Africa here we come: Sailing

We have been sailing for 5 days now. The first couple of days the waves were huge and seemingly full of anger so the boat was thrown back and forth all day and night. Trying to do anything on the sail is painful, moving about usually results in mashing into a wall or some other type of solid unforgiving object, like the floor lol. We all look drunk walking down the hallways and flip flops have been abandoned voluntarily for any shoe that has some kind of grip on the bottom. Sleeping was interesting because you slide from one end of the bed to the other. People are MIA as they are paralyzed with sea sickness, I’ve heard some pretty rough stories but I will spare you the details.

Things have settled down now and the water is really smooth. It hasn't felt like we were on the water for the last couple of days.

So far I've seen whales, dolphins and flying fish. The water out there is amazingly blue and you can see forever. The massiveness of the ocean is impressive each and every time I look out. I feel so small on the water. Like a tiny spot of nearly nothingness. I knew the ocean was big but the expansiveness is incredible first hand. I feel as if we are the only thing in existence sometimes, just cruising around in our own little world of a boat (ship).

And the stars… Its hard to explain the sky at night out here. The stars are brighter than you could begin to imagine. The contrast of the totally black horizon and the moonlight and stars is incredible. I would take a pic but its pointless because you won't be able to see anything lol. Just try to imagine the darkest night you’ve ever seen and the only light source for miles is the moon and stars. Its pretty amazing.

There is also a lot of “boring” to sailing. Like, there isn't anything to do really. After work people get together and play cards, watch movies, play games. Like today there are some activities going on because its Saturday. But most of the days after people get off work we are just kinda sittin around. I find myself having the same conversations with the same people at the same table in the dinning room everyday. lol. Its really funny. But, getting to know these people is a really good experience. Especially when we get the Africa, I bet we will need these close relationships to make it through the days.

Also, it keeps getting hotter. Like in Tenerife, Spain we had to take sweaters with us everywhere and sleep with two blankets. Not anymore. Every day I wake up and it’s hotter and more humid, and we aren't even there yet. They say this is cool compared to what it will be like in Africa. Ugh. I hope I brought enough sun block. Yesterday was the worse because the air conditioner was turned off. It was awful. In the dining room with like 100 other people, hot food and no air conditioner feels like your melting. I felt like a missionary yesterday lol. A hot dirty one. I kinda like it ;)

I am starting to get use to this life here on the Africa Mercy, it starts to feel normal after a while. But sometimes I'll just be sitting there and all of a sudden I think to myself. Dude we are on a boat in the middle of the ocean headed to Africa. Wow. The lifestyle was easy to get use to. That thought process is another thing. Living in Africa... I think its impossible to even begin to cope with that until I am actually there and my feet are firmly planted on African soil. Wow. We are getting close too. We will be in Africa on Wed. :)

So the sail out of Tenerife was kind of sad. I was there just long enough to get a little attached. The town was so amazing the weather was cool. It felt so much like vacation tho, too much like vacation, thats not what we are here for. It was amazing to me the number of young people here that were all on the same page. Like yeah we all are having a freakin blast, going to the beach, the mountains, out on the town every day and night but, when are we leaving again?. We all know what lies ahead of us in Africa (some of us more so than others) but no one could wait to leave paradise for it. I’m relieved to be in a place full of people who don’t think I am crazy for thinking like this.

Well I think that is it for now. I probably won’t blog again until I get to Africa. I am planning on a blog about a girl on the ship named Emma. She has basically grew up on this ship and I thought maybe ya’ll would like to hear about that. HOPEFULLY it’ll be a video blog. We will see!

Random pics of the sail so far: