Date: 25th of December 2022
Author: Hannes
Position: Caribbean Sea
Nautical Position: 13°41’60N 060°47’58W
Etmal: 5661NM
Ship: Pelican of London
 
Our day started with a lovely sunrise for the Mizzen Watch A and everyone who was awake early on Christmas morning.

Afterwards, we were happily surprised by the fact that it is Sunday, which means Nutella. We carried on with a quick and efficient happy hour, which was appreciated by the professional crew with the best “scores on the doors” we ever had.

Our public address system broke during the happy hour, but our Engineer Santi is looking forward positively to be able to fix it with a hair dryer, because the problem is probably caused by the high humidity. For now, someone must run around the whole ship to announce every meeting.

We heard the Christmas bells jingling after the morning meeting and ran out to see Santa (on this ship better known as “Connor”) climbing down on the main mast to bring the Christmas presents for us students and the staff.

Most of us have been happily surprised by the amount of effort which went into those. None of us had a Christmas feeling as we know it from home, because the first question when you get out of the Green Mile is: “Did you shower or sleep, because your hair is wet?”.

The teachers are so friendly (or lazy) to give us a Christmas vacation, so we have nothing to do today besides the four hours of watch and don’t know what to do with all the free time.

To have at least a little bit of Christmas feeling, some of us carried on watching the Grinch.

The rest of the day was followed the casual ship’s routine.

Secret Santa

But let’s ask the others what they got for Christmas from their second family, the Pelican Crew, besides the most beautiful present: Love.
 
Nicolai: “I got a necklace with a big shark tooth on it.”
Saba: “San Peligrino, a self-made bracelet and a letter.”
Sophia: “Oreos and a letter.”
Ellen: “Letter with a poem from Hermann Hesse.”
Lara: “I got a letter and Skittels.”
Carlina: “I got nice chocolate and a letter.”
Thea: “I got a beautiful bracelet with a “Pelican of London”-Pendant. Thank you very much to my secret Santa.”

How was Christmas without your family?

Lara: “I was very sad that I wasn’t at home, but the teachers tried the best with the hot apple punch.”
Ellen: “A bit sad, but I had the people from Ocean College around me, so it was also a cool experience to have a Christmas like that.”
Saba: “I thought that there was planned more, but I spent Christmas with my friends. It was a nice day.”
Carlina: “It was very interesting to have these different traditions, but I missed the traditions from home.”
Thea: “Christmas was different than the other years, but I was happy that I got some letters and a small gift. It made the hole Christmas morning feel a little bit more like Christmas. Thanks to all my loved ones who thought about me. Merry Christmas and a happy new year.”