The Best Pirate @thebestpirate - Tumblr Blog

Returning to Civilization

There we were. Liz, Svea, Haylee and myself; watching the very last sunset while having our sails set. The next sunset I would see was over the buildings of Nova Scotia, Canada and while that was still glorious, it could never compare to seeing the sun until the very last seconds of the day.

When I woke up the next morning, Canada was now clearly in view. Throughout the day, there were jobs to do to get the ship ship-shape (one might say). When I was officially on watch, it was my duty to be lookout. I stood on a deck box to get a clear view of any buoys or other objects that might get in our way. As we got closer to the families, I wasn’t much of a help as lookout due to the overwhelming urge to cry. Tears filled my eyes as I thought of hugging my mom. I hadn’t hugged her or seen her with my own eyes the entirety of the nine months. My step dad, my sister, and Chris would all be there as well to greet me at the docks. As we got closer, I scanned the vast crowd for my family and when I saw them, I screamed at the top of my lungs, “MOOOOOM, DAAAAAVE, NIIIIIKKKIIIII, CHRRRRRRIIISSSS!” At this point I was SOBBING. But there were still jobs to do. It was my job to tend to the stern’s mooring line, but I still made sure my family knew where I was.

When I saw my mom’s face, I saw that she, too, was crying. I knew I should expect some tears, but my entire family was crying. Even my step dad, which I had never seen in the 10 or so years he’s been in our lives. Seeing these tears only made me cry more. Once all the jobs were done we all crowded near the gangway anticipating our families coming aboard. I was getting impatient having to talk to them from the ship while they were on the dock so when they were finally aboard the ship, I hugged them all like I haven’t in 9 months… oh wait... By all means, I am not a huge fan of hugging, but I didn’t care in that moment.

After the initial greetings were over, I brought them around the ship. We eventually sat on the side benches. I couldn’t tell you how happy I was to have them all of the ship with me. After all, it was my home for so long and I thought it was important that they understood how much the Gulden Leeuw meant (and means) to me.

I made sure to introduce my family to my friends on the ship. Every time I called them during the year, it was hard to explain exactly how close I am with my Class Afloat family. I was 100% me on the ship, which may have surprised my family a little bit. I never once had to change who I was in the slightest to feel accepted by my crew. What we have is genuine and unique and I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

My family and I spent some time in Canada and enjoyed exploring the beautiful area. We got milkshakes, went to a museum, bought souvenirs, and just had a good time being together. We also, of course, all attended the Class Afloat graduation. I received an award for excellence in the CAF community and in sailing. I was so proud and I could see the proud looks from my family as I shockingly looked back at them when I heard my name called for the award (I didn’t expect to receive it). Graduation was a special time for all of the crew and our families. There were videos shown of our journey and even though that couldn’t explain how amazing it was completely, I believe it was still important to watch. It gave our families a glimpse at the journey we had just completed.

When it was time to leave the ship for good, it was very emotional. I waved goodbye to my home to head to another home in Schenectady, NY. The week or so being home were amazing. Surprising my friends at their houses and staying at my dad and step mom’s house for a week. Seeing everyone was phenomenal.

I am so grateful that my family was able to make it up to Canada. My mom is not a fan of cars, but still spent about 14 hours in the car to AND from Nova Scotia to see me. Seeing all of them on that dock meant the world to me.

What’s Life Like After CAF?

Everything after CAF seems a lot more boring, sadly. I’m having a lot of fun at home with my friends and family, but all the moments where I’m sat at home with nothing to do, I can’t help but think back to traveling and sailing. Schenectady seems a lot smaller, that’s for sure.

But I can not stress the importance of communicating with the individuals you have left. I remember the first night I was back home, I video chatted Svea and Liz just to say goodnight. Both of them had slept right next to/across from me and I would say goodnight to them every single night. Even if you can’t talk to your CAF family every day, make the effort to say hi every once in a while.

I visited Sarah, a great friend I’ve had the pleasure to sail with, in New York City and then went to Baltimore with her to meet her high school friends and explore her old home. Spending that time with her made transitioning back a lot easier because I knew that saying goodbye from the ship was definitely not a goodbye forever.

I’m not going to lie; not being on the ship and constantly doing something extraordinary is heartbreaking, but there are ways to cope.

Thank you, Class Afloat for being the greatest time of my life.

Some Pictures from St. Helena!

Barbados! (Pretend I posted this before the DR...)

When we got to leave the ship off of the gangway (and not by tender – the little boat when we anchor outside of somewhere) for the first time in a while, we all took the opportunity to RUN off the ship. I took a video of this in Barbados so, if you haven’t already, you can check it out on my Facebook or Instagram (@musicmegan143).

On our first day, we went to go eat something small at Chefettes, their fast-food style restaurant. I got the potato roti almost every day while we were there because it reminded me of the roti my friend’s mom makes. A lot of us also got smoothies, which is something everyone talks about constantly on the ship when we cannot have them.

Aside from food (which there was a lot of), I took the opportunity to call my family every day like I normally do. I’ve been missing them a lot lately as this program comes to an end. I think it’s because I know I’m so close to seeing them that I’m getting a little impatient. While walking around one day, we found a little music festival going on for Good Friday. We went to explore the island a bit, but came back to the festival later in the night. It was very inspirational and the music played was beautiful. A lovely woman came up to the 5 of us that were standing in a little hug-circle and gave us a small prayer for a friend of mine. No matter what you believe in, this prayer meant something to all of us. The woman left and the music played on. As we listened, I couldn’t help but begin to tear up a little. It sometimes comes to my attention how close I am with the people I currently live with. Since the moment I met these people, I have lived with them. Since they were in my life, I have known nothing else but ship life and my Class Afloat family. It scares me to think that I have to leave them. My life will go back to “normal.” I am constantly stuck in the battle of wanting to be with my family again, but also not wanting to leave the ship. The time at this music festival really brought that out and also brought out my love for Barbados.

A group of floaties made their way to Bathsheba beach (because it’s not like we get enough water in our normal day lives). When we were at the beach, we could not swim because the water is only for pros who won’t get sucked into the ocean. We watched the surfers and took some pictures. It’s always nice to take a walk along the beach. I try to do that in most ports because I won’t have beaches / the ocean at my fingertips come the end of May.

Me and my friends Svea, Liz (and her mom), and Marina went to a place called Harrison’s Cave. It was a beautiful caving system with stalagmites and stalactites coming from the ground and ceiling respectfully. We rode a tram around the cave and got insight on the history of the cave and how Barbados retrieves their water from there. After we left the cave, we took a walk above ground where there were beautiful plants and a LOT of monkeys.

On one of the days, we went to the Barbados Wildlife Reserve where we saw monkeys, chickens, guinea hens, tortoises, deer, and other animals. I loved walking around amongst all the animals because it’s not often when I get to see that many types of animals (considering I live on the ocean).

An optional port program that most people attended was a dive/snorkel trip. I snorkeled with a HUGE sea turtle. I was above the turtle for a moment when all of a sudden, he starts to come up for air. I pushed myself back in the water just in time. The turtle’s shell almost grazed my stomach. It was SO close to me and I had never seen a turtle that close before; even when I was sitting next to a green turtle laying her eggs on the beach in Ascension Island.

Our port programming in Barbados was a plantation house/farm and a rum making facility. At the plantation house, we ventured around to see the different plants and animals they have. My favorite part was, of course, the animals! We started off with seeing pigs which we were allowed to pet. We also saw some of the 700 chickens that the farms has. I made it a goal to pick up a chicken and get a picture, which is exactly what I did. I picked up that chicken like a master and I choose to believe that the chicken loved me (even though he probably hated me… whoops).

The rum making facility was super cool. It’s the place where they make all the rum for Barbados and other parts of the world. Rum is a huge deal there so it was kind of a big deal to be there. In the house where the person lives (who owns the property) there was a cat, which I was immediately drawn to and did not leave his side until I had to. There were also parrots in a huge cage that said “hello” to us. Now that I think about it, there were SO many animals to see in Barbados, which is maybe why I loved it there so much. As a part of the port program, we could do a tasting of the rum. It was only a big deal for me that we did that because I had never had a drop of alcohol in my entire life. I’m such a mama’s girl, I had to facetime my mom and show her me drinking it because I was originally going to have my first drink with her in Lunenburg. Apparently, my face was priceless when I took the first sip. I couldn’t even finish the tiny amount of rum we got, which makes sense because, in the words of my sister Jessica, rum is a hell of a drink to start with. Fun fact! The house that switches owners when one passes away was once owned by Abraham Cumberbatch, which is one of Benedict Cumberbatch’s relatives! I am obsessed with BBC Sherlock, Smaug from The Hobbit, Kahn in Star Trek, and all of his other roles, so this was a big deal for me. Also, I’m sure my sister, Nikki, would appreciate this and maybe be a little jealous.

Something random, but very cool, that happened, was we saw a DISNEY CRUISE. It has been a dream of mine to go on a Disney Cruise (because Disney is my life) so even seeing one made me fangirl a little bit (okay… a lotta bit). There’s a picture of the Disney Cruise below.

If you have any questions about our experience in Barbados, feel free to ask me on my Facebook, Instagram (@musicmegan143), Twitter (@meganallstar98), or on here in the message box.

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog and I’m very sorry I have not been posting more often. Wifi was hard to come by for a long time and Barbados was full of stuff and I forgot (again) to post the blog about the long sail from Uruguay to Cape Town. That should be up now, so check it out if you haven’t!

P.S. I DROVE PAST RIHANNA’S HOUSE.

The Dominican Republic!

When we arrived in the Dominican Republic, I didn’t know what to expect. Leaving the ship for three nights to do homestays was much more needed than I originally thought. You never know how tired you truly are until you get to sleep all the way through the night until 8:30 in the morning in an actual bed. I was a part of the group that was staying in the mountain village known as Los Naranjitos. It was a beautiful place to stay and a lovely switch in scenery from our normal oceanic view.

However, before we left the ship, the CAF group took a hike to a huge waterfall to swim. It was a beautiful place to swim and definitely needed after a hike in the hot weather. We had a buffet at Parada De Manzana and stuffed ourselves with however much food our stomachs could handle.

There were 16 students and 2 faculty members staying in the village of Los Narnjitos and the rest of the students and faculty were staying in the town of Las Terrenas. On the first day in the mountains, we had to decide on the groups we’d be staying in and in which home. I was the first to know where I was staying because no other student wanted to stay where I did considering they would be alone aside from the teachers being one building over. Me, however, found only joy in being alone after living with my peers for the last 8 months. Out of about 240 days of living with each other, we got less than 15 not sleeping all in the same room. Therefore, I didn’t see anything wrong with staying completely alone. In fact, it was BLISS. No matter how much I love the family I have made here, I loved being alone.

On the first morning of our homestay experience, we started our volunteer service projects. 2 students volunteered at the school, helping with the preschool students’ activities and classes. A large group of students in the town painted murals at schools while a smaller group in the town painted houses. Lastly, the entire group of “mountain goats” (as we dubbed ourselves) painted houses of the elderly close by where we were staying.

There were 3 groups who each painted one house the first day. We could not paint in the morning due to rain. My group’s house on the first day was bright blue with a salmon accent. The woman who lived in the house was extremely grateful for what we did. When we were done, she was trying to say something, but had to put her head down on her walking stick because she was too emotional. On the verge of tears, she exclaimed, in Spanish, that God is here and that she has been praying for someone to come paint her house. She absolutely loved it, which made me happy. Whether people think simply painting one person’s house is a “good enough” service project, this woman’s reaction should answer that. Just making one woman happy made it worth it. On the second day, we painted a man’s house who was at work at the time. He knew his house was going to be painted, but I don’t think he knew what time it would get done. Imagine coming home from work and your house is lime green with a salmon accent. Both houses looked amazing and the houses the others painted in the mountains and in the town were all lovely. We could not finish all the houses we were supposed to get done because the rain was too intense. However, we did leave the paint in the community so anyone who is able to can paint the houses of the people who we did not get to. This community of people would not be able to afford the paint, so that is a good first step.

On the second full day of the homestays, after painting the green house that I mentioned, the mountain goats went to Las Terrenas to meet up with the student and faculty we haven’t seen in a while. And by “a while” I mean two days, but when you live with, go to school with, and work with the same people every day, two days is a lot to go without them. I can’t imagine how it will be when we all go back to our homes around the world. While in town, we had a pizza party (where most people got to eat a whole pizza, which was WONDERFUL). After we had our little party, we were able to go out in groups of four. The group I was with went to go get frozen yogurt at Bon Helados, a delicious ice cream / frozen yogurt / smoothie shop. After that we walked back to the hotel to relax for a bit before the mountain goats had to head back up to Los Naranjitos. On the last day, we went back to Las Terrenas early. I went to the hotel that some of the students were staying at and used my friend’s queen sized bed to take a nap, because I just had to take that opportunity. I went back to Bon Helados to get some ice cream before we loaded onto the bus to head back to Parada De Manzana. We had another buffet style lunch and got the chance to take part in a dance lesson. The style of dance is most popular in the DR. The man and woman who taught us were very talented and it reminded me of how much I miss dancing.

We headed back to the ship after this and I gladly took another nap on the bus. Land can be so tiring on this program. You always want to do everything you possibly can, which is A LOT.

I called my family one last time today until we get to Bermuda. We get to sail straight through the Bermuda Triangle so wish us luck! The weather is supposed to be rough. I hope we get a few relaxing days at least so we can recharge for more land. I’m excited to be back at sea though!

As I write this, we just departed from the Dominican Republic and we’ll be sailing for nine days.

We aren’t even back at sea though and I’m already getting injured (not too badly). I was just walking and I hit my head pretty hard on an open port hole (which are BRUTAL when you smash into them). I have a bump on my head the size of a small marble… Whoops.

❤ - Megan

#dominicanrepublic #classafloat

The Longest Sail EVER (Uruguay to Cape Town)

On January 13th, 2017, the Gulden Leeuw left for a grand adventure of our 34-day sail. The thought of starting this voyage scared me half to death because I am the biggest family’s girl you’ll ever meet. My family is full of my best friends and I didn’t want to leave them for a month. However, with the help of my newly found family on the ship, I learned that even a 34-day sail can be full of fun and adventure. Moving back on the ship was surprisingly very easy. I thought it would be a stressful process, but it took maybe an hour. Also, the boys and girls got to switch sides in the dorms, which means we get the better air conditioned side! I can use my blankets every night… I bet the boys can too because the South Atlantic is SO COLD, but still… It’s such a nice feeling. Also, last semester, my bed was one of the closest to the ceiling. When I raised my elbow, it would hit the ceiling, so there was NO WAY I’d possibly ever be able to sit up and most nights I’d hit my head on the ceiling. But no longer do I suffer with a tiny sleeping area. My bunk this semester is still a top bunk, but the ceiling is higher and I can actually move as I please. It’s heaven.

We met our new maritime crew the day we came back to the ship on the 10th of January. They’re a group of amazing people and so many of them are from the States. I haven’t been around so many Americans in a very long time. I very much enjoy being around people from all over the world (it’s probably the coolest thing about CAF), but it was cool to meet people who live closer to me than others.

Our watch groups were changed this semester and man do I love Watch 6. Svea, Elizabeth, Haylee, Brody, and Klaus are some of the best people to hang out with on watch at 4 to 6 in the morning.

On the 18th of January, I was writing in my journal saying “…we’re on our way to Tristan! I really hope we get…” And I just stopped writing because I then wrote, “AAAAND I totally lost my train of thought because there were a bunch of pilot whales SO close to the ship.” That’s the cool thing about Class Afloat. You’re excused from class when there are whales, dolphins, sharks, turtles, etc. It’s a crazy thing to think about and I can’t imagine what living on land is going to be like after experiencing this. Anyways, what I was going to say in my journal was I really hope we get to make it to Tristan Da Cuhna. (Spoiler alert… We made it to Tristan! But I’ll talk about that in a bit.)

On Jan. 21st, a bunch of us were watching High School Musical 2 and you better believe we sang our hearts out. I’ve never met a group of people who understand my love for HSM. Watching the second movie brought me back to when we were in UNEDCO in Spain and we watched the 1st movie in the building we had our classes in. It’s crazy to think that we had a month off the ship and now it’s been a month at sea (with a short stop in Tristan). Before watching HSM2, it’s Megan’s clumsy story of the day… I had just gotten out of galley and I was taking the massive container of rags to the laundry room to start cleaning them. I was walking and the second I stepped on the tile floor, which was super slippery that day, my right foot slipped right across my left leg and I tripped myself. I landed ONLY on my right knee with not only my own weight, but with this darn container of rags. It hurt SO bad, but I ignored it while watching HSM2 because that felt more important at the time. The next day I realized I couldn’t bend my leg… Whoops. I went (limped) to the Medical Officer, Chris, and he put me on the “less physical work board” because walking was a struggle for a solid 48 hours. It took longer than that for the swelling to go down, but I could walk like a semi-normal person after the 1st 2 days. For the time I was crippled, I was walking like a had a peg leg. It was kind of funny, but extremely painful.

The next day (the 22nd), there was an all hands call for a job on deck and, even though I was still injured, I just did an easy job. But… It happened to be Sunday Dinner that day and we were all dressed nice. My skirt was NOT happy in the strong wind outside. It takes skill to haul on a line and hold down your skirt at the same time, but the girls managed it really well so props to us.

On the 24th, we saw at least 4 sperm whales. They were beautiful (and insanely close to the ship). Seeing marine mammals never gets old. Later that day, there was an announcement over the loud speaker that simply said, “big whale on starboard side.” I had been having a rough couple of days in terms of mental health so it’s things like that that make me cheer up a bit. I hadn’t gotten out of bed that quickly in a whiiiile. Also, don’t worry family… I get a little down every now and then because I get impatient waiting to talk to you guys. I cheer up when crazy stuff happens, but sometimes you just want to call your family. The Southern Atlantic, however, does not have cell service. I also found out that morning that I got accepted as a Teacher’s Apprentice for the Anthropology 12 class. Everyone can apply to whatever they want to be on the ship as an apprentice and I knew being a teacher’s apprentice would be more my speed compared to something maritime related. I’m so proud of my work for Anthro!

JANUARY 27TH! My 19th birthday! I am now a 19-year-old and it happened on a ship in the middle of the Southern Atlantic Ocean. How cool is that?! Lindsey, I’m definitely not 8 anymore. In fact, I’m now DOUBLE that. I know, it’s crazy to think about. I got bucketed like what normally happens on peoples’ birthdays and oh my gosh it was cold. I have a video of it because I didn’t want to get bucketed with cold water and not be able to make fun of myself later on.

Time to talk about TRISTAN. Some sailor’s only dream of making it to Tristan because sometimes the wind/weather doesn’t let you anchor outside of their small, isolated home. But we made it! With a lot of hard work, we got to anchor outside of Tristan on the 29th of January, which was earlier than expected, but that’s the window of good weather we had and this crew made it happen. I went aloft (to just below the lower topsail) with John, Kyle, and Liz. I was a little scared, but the waters were calm and we were anchored so I felt confident enough to make it up there. The view of Tristan was breathtaking. We actually went onto Tristan on the 30th and I saw a ROCKHOPPER PENGUIN the second I stepped onto the island. I was in love. I sent some post cards to my family that I hope make it there soon. We visited the school that very few kids attend (considering there’s only about 280 people on the whole island). We got the chance to play ACTUAL BASKETBALL with a few of the kids and I didn’t realize how much I missed throwing things and running around, two things that are prohibited on the ship. We got the chance to climb the volcano that erupted in 1961 and I got some BEAUTIFUL pictures. We only had one afternoon on Tristan so it was over way too quickly, sadly. We made our way back to the ship on the dinghy and set sail the next day on the 31st.

In the beginning of February, I began to prepare my lesson for the Anthropology lesson I would be teaching regarding Sex and Gender. Being the teacher’s apprentice for Anthropology has been a blast and when the time came to teach my 55-minute lesson, I felt 100% prepared. It went extremely well because not only did I work hard on the presentation, but sex and gender is a topic I know a lot about (self-taught because little Megan and current Megan are constantly curious about how that stuff works). Everyone told me that I did a good job and they feel like they learned a lot about sexual orientations, romantic orientations, and gender versus sex.

On board, mostly throughout this long sail, a game known as Jungle Speed has been spreading like wildfire. It’s a hit amongst individuals on the ship who have to get some pent-up energy out. It’s a game that involves a lot of yelling. We’ve actually drawn blood playing this game because it’s so intense when you have to be the first to grab something. It’s harder to explain through text, but consider playing it one day. I’m for sure going to force it upon my family.

In mid-February, we had a handover day, which means the students take over the ship while the maritime crew gets the day off. They keep an eye on us just in case, but I think we were pretty successful that day and the other handovers that have happened throughout the year. Every handover day (at the time I’m writing this, we’ve only had two, but another one is coming up), we fly the huge pirate flag that we have onboard. It’s the small things that make things like this fun. Even though I wasn’t acting as a maritime crew member, because I was a teacher’s apprentice, it was still fun for me to watch my friends be captain, 1st and 2nd officer, engineer, ABs, and bosun. You get a really strong proud feeling when your student crew can take over the ship for a full 24 hours.

On February 13th, we anchored outside of Cape Town and all anyone could think of was “FINALLY!” This was a parent port so many of us had been anticipating seeing our families. I had not seen my sisters since I left in September. We had to anchor until the 16th and I was growing impatient having to wait for 3 days to see my best friends. My siblings are my best friends so seeing my sisters was a big deal. I cannot thank Chris enough for bringing them with him to Cape Town because, not only did I get to see them, they got to experience something outside of our normal life in the United States. Travelling is something I believe everyone should do and I am so glad my sisters got to go to Cape Town, one of my favorite ports.

I enjoyed our long sail, but we sometimes tend to go a little crazy waiting for land to appear on the horizon. One of the most interesting things I’ve learned is that you can smell land when you approach it after so many days at sea.

Thank you for reading this VERY LATE (sorry about that) and very long post. I’ve been putting off typing about this passage for quite some time because of the length I knew it would be, but here it is!

<3 - Megan

Cape Town, SA

We arrived in Cape Town after the longest sail of the year (I will post more about that during the next port or after we visit the islands because it’s a lot and I didn’t get to finish writing it) and I was reunited with my two sisters after about 5 months! It’s been so nice seeing them and Chris. We have explored around the V&A Waterfront, went on the Cape Wheel (which I was calling the fake London eye), played on a playground, went to a craft shed, went to an aquarium, walked around the botanical garden, swam in a pool, went to a football (soccer) game at the Cape Town Stadium where they hosted the FIFA World Cup once I believe in 2010, hiked around the Cape of Good Hope, and went on a safari! All along the way this week we saw a lot of interesting animals. You can see some pictures of all of this on my Instagram: musicmegan143. My phone won’t post photos and I don’t have my laptop, sorry about that! It’s been a blast hanging out with my sisters and Chris. I can’t believe I only have about 3 months to go. Where did the time go?!

#Africa #Cape Town #South Africa

Voyage to Cape Town, South Africa

We start our voyage to Cape Town today! This will be our second Atlantic crossing and will take about 34 days. I'll be off the grid for a month so don't worry that I won't be updating anything during that time.

My birthday is going to be the craziest one I've ever had. I'll be turning 19 in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. That is probably what will keep me motivated to make it through this long of a sail. Also, I get to see my sisters in Cape Town, which will make the anticipation of sailing towards Africa that much more intense. I'm going to miss being able to talk to everyone.

Expect to hear some crazy stories in 34 days.

<3 - Megan

#cape town #south africa #sailing

Semester Break in Uruguay

This mid-semester break was jam packed full of stuff to do. I visited 3 countries in 8 days; Uruguay, Argentina, and Chile! I arrived in Montevideo on the ship and, when we were released from the program, I spent one night there and then traveled to Buenos Aires by ferry. In Buenos Aires, one of my bucket list items was fulfilled. I saw a Tango performance in the place where Tango was literally born. It was a dream come true. We also went to an art gallery where I saw a Vincent Van Gogh art piece! Also a check off my bucket list! In Chile I've been exploring the Andes Mountains and Santiago. I sadly caught a cold though and today I've been laying in bed trying to get better before second semester. I fly back to Montevideo tomorrow and get back on the ship. I'm so exited!

UPDATE! It is now a few days later from when I wrote the paragraph above and I spent my first night back on the ship last night. I am so happy to be back in my home. Good news! My new bunk is the best. I can SIT UP in it, which only a few people have the pleasure of doing. Last semester, if I lifted my elbow all the way up while laying down, my elbow would hit the ceiling (because I was at one of the lowest points in the dorm -- outboard in the middle of the row).

Being back at the ship came at a good time. I needed a break from CAF, but now I’m ready to start the second semester and the first 34 day sail. My 19th birthday (on January 27th) is happening on this passage so, despite it being long, I have a few things to look forward to. :D

<3 - Megan

Hello all! This post is going to be dedicated to the last sail we had before arriving in Uruguay. This sail was a particularly hard one in terms of home sickness. Leading up to Christmas, it just didn't feel right that I wasn't with my family back home. However, there were several things that kept my spirits high. First, it's hard to be upset when you get a job that requires you to hang off the side of the ship while sailing. I put a harness on and hopped right over the side (standing on a board that we tied there) and oiled the side of the ship. When you live on a ship, you realize just how much maintenance it requires every single day. You rust bust, oil, paint, scrape at things that you didn't know needed to be scraped at, etc every single day. Another thing that kept me going was decorating the ship for Christmas! It really made it feel more cozy during Christmas time with all of the lights and other decorations up. I was convinced that we weren't decorating the ship, which made me a little upset, but the shipboard director told me one day (after I was explaining to him that I was sad there was no decorations or tree) that there were all of those things in the bench I was sitting on in that moment. That night for about an hour and a half until about half past midnight, I and a few other students decorated the ship! We also had another Coffee House (talent show) and, personally, my favorite act was the rap written by 4 amazingly talented people on the ship. Listening to their rap was the best part of Coffee House because it showed me just how talented people are on the ship and it makes me proud to say that I'm a part of this crew. Also, at Coffee House, I built up the courage to read the poem "To This Day" by Shane Koyczan and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Now for the ultimate part of the last sail... CHRISTMAS!! The morning of Christmas actually felt like Christmas, which came as a huge surprise to me. I had night watch from 4 to 6 in the morning on Christmas and it was actually so fun. We watched the sunrise on a Christmas Day in the middle of the ocean. I can never forget that. After watch, we went back down to the student mess where we saw a half eaten cookie and an almost-empty cup of milk. There was a message that said, "for Santa" with an arrow pointing at the food. And below the food the note said, "thanks guys! Yo ho ho!" So clearly Santa had been there... I went back to sleep until everyone woke up. We had milk and cookies for breakfast (which was delicious) and we opened our Secret Santa presents around the foremast. Santa had been on the ship all day (it definitely wasn't Mark in a Santa outfit that we conveniently had on the ship). We all sat on his lap and look some pictures (except the 1st officer Sophie who made Santa sit in her lap... XD). My present was the cutest elephant stuffed animal ever from my friend Lily. I guessed it was her on my first guess because the note said "DOPE" and I read it in the voice she always says that word in. That just goes to show how well we know each other. We were like one big, weird family on Christmas, which made me feel so much more at ease with not being home for the first time on Christmas. I want to thank all of my shipmates for a wonderful first semester. I can't believe it's over and second semester is about to start. This next 5 months is going to be so fantastic and adventure-filled and I can't wait to start it tomorrow! <3 - Megan

Goodmorning everyone! (Or afternoon/evening depending on what part of the world you’re in). All of the Floaties have made their way to different parts of the world for semester break. Exams are over and it’s time to relax for a little bit with a full nights sleep (with no night watch), breakfast that a galley team did not have to help with, and other luxurious things that didn’t seem so luxurious before Class Afloat. I definitely will not take the simple things for granted anymore after this.

I’m currently sitting in the hotel lobby in Montevideo, Uruguay. The feeling of sleeping in a hotel room by myself and not in the dorms with 34 other students was one of the weirdest feelings in these past 4 months. I already miss my crew, but these 8 days are going to be full of fun and relaxation.

On the 1st and the 2nd, people were beginning to leave. Some just going home for 8 days and some moving back home and not returning to the program. Saying goodbye to the people who I knew weren’t coming back was very emotional and I’m going to miss them with all of my heart. Even saying goodbye to the people I would see in 8 days was tough. Since the day I met these lovely people, I have not gone a single day without seeing them and now I’m not in the same country as most of them.

The plan for these next 8 days is to leave our hotel here in Montevideo, which I checked into yesterday morning, take a ferry ride over to Buenos Aires in Argentina and stay there until Friday. On Friday, we will take a plane ride to Santiago, Chile to see the PACIFIC Ocean, which will be a big change from always living on the Atlantic.

I will update another post here on all of the details of this past 3-week-long passage. It was an emotional rollercoaster ride to say the least.

-Megan <3

#uruguay #montevideo #chile #santiago #buenos aires #argentina #boat #ship #sailing #maritime

This is my last full day in Natal! I submitted all of my assignments for college aside from one astronomy assignment that is due in Uruguay so my stress levels are down by 110%. I made fun of a male bathroom sign, video chatted my family with funny filters, and explored the City of Dunes on a dune buggy. It’s been an awesome time in Natal and Fernando, but now it is time to head off to sea again tomorrow. During this sail, I will be taking my final exams for the semester so wish me luck! After that, we reach Montevideo, Uruguay and we have a fresh start with the second semester. I can’t believe my year on Class Afloat is almost half way over. It breaks my heart a little, but it also means that time is flying because I’m having a blast.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout this journey. <3 I’ll update more in Uruguay!

One more funny little story for today.

There is a picture of a random sloth hanging on the pantry door at my home in New York (long story), but my sister Nikki thought it would be funny to send me a copy of it so I hung it right above my face over my bunk. The ceiling is VERY close to my face so it’s the funniest thing when you wake up to THAT.

Thanks, Nikki, for the sloth!

DUNE BUGGIES!

It’s December 8th, 2016 and we went dune buggying today across a part of Natal that’s covered in low and VERY high dunes. We were ripping through the sand dunes at an insane speed and at one point we went down an almost 90 degree angle keeping in mind you sit on the back of the dune buggy with no seat belts. It felt dangerous in the most fun way. We would also drift up big hills and fall back down them. I told my friend that there was no way I would be afraid of any roller coaster because I’ll think about this experience, which was like a roller coaster except you weren’t strapped in.

We made a couple of stops on the way through the trek. The first stop was a little beach with a zip line. Of course I zip lined, which I got a pretty cool Go Pro video of (I’ll post that sometime hopefully). After zip lines, we all were swimming and doing chicken fights in the water (I only won one because I thought it would be a good idea to challenge larger people than myself).

The second stop was the funniest stop of all. It was home to a HUGE water slide down a large sand dune and I figured it would be fun to go down it. You go down on a boogie board so I held on for dear life and screamed by way down. You’re SUPPOSED to glide across the water until you slow down, but that’s not exactly how it worked for me. I made it to the bottom and completely ATE IT. I slammed into the water and flopped all about until my body finally decided to stop. It didn’t hurt at all so I was laughing and stood up in the water. A few moments after, my friends decided to say “your bra!” and I looked down and it was completely up. I had somehow not realized that my chest was exposed to some of my girl and guy friends. I found it way too funny to be embarrassed so I’m actually not embarrassed whatsoever. If you can just imagine me face planting into the water, you’d think it was too funny, too. I’m pretty sure my friends were more embarrassed for me. I went up to the group afterwards and literally just said, “sorry I showed you my boobs” and everything was normal. We all live together so it was bound to happen at some point. XD

The third stop was a beautiful beach with hammocks hanging over the water (there’s a picture of it). I was relaxing in the sun in one of the hammocks and, despite reapplying my sunscreen at every stop, I got a pretty bad sunburn almost everywhere. I’m gonna have some pretty weird tanlines I bet.

The other stops were mostly relaxation spots or picture-taking spots. This port programming was SO fun.

FERNANDO DE NORONHA! This port was by far the most beautiful one yet. I have never seen a more beautiful place in my life. I went snorkeling (hopefully more of those pictures and videos will find their way to my blog) and swam with a small shark, some turtles, stingrays, fish, etc. I'm definitely going to miss this paradise.

November

November 1st, 2016:

The 1st was our first full day back at sea in a month! Despite the slight sea sickness, I’m happy to back on the waters. We are on our way to the Canary Islands, the first parent port of the trip! I’m so excited to see Chris because I want to show him just how much I’ve learned and what I’ve been doing for these past 2-ish months. I asked my mom if she could send me some snacks from home, a razor because mine broke, and some pictures of pets/family so that’s exciting that I’m gonna get all of that soon. My snack bag is a disgrace with literally NOTHING in it. (Advice to future Floaties: BUY A LOT OF SNACKS.)

Also, it was girls’ shower day today and I was casually taking a shower with another person right next to me at the other shower head as one does and the boat swayed a little more than I wanted it to and I FELL INTO my friend. The things that happen on Class Afloat are pretty funny, but not something you think about unless you’re on the ship and it happens to you. I kid you not… my awkward self literally said, “oh no, we almost just did the frick frack.” Me and Haylee DIED of laughter.

Dinner today was CHICKEN WINGS with this delicious sauce. It made me very happy and you better believe I got seconds.

Yesterday at like 1900h AKA 7pm, while I was on the bridge deck (the top deck) a bird nosedived into the deck and couldn’t fly away because there wasn’t enough space. It was SO CUTE so I kinda wanted to keep it as a ship bird, but I sadly picked it up, brought it back to the stern deck and set it on the table where it would have enough room to fly away, which it did. I felt proud… I saved that bird’s life.

November 6th, 2016:

Tomorrow is departure day from the Canary Islands. It was so nice seeing Chris and having the opportunity to show him how I’ve been doing. Also, everyone’s parents are so wonderful. I loved meeting all of them. My friend Sarah’s mom brought a lot of hair dye with her and a few of us had a hair party. I dyed my hair “Purple Rage” and, I must say, I really like it.

On the 4th of November, Chris brought my friend Bella and I to a symphony orchestra in this gorgeous opera house. The music was amazing and, when I got back to the ship, I was inspired to get some London Philharmonic Orchestra music that I now listen to to go to sleep.

Also, my snack bag is SO FULL NOW. It was so exciting to actually have snacks, especially the ones that I love from home. Thank you so much to my sister Nikki and my mom for organizing the little care package I got. The razor works very well and the pictures are all hung up on the wall space I have. A lot of people told me that the dorms would be terrible when I came to Class Afloat, but I’ve learned to love them and make a home out of the small space that I have. I’ve got the pictures, I cozy blanket, a panda pillow, a sleeping bag, and some stuffed animals that make my bed very comfortable to sleep in.

For our last full day, Chris, David Jones - the president of Class Afloat (which is funny because that’s my step dad’s name), and I all took an hour and a half drive up to the “barely dormant” volcano. It was a beautiful (and very cold) spot to have some dinner as we sat at the base of a volcano. It was cool to get to know David because he doesn’t sail with us so I’m grateful that he came along for our little journey.

November 10th, 2016:

On the 9th of November, a fellow American came up to me to let me know that Donald Trump had won the presidency. I’m extremely disappointed in the United States and all day yesterday I was in a very frustrated mood. Almost all the Americans on the ship didn’t talk about it unless someone else asked. It’s not a very light subject… I actually cried a bit from pure frustration and had to take a nap for about 2 hours. The night before on night watch, Philip (the first mate) called a ship that was close by to see if they could google what was currently going on in the election. The ship got back to up about 10 minutes later with news that Donald Trump was in the lead, but no one had officially won yet. I had hope that Hillary would trump Trump (get it?), but sadly she did not. I’m a little upset that I’m almost completely out of the loop because anything could be happening right now in the U.S. But at the same time, it’s nice being isolated from the country that is now being run by the likes of Trump.

I won’t write anymore about my political opinion because there are much more happy things going on as I’m travelling the world!

Advice to future Floaties: It’s okay to get frustrated, sad, or mad sometimes because it’s healthy to let out emotions. However, don’t let these frustrations get the better of you. You’re frustrated now, but remember that you’re on a ship travelling the world with your new family and I promise everything will be okay.

One last thing… Rest in Peace to the bird that our engineer, Angelou, through off the ship. It had a broken leg, but I guess he didn’t appreciate it’s existence on our stern deck. Apparently it flew for a second then nosedived harshly into the water.

November 11th, 2016:

Today we had a Remembrance Day ceremony to commemorate anyone who has fought in a war. With all the different nationalities on board, it was comforting to know that we were all coming together in peace to think about what exactly happened in World War I. Mark (a member of the Maritime Crew) played guitar and sang a song called “I Was Only Nineteen.” Me and one of my best friends Leah accompanied him with part of the singing. When I started the choir, this is what I had hoped for. It was nice to sing in front of people especially about this serious topic of war. I’m glad I got to be a part of the ceremony. At the end, we all got to write something on a paper shaped like a poppy flower and send it off into the sea as a way to finalize our words. I don’t know if you’re not supposed to say what you wrote, but I’m going to say it anyways. I wrote “I appreciate you, Papa. You inspire me.” I wrote this because every time I call my Papa, he tells me stories about the time he was on a ship, but during a time of war. I love hearing these stories and the excitement in his voice as he tells them. I can tell he’s excited for me to be on a ship and I love the support he gives me. I even got a post card from the Gulden Leeuw to send to him. I can’t wait until he gets it.

November 12th, 2016:

Today I had to wake up at 06:15 for galley (helping in the kitchen – the kitchen is called the galley on a ship). Waking up early is never fun, but galley so far hasn’t been too bad. It’s not the most fun thing on the ship, but with some good music, your galley team can make it as fun as possible. Because of galley, though, I don’t have day watch, which makes me have 4 hours of free time right now until I have to go back down to galley for dinner. Usually when you’re on galley, you miss a decent amount of your classes, which is your responsibility to make up in the future.

November 14th, 2016:

We got to Senegal a bit early so we anchored outside of Dakar. We are docked now and have already cleared customs. For a few reasons, we had to have copies of two pages out of our passports and, yesterday because I was on watch, I spent about 2 ½ HOURS scanning everyone’s passports (2 pages each). That’s about 50 passports. It was fun once I got into the swing of things, but trying to figure out the best approach to such a task was pretty difficult.

WE HAD A SWIM CALL TODAY.

In hot weather like this, it always feels like absolute paradise getting in the ocean. I have yet to jump off the bow sprit because that kind of scares me. I have about 6 ½ more months to bring up the courage to jump off the ship rather than climbing down the ladder into the water. Usually I get really tired quickly from swimming because of my knee that I broke, but this time I didn’t get too tired to the point where I had to go back on the ship, so I think that means I’m building up strength. It’s kind of hard not to do that though when you live on this ship.

It’s so strange being so out of the loop. A friend of mine who is also American got the chance to call her mom and ask what’s going on in the U.S. in terms of Donald Trump. Sadly, he is still our president, but I guess Hilary won the popular vote and there are riots all over the country I guess. I definitely expected that, but it’s a little frustrating that I’m still out of the loop and I can’t get information about what is going on. Maybe it’s a good thing though… I get to be isolated from all the chaos.

November 16th, 2016:

Today, we danced with little kids in Senegal to some amazing drum music performed by some talented Senegalese men. Dancing with the kids was SO fun. The kids loved every second of it maybe more than we did. They fought a bit over who got to hold our hands when we danced and who got to be picked up. There was a line a kids who simply wanted to be picked up, lightly thrown in the air, and put down again. It was a blast for them, which made me feel wonderful about doing an activity like that. Because it did not only make their day, but it made mine as well.

November 21st, 2016: It has been one of the hottest days I have ever experienced and right before I was about to start a class, they called a SWIM CALL. The ship erupted in shouts of happiness and everyone charged down to the dorms to change into our swim suits. The water is really calm so stopping the ship in the middle of the ocean was pretty easy, but usually that wouldn’t happen. There’s this insane feeling you get when you swim in the ocean with no land to be seen all around you.

November 22nd, 2016:

It’s still hot as all h-e-double hockey sticks outside. But the maritime crew know how to make everyone’s day because they came over the loud speaker and announced that between 1200 and 1245h, they would be spraying people with the (very strong) fire hose. This water comes straight from the ocean and drains right back into the ocean, so there’s no waste of water AND we all didn’t have to take fresh water showers that day. All in all, it was a good thing for everybody. It was so refreshing to get literally BLASTED with some water because everyone is slowly losing energy from the heat.

November 24th, 2016:

IT’S THANKSGIVING! There are only 7 Americans on board so it was strange to say the least how today felt like a normal day. It’s a weird thing to get used to when people are constantly saying “American Thanksgiving” and not just “Thanksgiving.”

I am highly thankful for being able to experience this opportunity. Without Chris Trow, the support of my family, and the acceptance of my crew mates, this would not be possible. I am so happy here and I cannot put into words how grateful I am for each and every day I live this kind of experience.

Tonight, the Americans and whoever else wanted to join, watched Remember the Titans because actual football was unavailable to us. It was such a good movie and I’m glad we got together to watch it.

Also, after the movie, I noticed that I could see VENUS in the sky. Never in Schenectady, NY would I be able to spot Venus.

November 25th, 2016:

It RAINED today for a good long while. This is the first real rain we’ve seen during this whole trip. Everyone was outside soaking in the cold rain to get a break from the heat. It was HEAVENLY.

November 27th, 2016:

At 23:07’ 09” exactly, WE CROSSED THE EQUATOR. I am now in the Southern Hemisphere of the world! Our coordinates were 0⁰ 00.000’ 25⁰ 24.397’ W. Tomorrow we are not going to have classes so we can go through the ceremony of becoming a Shellback (someone who has crossed the equator via a sailing vessel) rather than a Polywog (someone who has NOT crossed the equator via a sailing vessel).

BRAZIL, HERE I COME!

November 28th, 2016:

I cannot say much about the equator crossing ceremony because it is a sailor secret, but I am now a SHELLBACK! One thing I can tell you is my sailor nickname for crossing the equator. This is something ALL sailors do, not just Class Afloat. My nickname is UNICORN FISH. It suits me so well.

Mail!

Hello from the Canary Islands! In over a month when I reach Natal, Brazil, I can receive mail from whoever sends it to the address below. I would LOVE to receive some mail if anyone finds time to write me a letter. Wilson, Sons Agencia Maritima Ltda Ref: STS Gulden Leeuw Megan Griesemer Rua Frei Miguelinho, 48- Riberia Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil

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