Day 4 March 6, 2015 – Aboard the Sea Cloud

Well, today was a full day of sailing. When I taught third and fourth grade one of my favorite activities was to teach about pulleys and how they work. The kids used to have such fun stringing the lines to the different pulleys. Wow! Do I wish I could have brought them on the Sea Cloud. Talk about stringing lines. Eight miles of lines! By the way, the lines look like rope, feel like rope, and are made of rope but they are not rope. They are lines. One could be thrown overboard for calling them ropes. 

      Here is some more sailing trivia. The word ‘starboard’ meaning the right side of the ship, comes from the Vikings who were mostly right handed, steered the board or rudder from the right side so ‘steering board’ became ‘starboard.’ Because they steered from the right, they docked the ship on the left side of the ship at the port which is now called “port”. Now, I may have to research this further when I get home but fascinating how words develop.  Also, the phrase, “being shanghaied” came from when young men of Shanghai were knocked unconscious and woke up finding themselves on a sailing ship. They needed hundreds of men to sail the ships, so they simply kidnapped many. Also the first thing these men learned was “the ropes” – all 360 plus ropes even though they are called “lines” the phrase “learning the ropes” is still used today and not only for sailing.

   This morning we were able to watch the sailors lower the sails. It is one complicated process. Was it windy and rough I might add. Last night there was no rhythm to the ship’s movement because the winds had changed, so you had two sets of waves going in different directions. Since the Sea Cloud was built in the 1930’s there are no stabilizers on her. Right now it is finally smooth because we are on the leeward side of St. Lucia. I hope it will stay this way. Tomorrow we have a full day on St. Dominic. It is a rain forest. We will go hiking and then snorkel in the afternoon. The internet on the ship is extremely slow so we will not be posting any pictures.

   “…if you are wise and know the art of travel, let yourself go on the stream of the unknown and accept whatever comes in the spirit in which the gods may offer it.” – Freya Stark

More to follow from the Sea Cloud

Tom & Holly