Sailing along South Africa

I am sitting at my desk, enjoying a spicy breakfast of curried potatoes and garbanzo beans. (I think some of you call them chick peas?) Our Gurkhas got up at 4 a.m. to cook up this treat for us. They even made chapatis! I feel impossibly spoiled, having just passed a delightful hour in prayer with my prayer partners as we watched the sun rise over the sea. We are nearing Durban, and will be having our South Africa arrival briefing this morning at 8:00.

We have lots of briefings on a sail, and need to be very flexible with our classes. However, we serve with such a delightful crew, and have such interested and enthusiastic students, no one is complaining.

Here are a couple of photos of some of our students enjoying the bow to watch the sun as it prepares to set. Enjoy!

Togo says good-bye

As we head out to sea, a final fishing boat waves us off, and the Togolese navy chaperones us until we are out in the open waters, a very gracious send-off.

And the school?

You may wonder what the Academy does during departure. Well, we all go out on decks 7 and 8 and watch! Sometimes there are church bands and government leaders seeing us off, but since Togo is very actively involved in government protests, we left as quickly and quietly as we could. However, we were all out on deck to see it happen. This was on the weekend, but we would stop classes for an hour or so to see it if we departed during school time.

Harbor pause

Then, as we backed out of the berth, we paused mid-harbor to check our starboard lifeboats. We can lower our boats on the water-side during our stay to make sure they are operating correctly, but these had hung over the quay.

Those few left behind wave us off

As we pull out, those few left behind wave to us from our designated part of the dock. Togo very graciously blocked off part of the dock for us strictly for our own use. The children loved it!

Deckies work to free us

After we hold a final at-sea muster in our life jackets, and everyone is accounted for, Captain Tim announces that anyone not sailing with us is to depart from the ship. There is a patter of feet as we all descend upon reception for final hugs for those who will be staying behind. Then the gangway is raised, and the ropes drawn in (after the pilot is aboard, of course).

Departure views

What goes on when a ship leaves port? Here are a few glimpses for you...

 

 

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