Sailing

We are about halfway through our sail from Pointe Noire, Congo to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria. Let me tell you, it is one of the weirdest and disconcerting things I’ve ever done. Nothing has changed in our cabin--except that everything is off the shelves and glass items are packed away carefully so it looks like we’re in the middle of moving. My office is still 30 seconds away and there is still work to do but my route to get there is a little comical; everybody I meet is ricocheting off the walls and walking down stairs is a little bit dangerous if you’re not careful! Inside this big metal box that we’ve come to call home is exactly the same but outside there is absolutely zero to see except deep, blue sea. It’s truly beautiful and also scary; you realize just how big this wide world is and how much of it is purely under God’s will--namely, all of it. 

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before but the  Africa Mercy used to be the Dronning Ingrid, which means “Queen Ingrid” in Danish. It is one of a set of triplet ships that ferried passenger trains across channels in Denmark. Because it wasn’t built primarily for the open seas, its bottom is flat, as a that makes it much more stable wehn docked, which was the majority of the time in its former and present lives. That’s not to say that it won’t do fine in the open seas, it just makes for a bit rougher of a ride than a v-shaped hull would make. A flat-bottomed boat rides on top of the waves where as a v-shaped boat rides through the waves. Jordan says to just picture a shoebox floating on on waves and you’ve pretty much got an idea of what it does. Every wave around us has an impact. 

[FYI, I got all that from Jordan and the next best thing: Wikipedia. *gasp*] 

Needless to say, I have been dreading the sail. I can’t even swing on swing set without feeling a little queasy so I figured I would be in trouble once we got out of the harbor and I was right. :( I spent the first 5 days of the sail in bed and on Thursday I finally got an injection that took away the nausea and that combined with several other medicines has gotten me back to normal. Now I’m not minding the sail too much but I will be very grateful to see some land.

Jordan has been loving the sail as it’s given him the chance to do some new things. Just before we left, a huge storm came in and sent some pretty massive waves crashing along the coast--so badly that even in the harbor the water got really rough and several of our mooring lines snapped. The entire deck department was out on the mooring decks all Friday afternoon and it was pretty stressful for them but thankfully it all got under control. 

It’s weird to have everything around you stay the same but look outside the window and it’s different. Since we’re sailing north, the weather is changing too--below the equator, where we were, the rainy season was pretty much over. Now we’re above the equator and we’re getting a lot of rainy/cloudy days. It’s also staying light longer into the evenings. 

Anyways, that’s about it but I thought I would post some pictures. :)

See the tail lights poking out from that container? All of the cars got loaded up to deck 8 for the sail. 

Last but not least: the gangway was loaded up (that's Jordan in the blue).

Every port has pilots that guides each ship in and out of the harbor. When it's time
for them to leave, they hop from one boat to the other!

Goodbye to our dock space--look at that lovely water!

The bow is only open during the sail but it gets plenty of use when it is!


This sail introduced me to flying fish--so cool! They've got little wings
and will pop out to fly for a few seconds before they go under the water again.


Today we finally saw dolphins--just a few and not for very long but it was
long enough for me to see why they are a favorite animal for many people. They were beautiful!!

And the water is that blue all the time too--breathtaking.