The 9th of January was a very special day for me! The corridor and Deckhouse were festively decorated with flags and in the morning I was congratulated by many and even kissed by the captain! From the galley you could hear: “Lang zal ze leven….” (The Dutch birthday song). The perfect start of my day!

The weather was fantastic, albatrosses and a nice breeze, you could feel that it is getting warmer, now that we are going north. Jordi gave a lecture at eleven about a Chilean Albatross project. A large colony settled there and they are observing and registering all animals very closely. Their numbers are slowly increasing and there are more Albatross following from the Antarctic area. At five o’clock, the temperature outside is very pleasant and here and there people are lying on the deck soaking up the sunrays. Marteyn is giving a follow-up lecture about sails and especially about weather patterns around Cape Horn with depressions in the area.

Also today another tack, not too easy as it costs us almost half an hour to get on our desired tack, but that is the nice thing about this ship.

After dinner there was no desert….no, but at eight, at the ‘eight o’clocky”, the whole crew marched into the deckhouse with cake and candles, purely heart-warming. Apple-pie with whipped cream and a beautiful Europa T-shirt. Great! And as a little extra surprise there is an encore from some lovely men, with accompanied guitar tunes to the Beatles: When you are 64 PLUS ONE. It hurts… (not really).

After this commotion, the crew fell apart quite quickly, going on watch, sleeping, etc. The party was over, it started to rain and I fell happily into my bunk. At 6.10 I was woken by Tanja: Cape Horn in sight! I just saw a glimpse of the Cape. So beautiful to see, same as this whole journey, full of beautiful experiences!

Thank you Europa.

Lies