Day 5 – Christmas Eve.

For those who weren’t on the morning Watch we awoke to the amazing northern coast of Mallorca heading for the port of Soller, the coast line was like a scene out of Jurassic Park with the cloud topped mountains. The Captain jested over the PA system that if we looked out we would see dinosaurs. The sun was shining which made it even better and the seas had calmed to what they were the night before. We waited at the entrance of Soller so that the voyage crew could finish their lunch, when everyone was ready the Captain made the approach through the two headlands into a picturesque town of Soller. Soon as we berthed the crew went ashore to look around the town and enjoy the sites.

Day 6 – Christmas Day

Typical Christmas Day weather, rain and windy. However it didn’t dampen the ships spirits! The cooks had put on a great full Christmas Dinner with all the trimmings and everyone was enjoying each others company.

During the morning the crew pulled together to pull off such a memorable day by peeling potatoes, making decorations and singing Christmas Carols, even Santa visited the ship, he had to climb down the rigging first though! He made members of the crew show off their talents, one watch wrote a nautical twist on an old favourite Christmas song, The 12 Days of Christmas. After dinner the crew had a little bit of a party in the ships bar however whilst the crew was celebrating the Captain and officers had to make an important decision. Bad weather was due during the night and following morning and this would of made it almost impossible for the ship to leave the port. So the Captain and Officers had to make the decision to cut the celebrations slightly shorter and prepare to leave quickly so that we would miss the most of the storm and that we would get into Barcelona in time. The crew pulled together and got the ship ready to leave. Little sad but we all knew how important it was to leave now. It was good we did! The winds howled through the night and the sea was rough but we all knew the ship was in capable hands and we helped each other to our bunks as the ship heeled back and forth in the waves. The night watches reported that even with the strong winds the night sky was really clear. The morning watch arrived at breakfast covered in salt crystals and almost every inch of the ship had salt on it.

The ship continued as the daylight hours on Day 7 moved on the sea became slightly calmer and we arrived in Barcelona in time for us all to enjoy our last night on the ship and with our new found friends.