“Reise Reise, Aufstehen!“

Date: 31. October 2025 
Position: Vigo
Geographical Position: 42 14,4’ N, 008 43,8’ W 
Etmal: 0 nm 

Our day started softly at 7 am with a poem spoken by our topsgast:

„Reise Reise, auf alte Seemannsweise: 

Ein jeder weckt seinen Nebenmann;

Der letzte stößt sich selber an 

Reise, Reise! Aufstehen!“ 

After breakfast and our daily Reinschiff (clean-up), we had a fire drill on board. As you can see, some people were pretending to be injured and couldn’t make it to the deck on their own.

Our doctor looked after them until the end of the emergency training.

Meanwhile, the galley crew was busy preparing lunch. Today’s menu featured a special recipe from my (Nienkes) grandmother Karen – Italian meatballs with pasta and tomato sauce. Altogether, we rolled 88 meatballs by hand!

Time was short, but it was worth it – they were absolutely delicious.

After another “All Hands” meeting and plenty of safety briefings, we spent some time exploring outside the ship.

The only downside was the constant rain – but that didn’t stop us. Vigo simply had to be explored!

Later in the day, we visited the tall ship Alexander von Humboldt II, which also runs an exchange program similar to ours.

Its crew comes from all over the world – Canada, Bermuda and the Bahamas.

The “Alex” is much bigger than our lovely Roald at 70 meters long, yet it only carries 20 more passengers than we do. What makes it especially unique are its green sails (sponsored by Beck’s!) and bright yellow masts.

And to our amazement, they even have a gym, a dishwasher and private bathrooms in every cabin!

A little later, the crew of the Alex visited us on board the Roald and we gave them a tour of our ship. It was wonderful meeting people who are living the same adventure as we are – just in their own way.

To end the day, we braced up the yards, ready to leave Vigo behind us tomorrow.

Greetings to all our families!