Ups and downs

Date: 23.02.2024
Position: Marina Hemingway, Cuba
Etmal: 0 nm
Total: 7382 nm
Ship: Regina Maris

On the whole trip we’ve seen a lot of very beautiful and fascinating places we will likely never forget. That is why I want to give you a short recap from the whole trip.

Recap:

Our trip started in Amsterdam, where all of us saw our parents the last time in real life. We all had to say goodbye for half a year, which caused a lot of tears to be flossed. Afterwards we started our first big stage to Tenerife, which was a big up and down.

One of the reasons for that was the big weather change. At first we were in the Englisch Channel, where we encountered a big storm that caused never ending seasickness, being cold and much more. I am speaking for all of the students when I say that the trip through the Englisch Channel was one of the biggest downs of the whole trip.

After the Englisch Channel this big down started to turn in to a small up. We continued our trip to Tenerife which was the first really warm stop on the trip. We had a great time swimming and visiting this fascinating island. That was our first stage!

Atlantic crossing is the name I gave the second stage because as you may tell we crossed the Atlantic. A lot of you may think that this stage was the highlight of the trip, but I can assure you it wasn’t.
After Tenerife we sailed to Cape Verde, our first and last African country on this trip what as well was one beautiful island.

Then, the highlight of this stage started: The Atlantic crossing. We all were really excited because we wouldn’t see land for almost three weeks. But actually it was pretty lame because we had the same routine for 17 days and no new cities and countries to explore. The only actions were the mid Atlantic baptism, the mid Atlantic ball and Christmas, which were pretty fun.

But to be honest, I prefer the on-shore activities more. Then, after the crossing we set anchor in Aruba.
To say it was not a big up or a down.

Then, the fun part started. The third stage, I will call Caribbean dream. From my point of view I can say that this part of the trip was and is the most fun part and was/is the part with the biggest up for all the students. We saw islands untouched from tourism, countries most people dream of visiting and much much more.

We had a land excursion in Panama and Costa Rica which was the true highlight of the trip. After this three week land program we continued our trip to Cuba.

Our current situation

Right now all of us are here in Cuba and having a great time visiting Havana and Santa Fe. We had a few free shore leaves and opportunities to get to know this beautiful country on our own. And the plan for tomorrow is to visit museums and get to know the history of Cuba. And this is also the last warm location we are going to visit on this trip.

Future plans

If we face reality this never wanting to end dream is ending in two months and we don’t have a lot of stops left. The next stop is Bermuda, the country known for being expensive. We talked a bit about activities to do on Bermuda and the only thing to do there is golfing and meet with other traditional sailing ships because it is a hotspot for sailing ships from around the world. The same counts for Azores except they are not that expensive.

My Opinion

In my opinion this is one of the greatest trips I will ever do in my life and I never want it to end. But every good thing comes to an end. Even though we already encountered the best part of the trip I am pretty excited for the rest and to be honest I also miss home.

P.S.: Margaux: Alles Guutee meine kleine Anouk! Hab‘ dich lieb!

Lilia: Alles alles Gute nachträglich zum Geburtstag Rebbeci<333

Mattis: Alles Gute Mama, lass‘ Dich feiern <3 Du bist die Beste!