The Atlantic Crossing

Atlantic Crossing

This has been my first sailboat crossing of any large body of water, and it has a unique character unlike any other cruise I’ve been on.  Without ports, and without any ability to leave the ship, each person finds their unique way of being entertained knowing that they have many unstructured days ahead.

What made this a little less than delightful (for Beatrice, not Bob) was that we lost the internet antenna, so that all those who needed to be connected to the ‘outside’ world were prohibited from carrying on their online lives. Whereas we had previously been complaining about the cost of the internet on the ship, after a few days with no connection I think many would have paid in gold dubloons.  Di and Russ are in the middle of selling a house, and were getting offers to which they couldn’t reply; I was trying to hook up our internet for the Florida condo so it would be waiting for us.  And without Facebook and email, we were restricted to our on-board friends.  What was eerie was the inability to have any world news since the in-room TV is connected to the same supplier, and it too didn’t work, and we felt that had there been a world catastrophe, we’d have learned about it upon our arrival in St. Maarten.

Many of our fellow passengers have done some form of crossing either on their own, on bigger cruise ships or on one of the sister Clipper ships.  Therefore they know the routine:  read e-books; draw, paint, play cards or join in the vast variety of team sports provided by the sports crew: quoits, darts, sack races, deck golf, walk-a-mile, frog races (wooden frogs), quiz shows, or shanty sing-alongs and more.  There were opportunities to climb the mast to the crow’s nest; and all manner of exercise classes including walk-a-mile; morning aerobics, Zumba, tai chi, or water aerobics.  Some were doing a more discreet exercise routine -  going for the ‘most you can drink award’ and the ‘who can start earliest’ drinking group – 8:30 was the earliest I saw; and of course the most popular program – who can close the bar latest – a sport in itself requiring a steady arm, endurance, and a healthy liver.

Our routine consisted of breakfast; reading, in the lounge, library, or on the fantail; games of computer solitaire; naps; walking the decks and hanging out at the bar chatting with fellow passengers, 5pm cocktails & trivia quiz, 7:30 cocktails, dinner …and bed.  We hold a record for not having participated in anything else – somehow group games just don’t appeal and while the quiz might have been fun, if you were lucky enough to win, you had to write the 10 quiz questions for the next day.  And without Google for fact-checking we were at a serious disadvantage.

The weather was iffy at the beginning making for rolling seas, bumpy nights, and grumpy staff. According to them, this has been the roughest trip ever!  But, from mid-Atlantic, nearing the Caribbean, the seas have been calm, the temperature a good deal warmer, and the deck chairs are suddenly filled with bikini-clad people desperate to return to much colder climes with the tan to prove that they were on holiday.  More lunches were served al fresco at the Tropical Bar, and the mood is considerably cheerier.

The conversations began to turn towards home: what airlines were being used; what routes were being taken; which bags needed packing.  Psychologically we were each getting ready for a return to the real world. For some it was work the following week, for others another cruise, a few days in the Caribbean or simply a long flight home.

The most astounding piece of data provided by our cruise director was that of the 27 people who had gotten on in Athens, and who were disembarking at St. Maarten, three had absolutely no charges on their room bill.  How was that possible? Not a soda? Not a tour? No laundry? No wine? What were these people doing for 35 days?  We kept trying to figure out who the three were – but gave up. We certainly were not part of that group.

But as we prepared to depart the ship…turning in our stateroom key, paying our last bill and being given our passports, there was a bit of sadness.  We had made some new friends, shared some interesting times, and suddenly – it was over.

Our flights back were uneventful, and now the cruise is history.