We made it! We are in Lisbon! After our longest leg at sea we arrived early Tuesday morning. We were all buzzing with excitement at the sight of land; eager to finally see what we’ve been reading about in Cramer’s copy of LonelyPlanet: Portugal.

Hello from the Sailing School Vessel Corwith Cramer and the ship’s company of trip C-263. All is well aboard and the student crew had a great day learning the ropes, taking part in safety drills and getting acquainted with their new home.

C-263 students joined the ship today at 1400. We are currently wrapping upthe first round of safety orientations. The staff will take the dock watch tonight, so that students can have a final full night of sleep before we get underway tomorrow afternoon.

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.

Hello! This morning we set sail for Spain. We left Lisbon today at around 0900 and we’ve been making great progress all day long. We sailed down the River Tejo and under the April 25 Bridge, which closely resembles the Golden Gate Bridge. It was an amazing sight to see in the early morning light. We had a pilot help navigate us to the mouth of the river and then watched as a small boat pulled up alongside us, and with the grace and skill that only can come with years of practice, the pilot simply walked off the Cramer and onto the small boat while both ships were moving along at a steady pace.

Within a couple of weeks of her mother’s passing, Emily Dickinson concludes a letter to her cousins-Louise and Frances Norcross-with an admissive manner: “I cannot tell how eternity seems. It sweeps around me like a sea.” I remember concluding my admission essay for SEA with the same quote. To me, as it was then, the sea is one way of understanding eternity-its sweeping motion and endlessness, the expansive quality of which renders the heart an abundance from a sense of perspective of its insignificance.