Marilen

Schiff: Regina Maris
Datum: 13. April 2025
Position: Nordatlantischer Ozean
Geografische Position: 47°37.701‘N 014°26.723‘W
Etmal: 177 nm
Total: 11.904 nm

„Was ziehe ich heute in die Stadt an? Crocs oder doch Gummistiefel?“

Unverständlich für jeden, der noch nie segeln war – aber Sneaker sind die Schuhe, die wir auf der Reise am allerwenigsten angezogen haben.

Ob man einfach vergessen hat, seine Crocs gegen „richtige“ Schuhe zu tauschen, oder sie extra angezogen hat, weil es nass werden könnte oder abwägend entschieden hat, dass man ja sowieso nur kurz raus will und es daher mehr Aufwand wäre, die Schuhe zu wechseln – Crocs sind unsere ständigen Begleiter. Ob in San José oder auf dem Atlantik – sie waren überall mit dabei. Wer dachte, er braucht sie nicht – tja, falsch gelegen.

Es gibt sie in unfassbar vielen verschiedenen Formen, Farben und Modellen: Von schwarz-glitzernd (Kaja) über mit Logos bedruckten (Enno) oder „fake“ (Nori! Kenbos sind keine Crocs!) – ist alles dabei.

Besonders beliebt sind außerdem Croc-Anstecker, um die bereits ganze Kriege geführt wurden.

Über das richtige Verhalten beim Auffinden eines solchen gibt es geteilte Meinungen: Darf man sich den Anstecker einfach selbst an den Croc stecken? Muss man andere Leute fragen, ob er ihnen gehört? Darf man ihn versteigern? Darüber gab es bereits häufig Streit in den Meetings.

Auch mit dem Klauen von Ansteckern kennen wir uns aus. Den Anfang hat wohl Shell gemacht: Als sie noch Köchin war, hatte sie eines Nachts von jedem Croc Anstecker geklaut, sie stolz auf ihre eigenen geheftet und am nächsten Morgen präsentiert. An diesem Tag sah man bereits vor dem Frühstück einige panisch durch die Gegend rennende Menschen – auf der Suche nach ihren Ansteckern, die sich alle gegenseitig des Diebstahls selbiger bezichtigten.

Seitdem gab es immer wieder kleinere Konflikte deswegen, die jedoch im weiteren Reiseverlauf aufhörten. Natürlich gibt es auch immer noch die ganz Trickreichen unter uns, die absichtlich unabsichtlich Dinge unter Tische fallen lassen, um an die besonders beliebten Motive heranzukommen.

Lass dich jedoch nicht erwischen – sonst wirst du über das halbe Schiff gejagt und musst fortan auf deine eigenen Anstecker umso besser aufpassen.

Mittlerweile kann allerdings niemand mehr sagen, ob die Anstecker geklaut wurden oder einfach abgefallen sind, denn unsere Crocs sind mittlerweile so benutzt und abgeranzt, dass selbst Sekundenkleber nicht mehr alle kaputten Stellen fixen konnte.

Es ist paradox: Crocs sind für uns die wichtigsten Gegenstände, die wir allerdings ständig abnutzen und ranzig behandeln.

So sind sie nach jedem Tag in der Galley mit unzähligen undefinierbaren Dingen beschmiert, die abends in der Dusche so gut wie möglich abgespült werden – nach der Devise: „Am liebsten will ich gar nicht wissen, was das ist.“ Crocs sind eben Multifunktionstools, trocknen schnell und können so immer eingesetzt werden – ob auf See oder beim Theaterbesuch (Havanna…).

Mittlerweile hat sich unser Gefühl für Stil sehr gewandelt. Es ist egal geworden, welche Schuhe und Klamotten man anhat – Hauptsache, man hat überhaupt welche. Denn wenn sie alle nass und dreckig sind, ist man ganz schön gearscht.

So möchte ich diesen Bericht mit einem Zitat schließen:

„Das Leben kann so schön sein – aber auch so hart (besonders ohne Crocs).“ – Malte

Im Anschluss noch eine kleine Runde „Wer bin ich?“ für alle Interessierten:

Herbert starb unzählige Male fast, bis wir ihn vor einigen Wochen endgültig begraben mussten. Wir vermissen ihn schmerzlich. Am liebsten hatte man ihn in den Night Watches, wo er aber irgendwann verboten wurde. – Wer bin ich?

Henry wird beinahe täglich eingesetzt und ohne ihn würden wir heute noch putzen. – Wer bin ich?

Die Frage nach mir hat Lisa und alle weiteren PLs immer zum Ausrasten gebracht. – Wer bin ich?

Anmerkungen:

Marilen: Hey Mama, Papa, Minzi – nur noch wenige Tage, dann sehen wir uns in Amsterdam! Ich freue mich sehr auf euch.

Ship: Regina Maris
Date: 27th of March 2025
Position: Horta, Azoren
Geographical Position: 38°31.946‘N 028°37.494‘W
Etmal: 0 nm
Total: 10,966 nm

Trigger Warning! This content may be disturbing for some readers. If you have problems with projects involving the dissection of dead animals or if you’re a vegetarian or vegan, you probably shouldn’t read this blog post and/or look at the pictures.

The sun was shining, the sky was blue, birds were chirping and the smell of flowers was in the air – one of the first real spring days this year. And what’s the best thing one can do on such a beautiful day? Exactly! Take a history class indoors. And, in the case of the morning class, also have lessons in the afternoon.

We couldn’t do it outdoors because the afternoon class was dissecting fish, so in addition to the smell of spring, there was also, well… the smell of dead fish.

In the two hours before lunch, the morning class had a very creative task: We were supposed to draw a large land map of all the areas we had covered in our history lessons, which were mostly parts of our route. Then we had to glue dates, facts and pictures onto the corresponding parts of the map and connect everything.

Since some of us wanted to take a history test to improve our grades, this was a great way to review everything we had learned so far.

After lunch, we switched – or at least, the morning class had to dissect fish while the afternoon class had free shore leave since they had already completed the history lesson on another day. But they had to be quick! Right after finishing lunch, the Regina moved to another spot in the harbor to refuel.

So while the oil was flowing into the tank, we sat outdoors and started with some theory: drawing a fish, naming all its parts, and reading about its organs and bodily functions. Then we put on plastic gloves, wrapped cutting boards in aluminum foil and got our fish.

The problem was: There weren’t enough fish for all four groups. We only had two flying fish left in the freezer and all the other fish had already been gutted by Janno to prevent them from rotting. So what do you do in such a situation?

Right! You ask Malte for help.

Five minutes later, Malte was standing on the railing with a fishing rod and some orange peels in the water (the fish love them) and quickly caught two fish. We were later told that eating them could cause hallucinations.

The fish my group received was so fresh (but already dead, so no, we didn’t cut open living animals) that its heart was still beating the entire time we dissected it. We found a lot of internal organs – its liver, lungs, appendix, gills and gall bladder.

After finishing the dissection, we had to draw two pictures of a fish: one showing its external features and one showing its internal organs. Unfortunately, we didn’t eat the fish, because the flying fish were way too small and old and, well, eating the other ones could have caused hallucinations.

In the evening, everyone was stressed because there were a lot of assignments due in biology, math and physics. Many of us sat down to work on our school tasks and once we were done, we were allowed free shore leave until 11:00 at night.

Ship: Regina Maris
Date: 11th of March 2025
Position: North Atlantic Ocean
Geographical Position: 32°20.406’N 055°24.539’W
Etmal: 146nm
Total: 9503nm

On watch, you always have four hours to fill, in which you have to steer the ship, check the engine room (not anymore, because now it’s forbidden for all students except Hannes and the watchleaders), make entries in the logbook, put the position on the map and sometimes set some sails.

But besides that? What does one do the whole time when there’s not much to do on watch?

Reading and other distractions are forbidden – believe me, I tried. Too often was I disturbed by a mad-looking Anna, who almost confiscated my e-reader, or a gloating Janno, who almost threw my nose flute overboard.

The easiest answer to the question would be: Being seasick. That’s what we did the whole time from Amsterdam to Vigo, and that’s what we’re doing now on account of a little storm we’re in at the moment that Marie so delightfully named Hans Dieter.

Besides the uncertainty of when the next time to vomit is, being seasick has one advantage: You practically have one good, very good reason not to work on specific school stuff and presentations because even teachers get seasick and can reconstruct this feeling very well. Unfortunately, you also aren’t able to do anything else besides lying around like a dead fish.

But after two or three days, most people are used to the feeling of being on a shaky ship again, so they can finally do things.

On watch, a common thing against boredom is listening to music at the steering wheel, not too loud, because this disturbs the watch officers – or sitting next to the person who’s steering, if allowed by your watch officer.

Near the steering wheel, there’s a little corner consisting of a bench and the roof of the wheelhouse, where normally up to five people can sit and talk. But, god beware, you have watch and are lying around, or, even worse, on a bean bag and your watch officer catches you. That can get you into trouble, so we always are attentive if an adult is leaving the wheelhouse.

Also, about tablets for the daily reports, there are split opinions: Our watch officer Marie doesn’t care and we really like having them, but then there’s Anna, our watchleader, who wants us to have more discipline on watch and is always standing except for dinner. Of course, they are against distractions from our tasks. So our motto is: Just do it, maybe Anna doesn’t notice you have a tablet or an e-reader right now.

A funny pastime we like to do is stalking the galley or the people in the messroom through the windows, often unnoticed. A funny shout and a quick hiding afterward can cause a lot of confusion down there.

Because of the crew’s high consumption of coffee, the watch has to go downstairs to cook coffee once or twice. Even though most people can do it, there still are some who, after fifty tries, still get a very strong espresso (Hello, Arvid! ) or need a step-by-step explanation by Rainer (Maxim, who also calls his mother when he doesn’t know how to clean something).

If your name is Malte, Janno or Arvid, you might also enjoy annoying the crew with the same questions and jokes all over again.

Eating on watch is always an experience: sometimes, you get to eat none of your parmesan because the wind blew it all away, you suddenly have something in your hair that later turns out to be a salad leaf from someone else or your whole plate’s contents roll all over the floor. And afterward, you have to clean it all up, otherwise the crew gets mad.

The later the evening, the better the ideas – isn’t this a saying? At least, it would perfectly match our watches.

When it’s dark and stars and the moon are coming out, we just have the best notions. At what other time would someone think of tying a rope to a bucket and trying to catch bioluminescent jellyfish?

Or producing chocolate ice cream from vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce mixed with a hand drill, sitting in front of the vent with hot air to make it smooth faster? Which Leonore, Christian and I unfortunately couldn’t do for too long in our evening watch because Marie was annoyed pretty fast and we had to put it all away.

So you see, there’s a lot you can do, even with a few restrictions. And if you just sit there and stare at the ocean, you may have one of the few alone times to think.

Anmerkungen:

Talea und Marilen: Viele Grüße an Ebermut Rudolf! Wir haben deine Birnenzwiebeln gefunden

Chris: Ich sitze gerade am Galley-Boden, wir haben mit bis zu 40 Grad Schräglage gekocht und jetzt endlich eine Pause… mir geht es aber trotzdem gut, ganz liebe Grüße an euch!!

Schiff: Reggie
Datum: 15.01.2025
Position: Coronado / San Jose / Costa Rica

Nach einer sehr verregneten Nacht schälten wir uns bereits um 6:30 aus den Schlafsäcken, um das Frühstück um 07:00 nicht zu verpassen. Wir waren sehr verschlafen, besonders da einige Leute in die Klassenräume umziehen mussten, weil ihre Zelte undicht waren.

Zum ersten Mal seit einigen Tagen gab es mal keinen Reis mit Bohnen zu allen Mahlzeiten, wobei die Vegetarier es sich sicher nochmals gewünscht hätten, denn ihre Sandwiches waren dick mit Marmelade und Erdnussbutter bestrichen – eine Mischung, die niemandem wirklich schmeckte.

Die Freizeit nach dem Frühstück wurde aber von allen sehr begrüßt, da wir endlich wieder unsere Familien und Freunde anrufen konnten.

Erst um 11:00 fand die Einteilung in die Sprachgruppen statt, da die Johnnys vorher ihren Abschluss gemacht hatten, um sich danach auf den Weg zur Kaffeefarm zu machen.

In Kleingruppen bekamen wir je einen Lehrer und einen Klassenraum zugewiesen.

Meine Profesora heißt Laura und hat zuallererst ein Kennenlernspiel gemacht, bei dem wir ein Gesicht mit Marker auf unsere Fingerspitze malen und damit über uns selbst erzählen sollten.

Die ganze Stunde war sehr kreativ und farbenfroh gestaltet, ganz anders als der Sprachunterricht zu Hause.

Nach dem Mittagessen und einer Pause starteten wir ins eigentliche Highlight des Tages: Die sogenannte

Fruit Tasting Class

Hierfür wurden wir in drei Gruppen aufgeteilt. Als Mario, unser „Lehrer“ für diese Stunde, uns an den Tisch voller tropischer Früchte führte, waren wir alle geflasht.

Klar, die Klassiker kannten wir – Melonen, Mango, Bananen, Kokosnuss und Ananas –, aber das meiste vor uns liegende war uns fremd. Reihum um den Tisch sitzend durfte sich jede*r eine Frucht aussuchen und diese vor allen anderen verkosten und bewerten, danach konnten auch die anderen ein Stück probieren.

Die Papaya schmeckte für die meisten von uns, wie Enno es so treffend ausgedrückt hatte, nach Gestank. Nur Tilly mochte den Geschmack und aß den halben Teller allein auf. Auch die scharfen Kerne probierten wir, aber nur wenige, da man von zu vielen Verdauungsprobleme bekommen kann.

Wie eine übergroße Quitte sah die Maracuja aus, die wegen ihres süß-sauren Geschmacks nicht nur ein Favorit von uns war, sondern auch von den Costa Ricanern gerne für Desserts verwendet wird.

Naranjilla war eine Frucht, die keineswegs eine Orange ist, sondern aussieht wie eine Kaki und auch so ähnlich geschmeckt hat.

Tomate del Palo gehört dem Namen nach zur Familie der Tomaten, schmeckt aber süßer als eine normale Tomate. Um sie zu probieren, musste Enno lange überredet werden, da er Tomaten nicht mag und meinte, er müsse davon brechen. Fast gekotzt hat aber nur Sophia, die die Frucht ohne zu zögern gegessen hatte.

Kokosnüsse kannten wir ja bereits aus der Karibik, doch auch wenn sie hier wieder wunderbar geschmeckt haben, konnten sie denen von den San-Blas-Inseln nicht das Wasser reichen.

Auch die Bananen waren eine kleine Enttäuschung – bei den BriBris gab es einfach die besten.

Eine nicht sehr appetitlich aussehende braune Masse stellte sich als Tamarinde heraus und schmeckte allen sehr gut. Bei den BriBris hatten wir bereits Limonade daraus getrunken.

Besonders gegeiert wurde auf die Mango, die die absolute Lieblingsfrucht von vielen war und um deren Kerne fast blutige Kriege entstanden sind. Am Ende hat sie aber alle Balthasar bekommen.

Einige Früchte, deren Namen ich nicht mehr weiß, waren besonders scharf und besonders sauer. Davon blieben am Ende sehr viele übrig. Außerdem gab es eine Knolle, die wir ohne Schale essen sollten und die so ähnlich wie Kartoffeln geschmeckt hat (klar, bei uns Deutschen schmeckt alles immer wie Kartoffeln…).

Den krönenden Abschluss bildete eine Wassermelone, mit der wir alle die wilden Geschmäcker der letzten Früchte herunterspülen konnten.

Auch wenn manchen Leuten nachher sehr schlecht war, fand ich die Fruit Tasting Class eine wirklich tolle Erfahrung, da man so mehr über die typischen Gerichte und Traditionen erfahren konnte. Dementsprechend wenig haben wir auch beim Abendessen gegessen.

Danach haben wir den Abend ausklingen lassen mit Tischtennis spielen, manche Leute haben noch wache Menschen von zu Hause angerufen und einige sind schon selbst schlafen gegangen.

Die Gruppendynamik hat sich deutlich geändert, seit wir die Handys haben. Man macht viel mehr damit und weniger als große Gruppe. Wir können wirklich dankbar sein für die vergangenen drei Monate, in denen wir nur sehr wenig Handyzeit hatten.

Nichtsdestotrotz ist es auch wunderschön, endlich wieder die geliebten Menschen von zu Hause erreichen zu können.

Ship: Regina Maris
Date: 21st of December 2024
Position: Martinique
Geographical Position: 14°36.083N 061°03.687W
Etmal: 0nm
Total: 5212nm

Our second day on the coast of Martinique – and yet another deep clean. Annoying as usual, but necessary.

Everywhere on deck was dirt, especially after we set up the second dinghy. As you might have guessed by now, this part took the longest to clean. While many of us were already playing in the water, jumping and having fun, some people were still scrubbing the deck.

After lunch – noodles again – we had the big meeting where the teachers presented us options for the afternoon. Of course, we could do a regular free shore leave in small groups until the dinghy would pick everyone up again in the evening.

Because Janno and Anneke had talked to some locals yesterday, they learned about a vanilla farm nearby and the teachers offered to organize a visit for anyone interested. Kaspar also suggested going to a history museum, but since no one was interested, it was taken off the table.

To reach the vanilla farm, we would need to hike about 1.5 hours each way, so only a small group of people chose to go, while the rest chose free shore leave instead.

We put on our hiking shoes (after long discussions between Anneke, Nori, Anna and me because we’d be trekking through the rainforest) and packed our rain jackets and water bottles. Jasper and Hannes were joining us too, but they were with Lisa and Niklas in the second dinghy, which had some technical problems. So we girls had some time to enjoy ice cream while waiting.

At the shop, we saw Janno running toward us. He had just been shopping with Martin, the cook. Since it was Janno’s idea to visit the vanilla farm and he was the most excited about it, he absolutely wanted to join. However, he was only wearing Crocs, so Anna called the crew on the Reggie to bring him proper shoes.

Finally, after some waiting at the beach, our group was complete. We started our tour after a little more delay because Lisa’s mobile data wasn’t working properly.

At first, we walked through some streets, greeted locals and passed by crocodile warning signs at the edge of a swamp. Eventually, we turned onto a small path through the forest. The trail ran alongside and through small riverbeds, going up and down, so our boots got wet and muddy. We joked that someone would surely slip, but thankfully, no one did.

When we reached a meadow, we were a bit disappointed – the view was nothing special and could easily be found back in Germany. From there, we walked downhill past some luxurious mansions. Along the way, we spotted coconut trees and it didn’t take long for the boys to come running with a coconut. They rolled it down the street and argued over it while Lisa and I couldn’t stop laughing.

At a small concrete wall, everyone had ten tries to crack the coconut open while singing “Who stole the coconut?” (Wer hat die Kokosnuss geklaut?). It was nearly unbreakable.

After what felt like ages of hitting it with a stone, we finally broke the outer layer and revealed the smaller fruit we all recognize from supermarkets.

We also found another coconut later on, but by the time we finished our snacks (lots of ice cream), the sun was already setting. Unfortunately, it was too late to continue to the vanilla farm, so we decided to turn back. Instead, the teachers suggested having a beach picnic for dinner.

At the beach, we went onto a large bridge/jetty with many dinghies tied to it. From there, we watched the sunset, ate our food (Niklas got pizza from a 24/7 pizza vending machine) and some of us, including me, went swimming. Then we made an unexpected discovery – our dinghy was also at the bridge. Looking around, we spotted Heine and the rest of the crew at a beach bar.

Janno immediately ran over and sneaked up on Arne, whispering in his ear, “Can you sign my blue book?” – the trigger phrase for every crew member. Next thing we knew, both of them were in the water, play-fighting and Anneke and I joined in.

Afterwards, we asked Arne if the crew could bring us back to the Reggie since hiking back in the dark wasn’t ideal. Luckily for us, they agreed but wanted to finish eating first.

For the remaining time, we lounged on the bridge, talked and enjoyed our last moments on land. Later, Heine arrived and took us back. Although I’d already been on a fast dinghy (when Martin, the old captain, drove us in Morocco), it couldn’t compare to the speeds Heine reached.

Back on the Reggie, we found the ship mostly empty, as the others were still ashore. This gave us plenty of time to shower. Janno, Anneke and I even took a quick swim over to the Johnny.

The rest of the evening was very relaxed. Some went swimming again, while others stayed in the messroom or on deck, listening to music, writing diaries or letters or just resting.

It had been a long, tiring day, but for me, the hike was one of the best experiences so far, even though we didn’t make it to the vanilla farm.

Ship: Regina Maris
Date: 27th of November 2024
Position: North Atlantic Ocean
Geographical Position: 25°07.180N 018°26.943W
Etmal: 125nm
Total: 2341nm

I absolutely hit the jackpot:

Yesterday already, I discovered some cockroaches in the kitchen drawer and soon realised: They would become my problem, if not today, then the day after, because I was going to have galley duty. And do the daily report. That would be a lot of work…

My inner clock woke me right on time, just before Sophia came downstairs to wake the galley-team: Miriam, Timo and me. Normally I would have slept as long as possible, but my early waking had a reason: It was my birthday and on those, I never sleep long. At home, I usually run into the living room, hug my family and unpack my gifts but here on the ship, birthdays are very different.

I didn’t find time up until 10am to look at my parents‘ gifts for me because galley duty took so long; we found some rotten fruits under the wheelhouse and re-sorted everything in the kitchen. During said break till twelve, all of us galley people took a little nap.

After that, we started preparing lunch: Gazpacho and leftovers from yesterday. Let me just say: The idea was good, but what we made of it was another thing. The gazpacho looked like vomit (credits to Janno, thank you for making me want to throw my food away because of your stupid jokes!) and was not of everyone’s taste, too much onion, too much garlic, etc.

After we finished doing the dishes and all meetings were done (no underwear in the lost & found today), I began with the most important part of the day: Making my phenomenal chocolate cookies, for which Talea and Antonio already prepared the dough yesterday. At the time I put the first portion into the oven, everyone was asking when the cookies would be ready to eat until Lisa shouted everyone back to class.

When I had the cookies ready, I started to hand them to everyone. Many wanted a second one and would literally have started a war for more. I already knew before that someone could bribe Maxim with white chocolate a lot, but those cookies were next level, he would have done anything to get more.

But jokes aside, everyone really liked the cookies and I was very positively surprised. I think I‘ll make them again, maybe on Hannes‘ Birthday in three days.

Because I made the cookies, I had no break before dinner and worked right through until Sonjas Pathway Presentation about fast fashion after it. I was extremely impressed by it and so were the teachers, Sonja was the first one to get an A on a Pathway Presentation. She really deserved it!

When all of us galley people finished the dishes and the cleaning of the kitchen, we finally had free time! I sat with my friends and played Dutch, they also had gotten me a few little presents which I really loved. I know, Malte will come soon to remind me of my time left wearing the birthday crown.

About the day I really can say, it was the most exhausting but also most memorable birthday I ever had. Excuse me now, my cards await me.

Bemerkungen:

Marilen: Hey, Mama, Papa, Minzi, ich denke an euch und vermisse euch alle, besonders heute, hab‘ euch lieb 😘 und Opa, alles Gute auch Dir!

Ella: Alles Gute zum Geburtstag, Marten!!! 🥳❤️

Pepe: Hey liebe Familie, ich vermisse euch sehr und denke jeden Tag an euch. Ich freue mich schon, wenn ich euch das nächste Mal anrufen kann. Mir geht es gut und ich hoffe es geht euch auch gut!! Liebe Grüße vom Weg zu den Kap Verden ❤️😘