The first two stun ‘sails joined our beautiful rig today and were celebrated with cinnamon rolls out of our French cuisine. At the first sign of the Tradewinds we took down booms and blocks from the starboard side and mounted everything on the windward side, heading more or less south in search of more wind and more sun!

Anne Flore left a bright ship and crew for me in La Palma and you could see that the weathered faces were looking forward to some smoother sailing than what they had experienced coming down from Den Helder.

La Palma is the place to be in nature and relax while hiking over mountains or swimming in fabulous pirate caves, which all of them enjoyed here, far away from down-locked Europe. As cargo is my job and I have to know what we load onboard, my excursions were less healthy but still fruitful, as we now have the best rum, wine, mojo and salt from the island onboard.
Aldea distilleries again invited the whole crew for an abundant meal and rum tasting, while Jose and me filled the Sherry and Port barrels we brought empty from Spain and Portugal, with his best rums! Also a barrel of the famous Malvasia from Constantio and Nancy joined the ship, as well as their wines and a few exclusive bottles from Victoria from Fuencaliente.

Now we are loaded up and ready for some miles on the open ocean, for an unfiltered view of the sky, as you just have it in unlit nature. A glittering, moving hemisphere, sometimes stopped and transformed into numbers by Adriaans sextant. On deck a just as enlightened crew, guided by Lenno and Mike and Daniels stories, which keep erupting even without the internet.

Out here, the planets and all those long ago vanished stars can capture the common square sailors’ loneliness in moments, when only beloved ones are in the senses of the beholder of the nightly sky.

Saludos,
Andreas