A unique
Experience
Today is our last day on the open sea which is
almost unbelievable as it means that we are meanwhile sixteen days on the way
since we left Las Palmas. When we entered the ship on October 14th
everything seemed to be so far away and now we will reach Buenos Aires within less
than 36 hours. Everybody of the passengers had a certain purpose to go onto
this journey; ones wanted to have this infinite view from one side of the
horizon to the other, others to relax from all the stress in the daily life.
Some wanted to make the special experience of a long trip across the sea and
some simply wanted a comfortable way to get to South America. As different as
our expectations was the way to get used to life onboard. But finally nobody
was able to evade the rhythm of the ship with its gentle moving up and down in
the waves. We got to know each other very fast and easy and in only a few days our
group of Couples and alone riding became more and more a temporary family. As
we are in total only 27 passengers we were able to do things that cannot be
done on a normal cruise. We had a sightseeing tour through the ship and after
that we know now that the Fram with her mixture of Greenlandic and Scandinavian
art is a sculpture in a whole! We also have seen the “heart and brain” of the
ship which in the Chief machinist’s eyes is the same anyway – the engine room.
The officers during our visits at the bridge had a different view – but only a
little bit. Between our lectures, cooking lessons and sport competitions we
were happy to recover for some time when taking a bath in the sun or nap in the
shades (unfortunately sometimes also the other way around) to be fit again for
the evening when we had so much fun together with the crew. Everybody found his
favorite place on board either inside or outside and slowly but surely the days
went on. Suddenly we had to realize that is really day 16 on board. Tomorrow we
will reach the Rio de la Plata and we will see the first piece of land since we
left the Canary Islands. Who will be the first to discover the coast? What will
be the first thing to be seen – maybe a tree?
Some things may
have developed a little different than initial expected but we all have made a
unique experience and we are still curious what the last day will bring us.
Probably the crew welfare committee is already preparing one or the other
surprise for the last evening. For all these efforts we say “Tusen takk”,
“Thank You” and “Salamat at Paalam” to the whole crew of MV Fram! Maybe one day
we will meet again for a “crossing” when we need some time to relax or a
comfortable way to get to Europe or with no special purpose at all.
Martin
Here you
can see Martin sitting in his chair on deck 5. The picture is painted by
Dorothy Deringer. She painted her own diary with all these unbelievable nice
pictures. And the best of all: She gave us a nice exhibition of her art the day
before. Thank you Dorothy, you are wonderful and thank you Martin for writing
the blog today; of course you are wonderful too!
