Stranded in Paradise - Ocean College

Ship: Regina Maris
Date: 4th January, 2025
Position: San Blas Islands
Geographical Position: 09°35.056’N 078°40.782’W
Etmal: 154 nm
Total: 6548 nm

Imagine arriving at a lost island with nothing but white sand beach, palms, coconuts, beautiful big shells and blue water. On top of it, imagine having this all to yourself – or in our case, just for us, our friends and teachers.

But before…

we started the day at sea and with a deep clean. This time, we started the deep clean a little bit later so that the night watch could get more sleep. So, at 10:30, everyone got their card as always and had their task to do. Afterward, Arne checked our tasks to see if we did well or if we had to „deep clean“ further.

After the deep clean, we ate lunch – milk rice, finally! (It was the wish of many people.) Following that, we had our daily meeting and this time with very good news:

We would go all together to one of the beautiful San Blas Islands and were allowed to sleep there! 🙂

We were all pretty excited and in a hurry to pack our things for camping. Some wanted to sleep in their tents and some in hammocks. It was also really important that we took our mosquito spray with us because of the many small insects there and in the sand. After packing, our day in paradise could begin.

We went in two trips with our dinghy to the next nearby lost island. Arriving there, we were all amazed by its beauty. It was something entirely different from a normal island – no houses, no shops, but especially no people besides us. It was an awesome feeling.

There were also little shell crabs we had never seen before. And of course, a lot of coconuts that we cracked open ourselves, drank the milk from and ate the delicious flesh. Then everyone was in action, setting up their tents and hanging their hammocks.

There was also, besides all the other small islands, an island so close to us that we could swim to it. So that’s what we did!

Some relaxed on the beach, some drank coconut milk, some swam, some swam to the small island near us and some went snorkeling. It was truly paradise and felt like a dream.

When Malte came with the Dinghy, some of us went back to the Regina to get things we had forgotten, but mainly to bring food for our dinner. After they returned, we made a bonfire and prepared everything to eat. For stick bread, we gathered some bamboo sticks.

When the bonfire was lit and everything was ready, we ate some noodle salad and other dishes and began making our stick bread over the fire.

It was a really special and awesome experience, sitting together around the bonfire, eating, talking and above all, being the only ones on this beautiful island.

Niklas also wanted to make sure we realized how special it was, what we had accomplished and where we were, sailing all the way from Amsterdam to so many beautiful places and now arriving in paradise, which we had all to ourselves. His speech was very heartwarming. <3

On top of it, he had made a flag himself – the Regina Island flag. He planted a big stick with the flag on top of it into the sand. Now it was officially our „Regina Island.“

Then we all shouted together and cheered, finally declaring it: REGINA ISLAND! It was really nice.

Afterwards, we were free to do whatever we liked – stay by the fire, go for a swim or head back to our tents. We were all pretty amazed and super happy to experience this. With joy for the next day and a beautiful sunset at our Regina Island, we fell asleep.

Anmerkungen:

Nuala: Es ist echt unfassbar schön hier, man kann es sich echt nicht vorstellen. Ich denke an euch und habe euch unglaublich lieb ❤️❤️. Ich hoffe, euch geht es gut ❤️❤️.

Benji: An mein Brüderchen: Alles, alles Gute zum 18. Geburtstag. Ich habe Dich so lieb und hoffe, Du feierst schön und groß. Ich hoffe, Du hattest einen wunderschönen Tag. An den Rest: Ich habe euch alle lieb und vermisse euch sehr. In ein paar Tagen bekommen wir unsere Handys für drei Wochen und dann rufe ich euch oft an. Die San Blas-Inseln sind echt der Hammer. Es sieht alles aus wie in Filmen. Also, vermisse euch, tschau tschau 🤪.

Pepe: An meine Familie: Ich habe euch ganz dolle lieb ❤️ und ich freue mich schon darauf, wenn ich euch wieder anrufen kann! Ich vermisse euch alle ganz doll und denke immer an euch! Und ganz besonders an meinen kleinen Bruder: Nuno, ich hab‘ Dich ganz dolle lieb ❤️🥔🌙🪨.

Marilen: Liebe Maxi, vermutlich liest Du das nicht mal, aber ich vermisse Dich echt doll. Ich find’s richtig schade, dass wir Weihnachten gar keinen Kontakt hatten und hoffe, wir können in Costa Rica reden. Ich hoffe sehr, dass es Dir gut geht. Minzi, Du fehlst mir auch sehr, genau wie ihr, Mama und Papa. Es ist gerade die beste Zeit meines Lebens.