Blogs from Oceans and Seas - page 177

The 29th, 30th and 31st October were spent cruising from Salalah in Oman to Kochi (Cochin) on the South West coast of India which is a distance of 1359.95 nautical mines (2518.62 km or 1565 miles) virtually diagonally across the Arabian Sea, As with all sea days D went to lectures, M went to art and craft, we read books, enjoyed the sunshine on deck and ate and then ate some more. On the 31st we had a Halloween party on board. We got in to the spirit of things and dressed up for the occasion along with a few of our friends.... read more

Friday the 26th October and Saturday 27th October were spent exiting the Red Sea through the Strait of Bab al Mandeb into the Gulf of Aden and cruising with Yemen on our left and Djibouti and Somalia to our right. We cruised past the island of Socotra (Yemen) and into the Arabian Sea (which is part of the larger Indian Ocean). The days were spent on deck and D attended lectures, while M went to craft and art classes. We spent the rest of our time at sea reading and eating ... and eating some more!... read more

We left Gibraltar and cruised the Alboran Sea (part of the Mediterranean), passing the Balearic Islands and the southern end of Sardinia before entering the Sea of Sicily and on to the Island of Malta. This journey took two days. We docked in Malta on the 18th October. We spent the days eating (a lot) and drinking (a lot), going to lectures and meeting and making new friends. M went to her first craft and art group meetings and introduced herself to the Bridge and IT instructors. Dinner conversation was lively and fun. We are all getting to know each other on our table - and the crew. We are on deck 5 which is the same deck as reception so we always have some banter with whoever is on duty as we go by. They ... read more

The Bay of Biscay is named (for English speakers) after Biscay on the northern Spanish coast, probably standing for the Western Basque Districts (Biscay up to the early 19th century). Its name in other languages is: Asturian: Golfu de Biscaya, Basque: Bizkaiko Golkoa,. Breton: Pleg-mor Gwaskogn, French: Golfe de Gascogne (named after Gascony), Galician: Golfo de Biscaia, Gascon Occitan: Golf de Gasconha, Spanish: Golfo de Vizcaya. The Continental Shelf extends far into the bay, resulting shallow waters in many areas and thus the rough seas for which the region is known. Large storms occur in the bay, especially during the winter months. The Bay of Biscay is home to some of the Atlantic's fiercest weather and abnormally high waves occur here. Up until recent years it was a regular occurrence for merchant vessels ... read more

An important change happened as we started the next leg of our voyage. We had all been nothing more than adventurous tourists who had chosen an interesting and somewhat unique way to see the sights of Antarctica and South Georgia. It is true that we had learned a lot about sailing a tall ship and we had definitely had some amazing adventures that fall well outside of the realm of a cruise ship, but it wasn’t until we had left South Georgia in our wake that we stopped being tourists and became sailors. We were no longer on a sightseeing trip, we were on a sailing voyage and we had nearly three thousand nautical miles of some of the stormiest oceans in the world ahead of us. More than fourteen hundred nautical miles separated us ... read more