Christmas at sea

Date: 24.12.2023
Geographical Position: 12° 38.0’N 066° 03.8’W
Nautical Position: Carribbean Ocean
Etmal: 150 nm
Total: 5314 nm
Ship: Regina Maris

As you may have read in earlier daily reports, this year’s Christmas was quite different for us. Not only did we celebrate Christmas on a sailing ship with a bunch of people we’ve only met two months ago but we also were on the ocean. Already in the Caribbean but still not able to see land.

So, due to the circumstances, all of us students had no idea what to expect. And even though we celebrated this holiday in a rather untraditional manner, I think everybody’s had a great time at the end of the day.

How the day began

Before Christmas officially began at 11:00 (16:00 in german time) some of us already had watch, slept or just went on with their (more or less) daily business, only disrupted by the occasional “Merry Christmas!” whenever you saw somebody for the first time that morning.

I’ve had the five to nine watch together with Adrian, Joshua, Ella, Lizzy (Elisabeth) and watch officer Jakob. Together we prepared the ship for the day with a „christmasy“ heads (toilets) and showers clean and an early deck-scrubbing session in the magical light of our self-made, colorful Christmas tree. By the time we woke everybody up for breakfast at 07:30 we had already listened to an impressive amount of Christmas songs.

As said earlier, Christmas only began at 11:00 so the people having nightwatch wouldn’t be too tired and as there was no school today. This time was used by most of the awake people to add the final touches to their Secret Santa gifts or other Christmas presents.

Secret Santa gifts/ Wichteln

When everybody was more or less awake, the big lunch began. As an aperitif we had self-made garlic bread which we all enjoyed. After the dishes had been done, the Secret Santa gifts got opened and we started a guessing round. Some people already had a really good idea who their gift was from, others had no clue at all but in the end, we all got to know it.

“Only” getting a Schrottwichtelpresent from underneath a tree made of mooring lines and nets instead of a Christmas tree full of gifts was something really unusual for I’m pretty sure all of us. Over the day there were many conversations about Christmas at home and that the things we were all missing the most weren’t the presents, the voyage itself is quite the present, but the people and own traditions we have at home.

For example, starting weeks before, we already talked about what food we eat for dinner, who we’re celebrating with and what habits we have. We all came to the conclusion that Christmas at sea was a real once-in-a-lifetime situation, and even tough it was not your usual holiday, it was a really special day.

And so it continues

Talking about special, another thing that was rather unusual but really funny was our a bit odd Christmas story.
While the pizza we had for dinner was still patiently waiting in the galley, we were presented the concept of this years Weihnachtsmärchen: Each of us draws a role, it can be either major or minor but we all get one, for example Mats, Dolphin, Star, Cabin 2, Flying Fish and so the list continues. Now our dear authors Lizzy and Lilia read out the story and whenever your role gets mentioned, you spontaneously act it out.

Depending on the formulation of the “instructions” this can look quite funny. Our finishing scene for example was Josef and Maria rowing in a boat, looking at each other romantically, Jesus giggling on their lap, the morning star rising and the stars dancing with dolphins and flying fish jumping around them. Imagine this scene, keeping in mind it’s being played by a bunch of crazy teenagers.

In my opinion, this game was one of the best parts of the day. Afterwards some of us had to go back on watch and some helped preparing the food. Others had free time in which some big rounds of Werwolf were played and deep talk was held.

This continued until the evening when we watched the movie Master and Commander which is about how sailing in the old days worked. We were originally planning on watching “Der kleine Lord” but due to the rolling of the ship the DVD-player did not work.

The movie was watched on the poop deck, projected on a sail, but not all of us were in the mood for a movie night.

Some of us decided to spend the evening on the main deck instead playing card games, talking, sharing cookies or just bullshitting around. The last round of Durac decided who‘d have to clean the cups and table (we all did it together in the end anyways) and with the game of Durac ending, the day ended along with it.

Grüße:

Isabel: Fröhliche Weihnachten an alle zu Hause und alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Papa!!!!

Adrian: Frohe Weihnachten an alle zu Hause!

Jule: Moin, frohe Weihnachten rund rum, ich hoffe, ihr feiert schön und habt eine tolle Zeit! 🙂

Stella: Frohe Weihnachten an meine Eltern, Amber und alle anderen Zuhause:)!

Elisabeth: Frohe Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch an alle zuhause, Omi, Opa und Oma, an beide Paulinas und meinen wundervollen Buchclub!

Joshua: Soo, den Termin für die Weihnachtsgrüße krieg ich auch noch hin mir zu merken: Aaaalso froooohe Weihnachten an meine Familie, Oma und Opa und an die Ferienlagergruppe 🙂🎁

Sanja: Ganz liebe Grüße an, hm…einfach alle, die sich von mir angesprochen fühlen, hoffe, ihr hattet ein schönes Weihnachtsfest! 💞

Julius: Liebe Grüße an meine ganze Familie, hab euch alle lieb!

Jakob: Hab dich lieb, Mami! Grüße und fröhliche Weihnachten auch an die anderen <3

Aurelius: Frohe Weihnachten an meine ganze Familie. Hab‘ euch lieb!

Samuel: Frohes Fest an Shiva ❤️, meine Familie und die Gardinenstange

Mascha: Frohe Weihnachten an alle Nürnberger/Schwabacher/Regensburger zuhause!💗

Aurelia: Frohe Weihnachten an meine Liebsten! Ich denke an euch und feier in Gedanken mit! Hab euch ganz dolle lieb ❤️❤️

Ella: Mami, Papi, Johann und Ida frohe Weihnachten und auch an die ganze Familie, fühlt euch gedrückt, ich denke an euch!

Darja: Fröhliche Weihnachten euch allen! Hab‘ euch lieb 🫶🏼

Greta: Liebe Grüße und frohe Weihnachten an alle Zuhause, ich hoffe ihr friert euch den Arsch ab, wie es sich gehört 🫂😘

Margaux: Viele liebe Grüße an Familie und Freunde nach Stuttgart und Vöhringen!

Kris: Frohe Weihnachten an meine Familie, Großeltern, GWU und Gesa. Hab euch alle lieb, vermiss‘ euch und denk‘ besonders heute an euch.

Luis: Frohe Weihnachten, an Familie und Freunde in München 🎄😘, Lara ich hoffe du vermisst mich nicht zu sehr 😁. Hab‘ euch lieb und bis in paar Tagen am Telefon.

Jonna: Frohe Weihnachten, Mama, Papa, Jula und Pipo! Und auch fröhliche Weihnachten an alle anderen!