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It has been quite the day.... It all began at what is fondly referred to as "o-dark-thirty" - when we got our wake up call for breakfast...
A few sleepy heads acknowledging Thanksgiving - and the beginning of a day we all hoped would include our final departure from Lanzarote. It had taken us awhile to get to this day - as for the last three days we had met each dark morning wondering if we would be able to leave that day.
After our arrival Saturday - we had a lovely Sunday visiting the volcano National Park and treating the entire ship's company to a dinner out at a local restaurant. That day the weather was wonderful. And then the next day Monday, we had a million projects to accomplish - students working on assignments, shopping for the next three to six weeks of food and provisions, getting the equipment to dive on the ship's propellers and many other important projects needed to ready the ship for her next adventure and commitment to Africa. As the chef watched me, the captain, get locked into the local Correio - or Post Office with Western Union depot - at 2:30 pm we wondered if we would get all the errands done in time to leave the next day... But as Tuesday dawned, a shadow of clouds had swept in through the night and the wind had shifted and increased from a helpful 3-4 NNW'ly to a rather unhelpful 4-5 SW'ly - making it virtually impossible for Amistad to maneuver out of the marina slip we were in and certainly not making a southerly passage possible even if we had been able to leave... So thus began our "making it up as you go along." Tuesday and Wednesday included several good classes with students and staff collaboratively presenting the books they have been reading on Sierra Leone, the Middle Passage and even the "Seige of Lisbon." We also had several celestial sessions and a great afternoon watching "Tutu and Franklin" a PBS special on a group of young people from the US, South Africa, and Senegal visiting Senegal and Goree island together with the two elders Desmond Tutu and John Hope Franklin. And finally yesterday - as the winds still kept us locked in Marina Rubicon - we even had a beach trip to use up some of the built up energy everyone had stored up - before finally leaving for our next long haul - 1800 miles to Sierra Leone.
So this morning broke with the question - will the wind have shifted? Will we able to go today?
With each passing day our thoughts of visiting Senegal first or even the Cape Verde Islands have faded... but only to make Sierra Leone loom so much larger and more imminently in our imaginations.
Late last night we were all woken by the sudden and somewhat novel sound of rain - pouring down on deck. And as several wonderful crew members scurried around on deck closing all the hatches, I was able to roll over in a warm dry bunk and know that today, thanksgiving would be our day of leaving...
I had not taken one thing into consideration - the Canaries are not particularly adept at handling rain.... As we completed morning wash down and put the last lashings on things, the yacht beside us slipped out of her slip and headed for the fuel dock, and we stood by to follow in her footsteps as soon as she vacated the fuel dock. Then we got word. The electricity was out.... meaning the fuel pumps were not operating, nor the credit card machines to pay our bills, not the water pumps needed to fill up with water... in essence the whole place had been shut down and we only had a few more hours before we would have lost the height of tide we needed to get out of the marina.... So here we are with pies to bake, turkey to stuff, a day of thanksgiving and great food we are ready to indulge in... and the marina is holding us back, we have run out of water to wash dishes, and we have less than half our needed fuel supply for the next leg of the journey. (not to mention the leaking raw water intake the engineer had discovered on warming up the engines!) It was an interesting conundrum and one I almost got on the phone to the head office and the ship's committee to ask: "What do we do now?" When word came that the electricity had come on long enough to fuel the yacht, but that it was being turned off again and we would have to wait another half hour (read hour or more). I was determined.... the wind had finally shifted the sky was perfectly clear and our crew was getting itchy....
When we got the call that we could proceed to the fuel dock (11:30) things went smoothly with credit card machines and two fuel lines filling, and filling out the last of the paperwork... we left at the end of the high tide just before 1 pm.... A bit later than we had hoped but happy to feel the lumpy sea and set a topsail once again - as platefuls of cheese and fruit and crackers and treats of all kinds filled the cabin top. We met several wonderful people in Lanzarote - two in particular Cecilia and Anders from the marina bent over backwards for us and helped us in everyway.
I think several among us felt the lumpiness of the sea and wished thanksgiving could have fallen while we were still tied to the dock - but everyone has rallied - continuing to help prepare food and clean up and join in the spirit of our time together today. Lessandra made lasagna, and Dominic helped make mashed potatos( some with garlic, some more plain), Barry and I tried our hands at pies, and Haley worked valiantly through the afternoon chopping up veggies for stuffing.... Although a bit later than we had hoped, we can blame our late start at least in part, we all gathered together for a fabulous dinner just after sunset... Only to come back on deck to a perfectly full moon and dolphins dancing our wake just off the side of the ship.
Just to add to the variety of our day - we finally managed to make contact with Darcy Rhyno, a journalist from Nova Scotia, who has been persistent as can be in tracking Haley down for an interview... He did a most thorough set of interviews with both Haley and I, as we bobbed along the coast of Fuerteventura, the next island in the Islas Canarias chain.
Only one small mishap - when the boat took a particularly vicious lurch off a wave - Heather had just finished whipping a pile of whipped cream for our pies, and had just left the galley to come sit with us at the tables, when the whipped cream, and Kitchen Aide... and everything else in the galley took flight.... Hannah and Ella and Gina were champions - using squeegees and dust pans and any thing else they could dream up to try and beat the whipped cream to the punch before it seeped through the floor boards into the bilge.... I am pretty sure they won... we will know in the next few days.
As I write this - we still have pies to eat and enough lasagna and food for the next several days... I hope Heather will get a bit of a break as she and many others have been working at this for days - roasting chestnuts at 3 in the morning, buying groceries until 10 at night. Starting baking at 6 am and all the while - being full participants in our academic classes, readings, fieldtrips, movies and general ship's projects and fun. Going to sea will actually be relaxing.... a time for all of us to take stock, recover from overeating, and to watch the most amazing turkey day "TV"- a ship under full sail on a moonlit night, dancing along beside dark volcanic islands, with dolphins racing in our wake.... and with that, Amistad and all aboard her send their very best Thanksgiving wishes to Friends and Family and all our new found foreign friends with whom we wish to share many more feasts and many more special days of remembrance and gratefulness....
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