Bienvenudo de Las Palmas

On monkey island, the area above the bridge, watching the tug boat pull us in.

After six days of sailing on the open water of the Atlantic ocean, we arrived to el Puertos de Las Palmos in the Gran Canary Islands! The Canary Islands are a part of Spain even though they are located off of the coast of Morocco. There was a mass exodus off the ship as everyone raced to be on land and start seeing the sights of a Western developed nation.



Our first views of the city of Las Palmas.

Our berth is right near the center of town (I mean a two minute walk to the mall) so it is easy to get around but so strange at the same time. It's so nice to have a change of scenery, to be unnoticed among the local people, and to be allowed to walk somewhere alone. The paved streets, the clean people and the fresh air are almost to much. Luckily this culture shock only has to be endured until we return to Liberia because I'm not ready to re-acclimate myself with everything just yet.

Our berth before we leave for dry dock. We were blessed and allowed to berth with passenger ships and cruise ships instead of with cargo ships in the ugly port area. Look and the pretty parking lot and clean blue water!

Members of the Mercy Ships Spain office hold a "Welcome Africa Mercy" sign while family members of some of the crew look on.

Pre-Christmas?

It doesn't really feel like Christmas time to me or anyone else. Being in dry dock for the two weeks leading up to the holidays is definitely not the way to bring in the holiday spirit. The a/c is off and, unlike the old ship the Anastasis, the most of the Africa Mercy's portholes can not be opened. So down on deck three where I live is miserable! But we are trying to be grateful and remember what the "reason for the season" is (but sweating profusely does not help).

One night we had a Winter Wonderland on board the ship. I think the idea comes from holiday markets that are held in Germany (but it could be another part of Europe). All around the Mid-ship Lounge and in Town Square various crew members decorated booths and sold crafts (such as Christmas cards, jewelry or tree ornaments) and baked goods (like fudge, cookies, banana chips, and donuts). Christmas music played in the background and the cafe handed out popcorn. The best part was that everything was homemade and even the children got involved by selling items to raise spending money for holiday trips and toys.

The saddest part (and it's funny how much this affects everything) is that there are barely any decorations up around the ship. The ship is desperately in need of another deck or more closet areas and to save on space all of the decorations from the Anastasis (trees and garland, lights and ornaments) were left on the old ship which is now in a shipyard in India since it was sold for scraps! So while this saved on space it definitely left a hole for the crew that holiday decorations use to fill. Just poor planning and short sightedness but life goes on and it gave us all a chance to create homemade decorations!

Pirates are Real!

We are currently sailing approximately 100 miles off the coast of West Africa somewhere near Mauritania. After a few days of really beautiful sailing and calm seas we have hit the "rough patch". We are now in North Atlantic waters and as our course turns north we are heading directly into the oncoming currents. So yesterday was the day to see what the ship and crew were made of. As we crashed into the waves I just kept thinking AWESOME! It is just amazing to feel the waves hit the ship and even better if you are standing on the bow (the front tip point of the ship). Don't worry it is closed during really rough seas and at night.

We have also been able to spot some amazing glimpses of nature: I have seen dolphins, a shark and an octopus. It is great! But there are also some very real dangers that we have had to acknowledge including pirates. On Sunday night myself and a few friends did the first two 2hour shifts of pirates watch, from 10pm to 2am. A little before 10pm I went to the bridge to check in, get the radio and the world's largest flashlight (seriously I have to hold it wit two hands). Then we headed to the stern (back end) to watch for pirates.

I'm not talking about Johnny Depp and some Pirates of the Caribbean, but real pirates who would try to come on board, take our belongings, the ship or worse. Since our ship is equipped with plenty of equipment and radars to detect other vessels we scanned the waters for any approaching, usually smaller, vessels that did not have it's lights on. Thankfully it was a quiet night and we were able to enjoy star gazing, we even saw a few shooting stars. This was a relief since earlier that same evening there was an approaching ship without lights on. The officers used "evasive tactics" and altered our course further out to sea.

That night I was also allowed to plot the position of the ship on the map and in the log book. So our position on Sunday, December 2, 2008 at 22:00 was 15.28 degrees latitude and 17.88 degrees longitude ("spoken like a true sailor" as our Security Officer Jan stated). At our current speed (almost 11 knots) we should arrive in Gran Canaria on Thursday around 2pm.

I am now a SAILOR!

So after living in Liberia for months we have actually left the country. This includes leaving dry ground! We are sailing! It was a beautiful day and at approximately 12:15pm we, with the help of a tug boat, pulled away from the dock that has been our yard for 10 months and left the port of Liberia. It didn't take long to discover who had sea legs and who had sea sickness (I have sea legs and love sailing). And it has been a real laugh watching everyone walk from side to side instead of in a straight line.

The ship has a lower balance which determines how quickly a ship will straighten itself up. The Africa Mercy will straighten out in about 9 seconds, where the old ship, the Anastasis, had a 15 second balance. All of this means that you feel the ship rock more because it straightens itself up faster. This is one of the effects of living on a ship that was built to be a train and car ferry.

But the coolest part so far was this morning when the captain announced over the pa system that dolphins were seen from the bow (front). So we all ran to the nearest window and watched the schools of dolphins swim next to and under the ship. They were smaller than I expected but still amazing to watch.