“You’re going to live a pirate’s life,” that’s what people around me said when I told them about Tres Hombres. Setting off on a sailing ship to carry rum across the ocean — how could I blame them. But while they were imagining parrots, tricorne hats, sword fights and walking the plank, I was thinking about being a lookout.

A lookout — you know, that person at the very top of the mast, scanning the horizon with a spyglass. My dream.

So you can imagine how excited I was when, less than 24 hours after arriving, I received my training to climb the mast. Even better, we had the rare opportunity to do it at sea, during our transfer between Point-à-Pitre and Marie-Galante.

After that day, I looked for every chance to put on my harness — whether to help with the sails or to go out onto the bowsprit, the front part of the ship. As a result, during our crossing to the Azores, I had the opportunity to furl the flying jib on my own (the very front sail of Tres) and then went on to furl the Royale in a duo, the highest sail on board.

But don’t worry, the crew pays close attention to your preferences. They won’t force you to climb if you’re not comfortable, but if you enjoy it, they’ll give you plenty of opportunities to practice. That’s how I ended up climbing to the very top of both masts in port for maintenance work. And during a “man overboard” exercise, I was assigned to climb to the first platform of the mast to observe with binoculars — which, in a way, made me… you guessed it, a lookout.

So even if I hope I’ll never have to fully take on that role, I can consider my dream fulfilled. It just goes to show that on Tres Hombres, dreams can come true.

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