all the people that I wouldn’t get to see again. At 3 in the morning we got into a little boat in the rain that took us to shore. We then waited for the bus that came at 5 to take us to the airport.
I had an amazing break. It was so good to be home and it was great to be able to see everyone that I did.

Scuba diving in Tobago

The island we stopped at

Eating coconuts!

Mud volcano

Class Afloat!

Atlantic Crossing

It's about time. I know.
So the dreaded Atlantic crossing is over and now that I’m back on land I have to say that it wasn’t dreaded at all. It was actually my favourite sail of the year and I preferred it to many of the ports. It only felt like we were at sea for about a week, not three. You get into a nice routine after a few days and the days just fly by. There were lots of little activities planned to make the sail more interesting. For example, on December 6^th we had a twin day, where we were paired with someone on the ship and we had to dress the same and get to know as much as possible about the other person that day. On the 14^th there was the Ms. Sorlandet beauty pageant. This was where guys dressed up in drag and pretended to be girls in a beauty pageant. It was hilarious yet slightly scarring. Definitely something that could only happen in the middle of the Atlantic. There was an introduction, a swimsuit portion, a talent portion and a question portion. The girls were the ones that coached the guys and did their makeup and hair. Some of the guys even shaved their legs and armpits for this. Most of the pro crew and the captain even showed up in order to take pictures and laugh their heads off. The pictures sadly cannot be posted on the internet due to the fact that the guys involved did not want any photo evidence. I don’t blame them. Some of them looked so much like girls that it was scary. All in all, though it was a bit of a frightening evening, it was a great way to add a bit of fun to our long sail.

Another event that went on was Crepes Afloat. It happened a few times on previous sails however I had never actually participated until now. What happened was a group of us went into the galley and cooked crepes. People could order the crepes and choose their toppings. I think that that was the most fun that I had all sail! Good friends, good music and making good food. We ended up staying in the galley until after midnight to finish cleaning but it was completely worth it. We made over 200 dollars selling crepes that night which is going to go towards the projects that we participated in in Senegal. There was also the Watchympics. The day of the Watchympics we got to sleep in on the morning and then the events started in the after. Watches competed against each other. There were events such as who could set the fore course the fastest, coming up with our own nautical alphabet and a knot tying relay. Your watch got a certain amount of points for where you placed in the event and in the end the watch with the most points won. My watch won the knot tying relay. We also got second overall which we were quite happy with :) 

Cartegena

So I'm back! Finally. And this is actually Sarah, not my mom. But sadly I do not bring good news. I can't get internet on my computer where all my blogs and pictures are saved and ready to be uploaded so I can't post them and therefore you will have to wait till I'm home in a week. And then you can hear about Cabo Verde, the crossing, Tobago and Cartegena.