Day 5. A Day of Choices.

At noon everyday, Luke “The Voice” comes on the loudspeaker. <i>Ding Dong</i> “Good afternoon, here is your noon report,” he says. After that, he provides us with pertinent information: everything from air temperature to the time the sun will set off which side of the ship. Mostly, we just glaze over and continue our lunches- while knowing the depth of the ocean beneath me is interesting, it isn’t exactly breaking news, you know. Today, however, everyone perked up when Luke read one piece of information.

“Distance traveled from Nassau,” Luke read, “1,822 nautical miles.”

“Distance to go to Cadiz Spain,” then he paused. Everybody fell silent. Luke continued, with a touch of regret just barely perceptible in his voice: “1,901 nautical miles.”

The lunchroom exploded. It was as if our team just lost the superbowl. This was the noon that we were to eclipse the halfway point, and we fell short by 44 stupid miles. Still, by this evening, we’ve well passed that point, and our journey across the world’s Atlantic ocean is closer to its end than its beginning, quite an accomplishment. Nassau seems like just a memory now. I can’t wait for tomorrow lunch, it’ll great to hear the good news.

With our approach to Spain nearing, our requests for SAS Trips for the first few ports were due in at 2000 to the field office. This meant sitting down with friends and deciding what we wanted to do alone, together, anyway… you get the idea. After that, we turned our eyes toward spain. I think I’ve decided on Madrid with a few friends. Once I’m sure of the details, I’ll fill you in, but I’ll tell you this much. It is very hard to plan a multi-city from the middle of the ocean. I tried to buy train tickets online. Then I got to the end where it asked for a shipping address. …um….?

Oh well, we’ll figure it out.

Let’s see… I was emailed about weather. It’s been beautiful! We had one mini-rainstorm, but other than that sunny and 70 degrees! I feel like the second half of the trek will cool down a bit since Spain saw snow last week (booo), but no use for sweatshirts or coats yet. And yes, mom, I will wear my coat when I need to.

At 1730, we ushered in Shabbat on the ship with a small singing and candle-lighting service off the main dining room. It was nice as you can imagine. After the brachot, somebody remarked “…and this is officially the most obscure place I’ve said that blessing.” He was completely right. We are in the middle. Of. Nowhere.

Tonight we had open-mic night, where fellow voyagers who were musically inclined or good at stand-up comedy got up and performed. They were so talented! We all enjoyed it thoroughly. Maybe if I work up the chutzpah, I’ll get up there and play the one song I know on guitar (tom petty’s freefallin… a winner, I know).

We got a taste for emergencies on the high seas today. Around noon, the captain came on the PA system. For those keeping score at home, when someone from SAS comes on with announcements regarding programming, they are introduced with a Ding Dong. Usually, as I said above, we tend to phase out unless something sounds interesting or dangerous. When the Captain comes on, he gets a loud Ding, and we perk up. He is, after all, the captain. The crew ran an emergency drill, to simulate as if they had to evacuate us to lifeboats. Awesome. That would be one hell of a story. Either way, it’s great to know they’re prepared.

I feel so spoiled because... NO TIME CHANGE TONIGHT! I’ll actually get some sleep. As the "big guy" would say, it’s fan-tastic. Still EST + 3.

Love you all

Greg.