Miriam

Ship: Regina Maris
Date: 16th of April 2025
Position: English Channel
Geographical Position: 50°10.662‘N 002°26.693‘W
Etmal: 167 nm
Total: 12,404 nm

Even though it might sound strange at first, shoes on board carry a lot more meaning than you’d think. The type of shoes someone wears says a lot about the person and their intentions.

Whether it’s Crocs, which are basically essential for survival on board – rubber boots that keep your feet dry through the wildest waves, or hiking boots that got us safely through the jungle, each pair tells a story.

At Ocean College, every single shoe gets put to the ultimate test – and judged based on its real-life performance.

So, let’s get into it:

1) Crocs

Crocs are probably the most-worn shoes here at Ocean College. They are absolutely essential for survival on board.

They can handle anything – from a swim stop in the middle of the Atlantic to an epic football match on the Cape Verde Islands (obviously only in sport mode). Crocs really are something special here and hold serious value.

Nobody cries over a stolen wallet – but lose your good old Crocs and that’s a real tragedy. But Crocs aren’t just practical beach shoes anymore; they’ve taken on a whole new role in on-board fashion.

The battle for Croc charms has reached a new level. Especially early in the trip, it wasn’t uncommon to wake up and realize all your charms had mysteriously disappeared overnight. The usual suspect? Our first cook, who would sneak into the cabins at night.

But if you needed to restock, all you had to do was score big at the Lost & Found auction.

2) Rubber Boots

Rubber boots are another great invention. They can handle any kind of water.

With them, you can survive watch duty with dry feet. Well… most of the time. Sometimes, you just get unlucky and a wave hits you full-on and then it doesn’t help if your boots are waterproof from the inside, because the water’s already come in from the top.

Still, rubber boots are incredibly useful and even came in handy during a jungle river hike.

3) Sneakers

Even though sneakers are probably the most common shoes back home, you rarely see them on board. When you do, it usually means someone’s heading into town, going for a run, playing football – or occasionally climbing the mast.

All in all, though, we can all agree on one thing: The best all-around, practical shoes are Crocs in sport mode.

Schiff: Regina Maris
Datum: 14. März 2025
Position: Nordatlantischer Ozean
Geographische Position: 32°36.240’N 046°33.378’W
Etmal: 142 nm
Total: 9.954 nm

Mein Tag beginnt meist damit, dass ich um 07:30 von der 5-9-Watch (Bravo 1) geweckt werde. Die Art und Weise des Weckens ist dabei immer etwas unterschiedlich.

Häufig werde ich sanft von einer Schülerin geweckt. Normalerweise schlafe ich dann noch etwa 30 Minuten und mache mich anschließend für das Frühstück um 08:00 fertig. Manchmal jedoch erwache ich auch mit dem Gesicht meiner First Officer, der lieben Marie, direkt vor mir – da steht man dann lieber gleich auf.

Oder wie heute, als Tilly und Enno mich mit einer Kamera weckten, um die Frage der Woche zu stellen: „Was ist deine Lieblings-Watch-Zeit?“ Natürlich konnte ich da nur mit „9-13 Uhr“ antworten.

Obwohl auch andere Watch-Zeiten ihre Vorteile haben – wie etwa die 1-5 Watch in der Nacht, wenn das ganze Schiff still und leer ist, oder die 5-9 Watch, bei der man den Sonnenaufgang sieht – hat unsere Watch ebenfalls ihre besonderen Vorzüge.

Zum Beispiel können wir, wenn wir besonders müde sind, bis 9:00 ausschlafen. Zwar müssen wir dafür das Frühstück auslassen, aber manchmal ist es einfach nötig, eine Stunde länger zu schlafen.

Ansonsten ist unsere Watch meist ziemlich entspannt. Natürlich, wenn gerade ein Sturm aufzieht, es in Strömen regnet oder der Wind so stark weht, dass die Segel reißen und irgendetwas kaputt geht (was für unsere Watch leider nicht ganz unbekannt ist), dann wird es etwas turbulenter. Aber wenn alles ruhig ist, genießen wir das Leben in vollen Zügen.

Solange wir nicht gerade mit Sailhandling oder dem Spleißen von Seilen beschäftigt sind, hören wir entspannte Musik, steuern das Schiff und genießen den Ausblick auf das unendliche Meer.

Und da kommen wir auch schon zum nächsten Vorteil unserer Watch: Wir erleben das Meer anders als die Nightwatches. Wenn wir Wale, Delfine oder andere Meeresbewohner sichten, dann sind wir es, die diese Begegnungen hautnah erleben.

Besonders in den letzten Tagen ging es richtig ab. Gleich zu Beginn unserer Watch sahen wir unseren ersten Wal aus nächster Nähe – wie wir später herausfanden, war es ein Common Minke Whale, etwa 6–7 Meter lang. Der Wal folgte uns fast eine Stunde lang, schwamm immer wieder um das Schiff, sprang hin und wieder aus dem Wasser, um seine ganze Größe zu zeigen und zog dann weiter, um die nächste Welle zu nehmen.

Noch in derselben Watch trafen wir auf zwei Delfinschulen. Eine davon bestand aus mindestens 40 Tieren. Leider bleiben die Delfine oft nicht lange, besonders da wir momentan viel mit dem Motor fahren.

Zwei Tage später hatten wir dann bereits das nächste Wal-Erlebnis. Zuerst dachten wir, es seien große Delfine, aber die Schnauzen passten nicht. Nach einem Blick in unser Walbuch glauben wir nun, dass es sich um kleine Schwertwale, sogenannte False Killer Whales, handelte. Es waren mindestens fünf Tiere, die vorne mit uns mitschwammen. Es war ein wahres Vergnügen, ihnen zuzusehen.

Unsere Watch endet stets mit dem Klang der Glocke, die uns zum Mittagessen um 13:00 ruft.

Bemerkungen:

Malte: Hallo Mama, Papa, wir sind schon in 4–5 Tagen auf den Azoren. Ich freue mich schon, wenn wir die Handys wiederbekommen. Sonst geht es mir supi. Habe euch lieb! ❤️❤️❤️😘😘

Hannes: Hallo

Ship: Regina Maris
Date: 9th of February 2025
Position: Marina Hemingway
Geographical Position: 23°05.276’N, 082°29.946’W
Etmal: 75 nm
Total: 7,782 nm

00:00: I woke up to a loud HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Exactly at midnight, everyone was singing for Strate’s birthday. Our wonderful boy turned into a man – he is now finally 16 years old.

After a delicious cheese toast for breakfast, it was watch time. Together with the rest of the Charlie watch, we sailed with our beautiful Reggie towards the skyline of Havana, Cuba.

Right before the harbor, we got the announcement that the Thor Heyerdahl, the sailing ship of a different school ship organization – KUS (Klassenzimmer unter Segeln) – had just arrived shortly before us, so we had to wait for them to check in. We used the time to clean the rest of the ship, but after our deep, deep clean yesterday, there wasn’t too much left to do. After cleaning the bathroom for the third time, we finally got the go-ahead.

Our captain, Heine, who is sadly leaving us here in Cuba, docked the ship perfectly, as always.

The whole check-in process took ages. The entire ship had to be inspected for things like drugs and onboard hygiene. Luckily, the hours of cleaning the day before paid off and the Regina was confirmed to stay in Cuba.

Setting foot on Cuba for the first time, the first thing you notice is the beautiful classic cars. They are everywhere, from baby blue to Barbie pink, they exist in every color you can imagine.

We were even lucky enough to get the opportunity to sit in some of these extraordinary cars and talk to their owners. Many of them could even speak German and we had some lovely conversations.

After lunch, we had free shore leave in the harbor. We had time for all kinds of activities – some people went swimming, some took a little walk with our teacher Niklas to explore the harbor and some, including me, took the chance to do sports.

After three months without being able to do any kind of exercise, we were all pretty much out of shape. We set off for our first little sprint in months. Running on the Reggie is strictly forbidden, especially during rough seas, so this was a rare opportunity.

After a hard training session, including just a few push-ups and burpees – we were completely exhausted and sweating like crazy. But still, it felt amazing to move again.

Thanks to the water connection in the harbor, we were able to take long, warm showers. The effort paid off and the day ended with delicious pancakes 🥞 from our wonderful galley team.

Anmerkungen:

Johannes: Hallohallo ihr Lieben😘! Habe euch heute echt doll vermisst, aber danke für die schönen Briefe und die Kette ❤️ habe mich echt riesig gefreut und hatte eigentlich einen echt schönen Tag. Habe mal anders in meinen Geburtstag reingefeiert😉. Hab‘ euch alle ganz dolle lieb!❤️ P.S. Habe mich auch riesig doll über den Brief von Anika gefreut ❤️

Ship: Regina Maris
Date: 2nd of January 2025
Position: Caribbean Sea
Geographic Position: 11°58.970’N 073°59.192’W
Daily Distance (Etmal): 153 nm
Total Distance: 6227 nm

We have now already been living on the sea for two and a half months. So, fish is part of our daily routine – whether in the sea, on deck or, since today, even in our food, it’s always there.
So let’s talk about fish.

I was just leaving the poop deck because I was done with my watch when I heard Janno and Maxim shouting, “WE CAUGHT A FISH!” I ran to the railing and saw the biggest and most beautiful fish I have ever seen. The fish was yellow-green and shimmering and as soon as we took him out of the water, he turned into a beautiful turquoise.

After hitting him multiple times on the head, he was dead! 💀
We caught our first fish. 🐟 We’re not sure which species he was – probably a dolphin fish, also known as Mahi Mahi, but he was 1.07 m long and weighed around five kilograms.

We removed all his organs and prepared him so we could eat him tomorrow. Lisa gave a little spontaneous science lesson for a few people. I was part of the class and together with Jana, Anneke and Flips, we inspected the head, took out one eye and examined his gills. We also cut open his stomach and found multiple partially digested fish.

Now we’re all excited to see how he’s going to taste. 😋

But we don’t only catch fish with our fishing lines – sometimes, they fly over the railing and visit the Reggie on their own. If you find a flying fish on deck, the first thing you have to do is call for Malte. He proudly collects the fish and puts them into the freezer so someday we may dissect them all together in science class.

But as long as the flying fish don’t fly on board, they look absolutely beautiful and you can watch them glide over the surface.

But the best of all are the dolphins. Not just because I got named after one during the Atlantic ceremony, but also because it’s absolutely incredible to watch them play with the waves, especially when they glow in the dark. The way they elegantly glide through the blue water is amazing and beautiful.

Sadly, we haven’t had the privilege of seeing whales up close, only from far away and rarely. But I still have hope!

We don’t only encounter sea animals when we’re on the ship! When we first arrived in Martinique, the first thing we saw was an incredible fight. Two crabs were battling for their territory – a rock! 🪨 We went into cheerleader mode and cheered them on with all we had.

But enough of that, the absolute best interaction with fish is when you swim right next to them. My best experience so far was when we went snorkeling at a beach in Martinique. I was just swimming when, out of nowhere, a ray (Rochen) appeared under me. That was a crazy feeling – swimming with a ray. I never thought I would ever experience that.

Hopefully, that wasn’t the last time and if we are lucky, we will still see sea turtles. Let’s hope so.

The reefs in Panama are waiting for us!

Bemerkungen:

Anna: Lieber David, alles alles Gute zum Geburtstag! Ich hoffe, Du hast den Tag genossen und schön gefeiert! Und frohes neues Jahr übrigens auch!