In the Middle

Date: 16.12.2023
Geographical Position: 12°42.8’N 034°06.6’W
Etmal: 174 nm
Total: 3934 nm
Ship: Regina Maris

Ladies and Gentlemen, the day everybody was waiting for finally arrived! Today, we reached the exact middle of our way over the Atlantic Ocean. That means we reached specific coordinates that show us that we already sailed half of our calculated route over the Atlantic.

And every year when Ocean College takes students on this voyage, there is a baptism and the Mid Atlantic Ball every time they hit the middle. It wasn’t confirmed for a very long time when exactly we would reach the middle of our route because, as our Captain Michael likes to say, it depends.

On what, you ask me? Literally everything. The wind, the weather, the waves, and our motivation. But I have my insiders here on board, so even if we weren’t told officially, we were about to reach the middle today.

The Baptism

When the horn sounded, all of us knew that the time had come: We had reached the middle! Because of the daily reports of the previous journeys, we knew that there was going to be a very filthy „Baptism.“

So everybody gathered on the main deck in bikinis and swimming shorts. Then, a rope was laid out in the middle of the deck, and we all had to stand on the starboard side.

Now we were called out in alphabetical order and had to come forward to the captain who had us pledging to Neptune, the god of the sea. Then we were baptized with a mix of leftover couscous, potato peels, cabbage, and saltwater. Afterward, we had to drink a cup with a mixture of coffee, chili sauce, vinegar, pickle juice, and sparkling water.

While that happened, Michael gave us all our very own fish names. For example, I am a dorado and other people got fishes like goldfish, barracuda, or different kinds of sharks. After that, we had a little food fight with the leftovers on deck. Meanwhile, we could clean ourselves with saltwater from the fire hose or just go showering like a normal person.

The Preparations for the Mid Atlantic Ball

Because we weren’t told a specific date when the ball would happen, we prepared days before we thought the probability of reaching the middle was the highest.

Most people say an Atlantic Crossing lasts for about two weeks. Today, we’re on day seven, so I guess our calculations were round about correct.

The preparations included planning the music, for example making some playlists. We also had a decoration team that prepared the deck for dancing and crafted some things to hang up to make everything more festive.

Of course, then everybody was busy with themselves to get as pretty as possible for the evening. That meant opening up your closet and searching for your most beautiful clothes.

The Mid Atlantic Ball

In the evening, the main event of the day started: The Mid Atlantic Ball. Everybody gathered in their nicest clothing, and we started outside on the main deck.

There was even a table with different fruity syrups that you could mix into your water. Almost like a little cocktail bar 🙂 When the sun started going down, we went to the foredeck to take pictures in all kinds of different groups.

Our watches, closest friends, with the captain or with your ball partner. Yes, you heard it. Some people, like me, were actually asked to dance at the ball.

In the previous days, we had little classes of disco fox so everybody could at least dance the main steps. It was very funny having so many people dancing disco fox to any kind of music from Helene Fischer to English rap songs.

Because our cook Jürgen, who actually danced to a lot of ABBA songs with us, had a free evening, some students made delicious lasagna for us.

As it got darker, we had to put on our life vests and get the deck clean again. We all had a great evening and enjoyed the great party we had.

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Today, it was also the day the nautical watches changed their times. So for example, for me, 21:00 to 01:00 at night changed to 9:00 to 13:00 in daylight and of course, the other watches changed their time in the same way.

It’s been a great Atlantic crossing until now and we’re all looking forward to the other half of it and of course our next destination: The Caribbean!

P.S.: Anna: Liebe Grüße an meine Familie und Freunde, ich hab‘ euch alle ganz doll lieb❤️