2,000 Miles at Sea | Bark Europa Day “0” - 1

Jun 23

June 23-24

I load the ship with more potatoes than I have ever seen in my life and the crew organizes vegetable for 4 hours. I have been on board for 30 minutes and I am covered in sweat, rust, paint, dog hair, and excitement is smeared all over my face.

Benthe introduces me to two new friends: Mr. Bucket, and Mrs. Mop. We clean the bathrooms with a doekje. I do not know what language this is or if it is only slang for a little cloth. She has a love for the freedom that life on a ship provides… as we scrub the floor on our hands and knees.

I am bombarded with information: the location of the toilet paper, which fork goes in which drawer, the assembly line of storage, a lesson in climbing the rope and metal lines that attach to the mast… which I later learn are called shrouds and stays.

We do not know each other yet but Mister Daniel Bravo Silva from Chile has the most welcoming demeanor I have had the pleasure of meeting in recent years. He gleefully climbs onto the yard to show us how to furl the sails, where to stand, and then comfortably climbs back down.

Hidde Van Vloten, the 18 year old from the Netherlands stops nervously at the first platform as Hanjo Van Weerden comfortably climbs passed him into the rigging above. I fearfully grip the stay lines as I squeeze my way through a space half the width of my body.

There is an awkward air around the Europa as new crew get to know each other and the way to run the ship.

June 25

Guests appear periodically on the dock seeking to drop off their luggage and explore Faial Island one last time. The Australian man sits in the sun for a few hours reading a book. The Swedish man seems disappointed that he cannot shake my hand because of COVID. I confuse the German woman by speaking too fast in English, something I promptly fix, to which there is a response from a young woman who I vaguely recognize translating into German what I had just said. I quietly admire the knowledge and discomfort of speaking a language that it not your native tongue.

I organize their bags into their soon to be filled cabins and welcome them slowly onboard as the sun begins to set in the afternoon sky.

June 26, Day 1

Everybody looks like a lobster as we size-fit our emergency immersion suits.

We woke with a ship full of guests and left the misty hills of Horta behind. After a restful evening we woke to an anxious stillness in the air filled with the excited nerves of a soon embarking ship. We saw a sperm whale, 2 pods of dolphins, Portuguese Man O War Jellyfish… (but not.. it was the smaller ones).