Datum: 24.02.2022
Author: Daisy
Position: Bermuda, St. Georges
Geographische Position: 32° 22.73′ N 064° 40.81′ W Etmal: 0 (11.005)

Free Shore Leave
The last day on Bermuda was the best end that I could have. After the morning meeting we all had free shore leave into the little town of St. George’s. Some of us rent bikes, others were swimming or in the Internet to call home for the last time before we cross the north Atlantic to the Azores. For breakfast Clara N. Charlotte, Leni and I bought some really nice applestrudel, lemoncakes and chocolate muffins. We were sitting with the sweets in the window of an old ruin, where so many cool and beautiful plants and flowers were growing.
After that, Leni and I were walking through the little streets with relaxed music and talked to some people. They all are so friendly and always ready for a talk. The whole town knows that we are from the Pelican and they often have many questions. Before lunch we went to some shops. But it’s so expensive, that we only looked around and when there was some testing products, we abused the situation and tested all the things.

Gig Boat Rowing
At 1 pm we met up at the Pelican and then made our way to the St. Georges Rowing Club. The St. Georges Rowing Club keeps the tradition of „Gig Rowing Boats“ alive. Gig rowing boats were used before the invention of motors to get Pilots onboard of big ships like ours. Pilots know their local waters better than any foreign captain and can therefore assist while getting a ship safely into the harbor. We also had a Pilot onboard while entering our harbor in Bermuda but he was brought to us on a machine propelled boat. Now back to the Gig boats. The interesting thing about them is, that there were many different gig rowing crews and the ones that would reach a ship first would then also get the job of piloting the boat. Therefore every time a ship would appear on the horizon, all Gig boat crews would race to be first to get their pilot onboard and earn the money. Back then this was a fairly lucrative business and many gig boat operators became wealthy men.
We split up into three groups consisting of three smaller groups of four people. Four Ocean Collge students and four professionals rowers could fit into one rowing boat. I was with Till, Clara N. and Leni in the first of all groups in a boat. It was funny and sometimes we were really fast. But I was with a lot of space to the others the most untalented person in the boat. One person was steering and gave us the rhythm, one at the bow and one person each site who gave us the right speed.

A beautiful last evening in St. Georges
After rowing we got some money for buying a nice ice. We took a nice frozen yogurt with so many things we want. For dinner Leni, Clara and I bought some different types of bread, creams and cookies. Whit all the stuff we went to beach. There we met Maria an Lotte. Together we were all swimming and jumping from the cliff into the ice cold and clear blue water.
Later, when the sun began to set, we found a beautiful platform on the cliff, we heard loud music, ate the snacks and enjoyed the wonderful evening. For a short time Luca and Leon joined us with crisps. We sat there the whole evening, talked and relaxed. All together Bermuda is one of my favorites places on this voyage. It is safe and this was nice for us. We had nice program, visited different places and had enouth time to do our own free fun stuff.

Greetings
Liebe Nono, alles gute zum Geburtstag. Ich gebe dir ganz dicke Kufis von Bermuda. Auch eine dicke Umarmung an Mami, Flo und Paulchen. Auch wenn ich nicht so ganz von der anderen Seite der Welt nach Hause möchte, bald bin ich wieder Zuhause. Ganz dickste Kufis an alle…