Cadiz

We motored throughout the night. I was somewhat concerned about being in close quarters with wind and waves pitching the ship to and fro. I’ve always been fine up on deck but down below with the horizon out of sight, I’ve sometimes had a problem. However, this vessel is very smooth and I never felt a twinge. I slept like a log. In the night the ship went by the Rock of Gibraltar and out into the Atlantic and north to Cadiz which we reached by 1:00 pm. Unfortunately, we never raised sails! The wind was wrong but we’re to leave Cadiz tonight at 7:00 and with the winds out of the north, we should see our first sail.

The first order of the day was a life jacket drill in which we learned how to properly tie a life jacket on, not obvious at first. They said they never had to use the lifeboats but you never know – so drill!

Coming into Cadiz, we saw that the navigation system was reversed with reds on the port side and greens on the starboard side. The Europeans call us backwards but, of course, that’s a point of view. Even with their buoy system being reversed, we still made it into port safely. No sailing into dock with the sails flying, we had two tugs to help out. We also required a Pilot to come aboard to accompany us into harbor, a practice that employs a lot of pilots I guess. It was not a difficult harbor, wide open.

The weather continues to be very warm, no long sleeve shirts yet. In fact, there’s a dress code on the ship. For dinner, you must wear a shirt with a collar and sleeves (no T-shirts!) and no shorts including Bermuda shorts. I’ve just been wearing knit shirts and long pants.There are a total of six meals served each day although I’ve only been able to make three so far, so much food, so little time.
In every port a pilot was required to board the ship for guidance into the harbor. See the video for the neat maneuver.