9000 MILES!!!
Date: 12.02.2023
Author: Anna
Position: Florida Straits
Nautical Position: 23°32.7’N 082°43.1’W
Etmal: 8984NM
Ship: Pelican of London
Goodbye warm Weather
For the whole day today, we have been asking: „Where is the warm Florida-weather?“
It has been less than a week since we left Cuba and already the warm weather is disappearing. For the last four days we have watched the temperatures creep down and now we are officially out of the tropics. And already the sky is grey.
Yesterday there was the possibility of a tan, but today you can’t stand outside without wearing waterproofs or a woolly jumper. On the bright side, there is definitely less chance of getting sunburnt!
Almost everyone who went outside today was soaked by a wave at some point. When I was on watch, all of us got splashed by a giant wave, apart from Gonzo our Second Mate, because he was safe inside the wheelhouse, but he came out to laugh at us all afterwards.
Hopefully, today was just a blip and the weather will return to being super sunny soon. But the crew have been warning us for the last few weeks that once we reach Bermuda, it will be goodbye shorts and t-shirts and hello Wellington boots and waterproof gear.
Surviving waves and winds while doing ‘Clean Ship’
Today is Sunday, which of course means that we have ‘Happy Hour’, when we clean the entire ship for Captains Rounds. But today, the Ocean did not want to cooperate with us, meaning that we had to clean while the ship was rolling all over the place.
It is very funny to watch your friends try to scrub the deck while they get hit in the face by waves, but not so funny when the same thing happens to you two minutes later. We were sliding all over the place most of the time, but we are well used to it by now and felt silly rather than scared.
Today Leni and I were cleaning the floor of the Wheelhouse and everything above us on the desk kept falling on top of us because of the waves. Pens, a fan, a radio and even the Captain’s hat all joined us on the floor at some point!
I never thought I’d say that I miss cleaning at home, but cleaning while the floor is moving definitely makes you appreciate how much easier and simpler it is on dry land.
9000 done!
At around 14:00 we reached the 9000 mile mark. As Gonzo told us, that is more sailing than most people do in their entire lives.
So far we have been to 11 countries and have dozens of stamps in our passports and now we have officially sailed over 9000 miles. And we are all equally excited to visit more new places and discover what the rest of our journey will bring.
