Just a few short hours ago, we arrived with all hands on deck into Las Palmas, and with the securing of the Corwith Cramer’s dock lines to the pier we mark the end of our six-week journey that began on mainland Spain and continued on to two additional Spanish ports, a Portuguese sugar island, and finally back into Spanish territory again in the Canary Islands.

Today was bittersweet as Class C-262 experienced our full last day underway on the Cramer. The day began like every other, meaning we all awoke at different times –some of us for watch, others after mid-watch which ended at 0300—and with varying levels of tiredness. We did what work remains with impending (or passed, whoops) due dates and we ate our last week-in-review lunch featuring leftovers from this weeks meals.

Throughout this journey my brain has been a constant filter of questions I am continually asking myself. “Why am I doing this?” “How am I going to figure this out?” “How am I going to react to this?” “Where in the world is the forestays’l jigger?” Most of them remain answer-less (don’t worry, I’ve figured that last one out), but I have still managed to gain an immeasurable amount of self awareness by consistently asking myself these types of questions.

Perusing past blog posts for inspiration, I realized how little attention gets paid to the daily routine of the ship. And yet it takes over much of our life: even beyond the determination of when we sleep and eat, it’s relatively easy to predict what you might be doing at any given time. On the watches, one of the JWO’s main tasks is ensuring the steady rotation of people between the constant jobs. Someone’s always steering and someone’s always keeping a visual lookout.

I want to start out this blog with an apology to my mom. Sorry Mom, I haven’t made it into any of the blog pictures and today’s is no exception. We’ll be in the Canaries soon though, so I will send you some pictures then, and I will even call you on the phone!*

Happy Halloween from the Cramer! Today is our belated celebration of Halloween on the ship as we head for the Canary Islands from Madeira. We’ve spent the last few days in Madeira and have had a wonderful time there, and now we head for the Canaries. We spent some of our time in Madeira touring the island, visiting some of the inner mountain ranges and then heading for several cities on the Northwestern side of the island.

Our last full day in Madeira and the commencement of our final full week of the program was an adventure to say the least. After waking up to a surprisingly crisp morning and fueling up with eggs, biscuits, gravy and a vigourous set of chores, we all set off with our Maritime Studies professor by city bus to the town of Caniçal.  The city bus was an interesting and informative change of pace from our usual private bus tours.

Being in Portuguese lands after so many days at sea brings a lot of sensations that are really hard to put into words. I am truly happy to finally be in a place where I can listen to the Portuguese language on the streets of this magnificent island full of wonderful things to offer. As I already said on the previous post, a rich journey like this brings with it an enormous personal growth in which we learn how to appreciate the most insignificant and minor things that life has to offer.

After a little over a week of sailing away from mainland Spain and out into the open Atlantic, we’ve arrived at the town of Funchal, in Madeira! We encountered some big swells sent our way by a large storm a thousand miles north near Scotland, and while they tended to make daily life a little more difficult than normal, this rollercoaster of a ride also added fun and amusement at times, too.

At home, I rarely wake up before nine if I can help it, but at sea the sun and I rise together. This morning begins with an especially delicious sunrise. Melted butter spilling out over the silhouette of the Madieran archipelago. As the sun makes its careful progress upwards, the early morning light is reflected back at us from Madiera’s windowed houses, dotting the hillside with beacons of gold. Land at long last.