Let´s have fun together

Time flied during the last days. We had lectures in the morning, meetings with the Navigation Officer after lunchtime, cooking sessionswith the Chef in the afternoon and competitions in the evening. We cannot describe this all with words, so we made the decision: Let the pictures talk and we hope you will understand the most significant part of our life here on board: Let´s have fun – all together; passengers, officers, crew and workers. 

El Zorro is back

During the last days we have seen sometimes a Masked Booby out of the distance, but today we had the feeling that our special friend – El Zorro – came back for a second visit and he introduced us even to his children. The youngsters had still their more or less brown feathers and they still need a while until they are adult. Some of them came really near to the vessel like you can see on the photo further down.

In the afternoon we learned during our teatime how to carve nice figures out of vegetables and fruit and how to decorate nice cakes with marzipan. A big thanks to the three artists out of the galley; they spent so much time with us. We will try to be creative when we have our next party with a nice buffet at home.

Let´s learn from each other

The main focus on this day has been teaching and learning from each other. We started in the morning with a lecture about South America. Most passengers will stay for a while in South America and have been very interested in what they can expect over there.

It is more or less normal to have lectures for the passengers aboard FRAM but in the afternoon the passengers became lecturers or teachers for the crew, and that we didn´t have before. Since some days Friederike has given German lessons to the reception crew and today the day had come to test their new knowledge in practice. All passengers lined up at our check in reception – like they have done it on their first day in Las Palmas – and checked in again. But this time all guests had to stay with their own language. As most of our passengers are German speaking on this cruise the receptionists could show what they have learned during the last days. Everybody had a lot of fun and at the end we could only say: congratulation Clarice, Rona, Rose, Novi and Aurea, you have done a wonderful job.

Just before dinner we had - like almost every evening - a wonderful sunset again.

After our BBQ we started with our game and sport competition. Crew, workers and passengers will meet from now on more or less regular in the late evening, after all work for the day is done, just to have fun.  

Let the crew talk

Crossings are very special trips we have aboard FRAM. We have passengers aboard, an expedition team, crew and workers for special renovation works. These works have to be done before we reach Buenos Aires. So we have a mixture of people and interest but we believe we are doing well and passengers, crew and workers enjoy their time. In the following report, written by our receptionist Clarice, you will get a little feeling about our daily life on board. 

It’s amazing how many days we are at sea already, and still we are enjoying the good weather, good food and of course fun at work. Work starts at 8am; we are almost finishing counting all the shop stocks from deck 3, up to deck 4 and 5. Quite excited with the progress at the moment, our ship’s shop is being renovated to make it bigger and wider. There are things that we don’t usually do or shall we say can’t do if not only during crossing, like for instance, having more time to rest, relax and have fun during the night with passengers we have on board. Just like today we have the awarding of certificates for the lucky ones who were baptized when we crossed the Equator, quite fun to see new faces experiencing it, and had a blast from the past seeing ourselves seating on that chair feeling the same.  One of our new Receptionist, Rose was also baptized that day hahaha lucky her. After a day of work, dinner together in the outside deck is sooooo good. This is one thing we would really miss during crossing, good weather, enough rest, games during the night and of course how could we miss the sumptuous barbecue/food the galley team is preparing for us every night. Our day is mostly spent counting the things we have in the shop, office supplies and a lot more. Another thing we are so grateful during this crossing is German lecture we do every day, we might not be the best German speaker after this but surely we’ll have a little confidence dealing with our German guest once the cruise starts. It really feels good learning new things, and the best part is, our dear passengers onboard are so great of helping us learning German, surely this is a great experience for us compared to the previous crossing we have done.

Our proud fresh baptized members of King Neptune´s Kingdom got their baptism certification in the evening. 

A quiet Sunday with „El Zorro“

After the equator baptism yesterday everybody aboard MV FRAM is baptized by King Neptune. That means that all, passengers, crew and workers, belong to King Neptune´s “Sea Family” and are standing from now on under his special protection. So we can feel very safe right now.

In the morning we passed 5°21’S and 31°14’W and we were sailing south of the Islands of Fernando de Noronha but in a distance of app. 100 nm. In his morning announcement the Captain let us know that there will be a stop on these islands during the crossing from 2014 onward. This would be a good reason to come back at any time!

As it was Sunday we had not only a relaxed day we had a very relaxed day – and that was wonderful especially as we had later on a nice visitor. A Masked Booby joined us for several hours. Now we could see in the reality what Friederike explained us in her bird lecture before. As the Booby stayed with us for such a long time and we have been in this baptism mood, we called him “El Zorro”. 

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Welcome to the Southern Hemisphere!

In the early morning hours at 05:42:48 we crossed the equator. The ship´s horn was blowing three times as a greeting to King Neptune. We could not see any red line; there was no sudden jerk to feel, nothing like this. Everything looked the same like before but during the next days we will see the difference when we look into the stars. Everybody hopes for a clear sky during the next nights as we want to see the Southern Cross.

At 15:00 it has been thus far. The ship´s horn was blowing three times again and His Royal Highness King Neptune came on board together with his Queen Neptunia and his entourage.

Everybody has been welcomed by the Captain and afterwards King Neptune´s entourage started directly with the baptism.

We cannot describe this procedure with words. Please look at the pictures. 

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The last day in the Northern Hemisphere

This has been our last day in the Northern Hemisphere on our way down to Buenos Aires. We expected to cross the equator in the early morning hours of the next day. But it is not possible to cross this important line without any permission of His Royal Highness King Neptune. All passengers, some of the crew and all workers, we have on board at the moment, did never cross this line before. That meant we had a lot of so called “Land Crabs” with us and the permission for the crossing depended on King Neptune´s kindness. So our Captain Arild Hårvik had to prepare a telegram to King Neptune to ask for permission.

In the afternoon we all met on Deck 7 outside in the aft to make sure that the telegram was sent in the right way via “Deep Sea Ocean Mail”. We sent Neptune the list with the name of all “Land Crabs”, we sent him a picture of our ship and of course the Captain´s letter of inquiry.

Just before midnight we got via “Deep Sea Ocean Mail” King Neptune´s permission. But and there is always a but, he wrote that it would be a must, that all “Land Crabs” have to be baptized the next day and he promised to come himself.

Clouds are nature´s art!

Our fourth sea day started a little bit grey with some rain showers. Later on the rain decreased and we got sunshine again. But during the day we recognized, that clouds are wonderful. A sky looks so much better with clouds than without. Clouds are nature´s art and we enjoyed the art during the whole day.

Here you get some examples:

We and the young Brown Booby

During the night we sailed on our course SSW between Senegal and the Cape Verde Islands. The sky was blue again and the wind was blowing in a gentle breeze.

After breakfast our English speaking guests had their bird lecture. And that came just in the right time as we had during the afternoon a wonderful guest on board – a young Brown Booby. It was following the ship for a while and then it made the decision to have a rest in our bow and sail with us. That was our possibility to make nice bird pictures.

As we had no wind the Booby got problems to fly away again. Most seabirds have troubles to start without any wind. After a while the bird found a little “hole” in the bow where it fit through so that it could jump into the air and fly away.  With the published pictures you can join our experience.

During the afternoon we had again the possibility to visit the bridge. Our Navigation Officer Clyde gave as nice and interesting information about the ship´s technique. He didn´t became tired to answer all our questions. We are looking forward already to our next meeting on the bridge.

In the evening the crew invited us to a competition. Passengers and crew had to go through different games. The evening was called “let´s have fun together” and you can believe us – we had fun. You could hear our laughing around the whole ship.

Holidays under a clear blue sky

The day started with an extraordinary sunrise around 6.45h. For a short while the color of the sky changed from orange to red and violet. The dawn is a very short occurrence in this region. You have the feeling that someone switches the light on in the morning and switches it off in the evening. So you must be there at the right time with your camera to get the picture.

Photo Benny Didriksen

Photo Benny Didriksen

Later in the morning after breakfast we had our first lecture on this cruise. Friederike spoke about seabirds and invited us to a trip around the world. Hopefully we will see some seabirds during the crossing with our own eyes.

As the weather was so nice again we spent a lot of time outside on the open decks.

FriedaPhoto

But nobody wanted to miss the “teatime with the expedition team” in the lounge at 16.00h. It was nice to sit together for interesting talks and of course to enjoy the nice cakes and cookies.

FriedaPhoto

In the evening we had a BBQ again. Nobody was thinking at this time about the cool and wet weather at home. We had a summer feeling and enjoyed really every minute.

FriedaPhoto

We are sailing!

Our first day on board was a quiet day. The sea was very smooth and so we had time to find our own rhythm on the boat.

After our first breakfast on board we got our blue expedition jacket. It is a very nice gift but everybody hoped that we will not need the jacket on this trip. The temperature outside was app. 25°C and we believe that the temperature will even rise during the next days.

Most of us spent the later morning on the open decks. It was wonderful to have a rest under the blue sky and watch only the movement of the clouds.

During lunchtime it became a little bit warm outside. It was just the right time to go to the restaurant where our chef had prepared a wonderful buffet for us and the crew.

At 14.00 we have been invited by our Captain Arild Hårvig to a bridge visit. He spent a lot of time to explain us the technique on board. Afterwards we felt like real seamen.

In the afternoon we had our first “Teatime” with the expedition team. We had a very relaxed afternoon talking and listening with tea and of course coffee also. The baker prepared a wonderful cake and cookie buffet for us. We should not think about the calories we get during the day, but it is good to know, that there is a nice fitness hall on board. Hopefully this will help a little bit.

As the weather was good we had a very nice BBQ in the evening. It became dark very early and many of us stayed outside until the first stars showed up at the sky.

When we booked this trip we thought that we will have so much time onboard and perhaps we have been also afraid that it could become a bit boring too, but at the end of our first day we recognized that the day could have had even 25 hours. We enjoyed every minute and we are looking forward to the next day.