TEAM SA LOGBOOK - 31st May - Brazil to Trinidad

31st of May - Monde Sitole

Latitude is 9 35 degrees North, Longitude is 53 40.05 degrees West
Speed: 9nm Wind: 4NE
the nearest port is Guyana
Point of sail: broad reach
the weather is great, sea is fair and the wind is working in our advantage

Wow what can I say, 31st of May, I already take a pause and reminisce about when all this started. I will say it once more, time really flies when you are having fun. I guess by now you understand that this day is not like the rest, the schedule is not the same, there is no day watch because its bosun's day, nonetheless classes and cleaning stations are left uninterrupted. But the reason why this day is different is not the schedule, the whole day in essence is weird. We, some of the South African team, bonded in an indescribable way, today we involuntarily always end up together just laughing and talking about how lucky we are. Today, I also got a lot of me introspective time where i laid on the bowsprit listening to soul music from Marx' i pod. I got to think about my life and my role in the universe. My highlights for the last past weeks are going aloft while it was thundering and heavily raining, and of course the equator crossing - getting my hair shaved was not so nice, but i don't regret it though because how many people can say they got their hair shaved in the middle of the globe. It is very seldom. By now I am cherishing every moment.

It's only 2 weeks and 1 day left for our departure. A lot of us are happy but at the same time sad to leave behind the relationships we've built and our new life and habits. But another special thing that make anticipate home are the letters Hilary and Dayana gave us from our parents - they came at a co incidentally right time.

It's only 23 days before my birthday – Hooray! -S and one day after mine is my big sister Chrissy's who's been like a mother to the team. By this time, all of us can be called sailors!

TEAM SA LOGBOOK - 30th May - Brazil to Trinidad

30th of May 2009 - Chrissy Braun

Our position details as announced at colours this morning:

Latitude: 8 degrees 13. 8 ` North
Longitude: 51 degrees 52. 78 ` West
Sails set: Inner Jib, Outer Jib, Course, T`Gallant Topsail, Upper Topsail, Lower Topsail, Main staysail, Main sail, Mizzen Sail
Speed: 6.3 k/m
Temperature: 28 degrees C
Nearest Coast: Brazil

Today was another great day aboard the SV Concordia. It was sunny with blue sky. We had cereal, fruit and yoghurt for breakfast which was a great start into the day.
Navigation and Day watches were very relaxed and productive. The bosun`s mate Axel taught us how to make bags out of old sailcloth and ropes and so a lot of people are currently working on bags and Axel gave us our day watch time to work on it.
The team is feeling really well and integrated into the family but we all kind of get the sad feeling of having to leave soon and so we enjoy every minute we have left with our Class Afloat family. It was such a great and happy day, as every day.

TEAM SA LOGBOOK - 29th May - Brazil to Trinidad

29th of May 2009 - Shane Barnes
Our current course is 303 with the wind coming from NE By N the speed 7.5, average temp 29 degrees.

We are literally speeding to Trinidad, the wind is finally knocking on our door!!.This morning at colors it was said that we have traveled 202nm in the last 24 hours and still have 890nm left to our next port which is Trinidad. The sun decided to stick around more and just shine away the ever troublesome sea-sickness plague.

Team SA had sail training with John again which was just practicing to throw the heaving lines. My new cleaning station is cleaning the mess room which only took about 20 minutes, that gave me ample time to clean my cabin. The toilet is constantly flooded because that stupid drain is blocked and it pumps up all that nasty water back up, we asked one of the engineers to take a look at it, which was after dinner, and he said that he can do nothing about it and its normal! Asekho and I were like are you kidding, are we supposed to do with a filthy drain that floods the whole toilet!

But only 17 days are left so we just have to bare with the every rebellious shower drain. I think every one had a fabulous day and also getting used to their new night watch, mine is from 12pm to 2pm and thats kind of still okay I think. Lots of our team members were also going for the High Altitude test this evening.

Head of School Update - Brazil to Trinidad

Dear Friends and Families,

The Concordia has been making best speed to Trinidad but the winds have not been cooperative. The vessel has encountered either no wind (the
doldrums) or wind on her nose, making progress even with the engine a challenge. The vessel finally caught some good wind yesterday and will make up some time over the weekend.

At this point the ETA for Trinidad will need to be revised to June 3rd @ 0600. The vessel will plan to call in Port of Spain, Trinidad for the day for shore leave time and to provision/fuel and do a crew exchange.
Captain Bill will be departing the program and will be replaced with Captain Remi Trzaska for the month of June. We will also add a new mate to the mix - Eric Romelczyk will join us as a 3rd mate, in training, to sail through to Lunenburg and then continue on with the program for the summer. The vessel will sail that evening for Bermuda.

We are all disappointed that the safety equipment replacement and poor winds have resulted in 3 fewer days in port in Trinidad but are comforted that the vessel has sailed with all gear in good order and that the students were able to enjoy 2 extra days of shore leave in Natal as a result of the delay.

If there are any changes I will keep you updated.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Best,
Kate

TEAM SA LOGBOOK - 28th May - Brazil to Trinidad

28th of May 2009 - Helen Worthington-Smith

Course: 314 ̊
Speed: 8.2kn
Sails set: outer jib, inner jib, fore staysail, course, lower, upper, t'gallant, royal, main staysail, main, mizzen, t'gallant staysail.
Wind: EbE, force 4
Cloud coverage: half
Visibility: 8
Pressure: 1017
Temperature: 29 ̊C

Today was the first day of having our new schedules. I am wildly ecstatic because this means that I no longer have 4-6 night watch! I now have 8-10 which means that I won't be woken up in the middle of the night by someone shouting at the door that I have to be upstairs in 5 minutes. I will never again have to force myself to leave the cosy warmth of my bed and stumble onto deck, bleary eyed and half asleep to brave the elements.

We have been having decent sailing wind for the past couple of days and we've managed to reach some impressive speeds. I'd almost forgotten what it's like to actually move through the water (before we never really did more than bob up and down, staying in the same place, no matter how many sails we set). I also find that people's moods improve. When we had no wind we were all often a bit short tempered and didn't feel like doing anything. Now, it is as though the wind has blown away the cobwebs and everything is fresh and exciting again :)

TEAM SA LOGBOOK - 27th May - Brazil to Trinidad

27th of May 2009- Gustav Michael Allmann ;)

Our latitude is 3 degrees and 30.32 minutes north, our longitude is 45 degrees and 50.20 minutes west and the temperature is 29.

Today started off just like any other day: breakfast, colors and instead of cleaning stations, Ben requested all hands for sailing maneuvers. I was extremely happy when i heard that because I've been getting annoyed with the fact that were just motoring all the time. Setting the sails was so awesome because after every sail was set the ship would tilt even more and once we were all done it was difficult to walk from port to starboard. One had to almost crawl on all fours. Not only did the ship tilt more after every sail was set but the sky would also open cloud by cloud as the sails went up. The first sighting of the sun in several days. I was literally jumping for joy once we were done, think I've fallen in love with sailing because I get this adrenalin rush when were so tilted and speeding at + - 9 knots. Bryan, Sarah and myself were leaning over the starboard rail and just admiring the sun, the sea, the wind, and the waves crashing and spraying against our beautiful Concordia.

Hilary and Dayana were responsible for another pleasant surprise of the day. They gave us letters which our parents wrote for us before we left. I was overjoyed and couldn't wait to read it but I had to wait two long day watch hours before I could read it. Once in class everyone that hadn't read theirs yet had the opportunity to do so. Some of us got really emotional reading their letters but everyone was really happy afterwards and I'm sure everyone is looking even more forward to going home now...

TEAM SA LOGBOOK - 26th May - Brazil to Trinidad

26th May 2009 - Bryan Castle
HDG:315 Vis:7
Wind:3ESE Pres: 1016
Seas:4 Temp: 27C
Wx:X Lat: 2'27.38
Long: 42'06.44 Speed: 6.7

Today was another regular day 5... consisting of classes and nav and day watch. Sadly it was also raining again, so much for the hot sunny equator!

It was a good day, everyone was laughing at the weird and wacky hair cuts that we received yesterday. After cleaning stations this morning Kathinka shaved the rest of my head, making it look SLIGHTLY better, but not much. So, I got laughed at a lot, because apparently it doesn't look particularly great...which it doesn't really to be honest.

Everyone was still very tired after yesterdays ordeals, even though some were luck enough to sleep about 5 hours (CHRISSY!)

Bryan Castle

TEAM SA LOGBOOK - 25th May - Brazil to Trinidad

25th May 2009 - Crossing the Equator - Bryan Castle

HDG:004 Vis:8
Speed:7.1 Pres:1016
Wind:5SbW Temp:26
Long:40'49.2 Lat:0'00.00

Today we had the Equator Crossing...
This meant that all us 'Polywogs' were finally able to be initiated and become 'Shellbacks'! Luckily for us it was raining all day, so we didn't get too hot, especially down in the bosun's locker.

After doing our cleaning stations we had to wait around until we were called and the fun began...after being called onto deck we were all piled into the bosun's locker for about 3hours. After about the first hour and needing the toilet REALLY badly, it begins becoming a bit unbearable. Fortunately, a storm blew over so the Shellbacks, aka the teachers, couldn't do their work anymore so we got a short break..FOOD and TOILET were the only things on my mind. Marx on the other hand probably didn't have much on his mind as he was too focused on the contents of his stomach projecting from his mouth...YUMMY!

After our break and being shoved for another period in the locker, eventually all of us had been called up for our initiation, which included and optional hair shave or a more moderate hair clip. Then we had to crawl through a tube and under a net being spanked by a pair of wooden scissors and being poked in rather awkward places.

The Slop Pool followed that...all the left over slop from the last 2 days was poured into an old Zodiac and mixed with water, into a delightful soup of things best not thought of, but it was Andy's' cooking, so it wasn't great! So we had to sit in this and half a watermelon filled with the soup was poured over our head and we had to wear the watermelon as a helmet nd crawl belly down through the soup under a piece of metal, ensuring we got nice and smelly!

Then Miss Czeczan put a toilet seat over our head and "made us beautiful" with mustard and other stuff rubbed all in our head. The only good thing was that we got a free head massage out of it... Next was the fishing, we had to grab a fish out of a bin filled with a mixture of water and something else. After I got mine, I had to throw it back and fish for it with my mouth, aren't they lovely?

Finally we got to Axel, or King Neptune, who made us read a passage and then kiss his feet before we were allowed in his 'Kingdom' and we got out fish names, mine was Clown Goby Fish. After that ordeal, we got hosed down by John and then got the reward of cleaning everything up before we could shower, get warm and eat...

We had the rest of the day off after that, during which time, everyone slept at least a little bit, except for those of us rudely awoken for sail maneuvers...and at 8pm we got to watch the concluding part of 'Horatio Hornblower'...a great end to a great day!

Everyone is doing great and Gustav, Brandon and myself (also Monde and Asekho) got some GREAT shaves from Mr Hurley, so it was a very productive day!

TEAM SA LOGBOOK - 24th May - Brazil to Trinidad

24th May 2009 - Felix Kleinwort
Our position at 12:00 is Lat: 01°50,73 S Lon: 039°12,94W
Our wind direction is SE
and we have 27°C, our course is 319

This morning nobody woke me up for breakfast , so I slept till 7:55, when I got woken up by the 5 minutes to colors announcement. It was fine with me because the breakfast was bad anyways. We had sail maneuvers straight after colors. The weather is still really bad and it was raining most of the day, but the moral of the team is as brilliant as always. Because sometimes there is wind, so we can finally sail a little bit after most of the days of just motoring before we arrived in Natal. We are still motoring a lot, but its becoming less the further we come to the North.

For lunch we had pizza which is one of my favorite foods on the ship. This evening the teachers already prepared things for the equator crossing. And Ms. C and Axel went around and had fun writing 'polywog' on our faces. It was very funny, when we all sat there for dinner, with marks and lines in our face. It was a good start for the equator crossing. And I am sure everyone had a lot of fun so far. At 9pm we were called in the mess, where we spent some time waiting and being excited for what would happen next. Then finally we were called one after another and had to go to midships. None of us knew what was going on. Then suddenly Axel and John dumped buckets of seawater on us, because they were hiding on the plank under the main boom. It was a lot of fun. And we are all looking forward to tomorrow.

It was a really awesome and funny day, even though the weather was not as good as we wished it was.

TEAM SA LOGBOOK - 23rd May - Brazil to Trinidad

23rd of May 2009 - Marx Mohr
Longitude: 36 degrees, 34.7 West
Latitude: 3 degree 38.7 South
Speed: 8.4
Wind: SSE right through the days
Temperature: 28 degrees
closest coast Brazil

Today was a pretty uneventful day. It’s the day after we have left Natal and last night we got some pretty bad news. We were told because we are so behind schedule, we have a ca. 12 day sail ahead of us, and that we will miss one of our ports (Tobago) and only be in Trinidad for 24 hours at the most. This came to a big shock to all the students and we are not very happy about it.

It is a dilemma to most of us because we have only provisioned food and other supplies for a 9 day sail, and since we are going to be in Trinidad for such a short time period, we will have to fit in a number of things without having time to experience the port. Some things we have to do at port is groceries shopping. Phoning home which has been a dilemma at most ports, and trying to buy souvenirs even as simple as a postcard.

All the talk rumors have subsided of pirates. It's just somebody saying something and it gets blown out of proportion. We are also picking up a new captain and 3rd mate at Trinidad. The only 3 reasons for stopping at Trinidad now is picking up a captain, a 3rd mate and to refuel.

Tomorrow is the equator crossing, I think we are all looking forward to it, it's going to be a lot of fun. All and all things are good on board with the team although some of us are secretly counting the days till we are back home, and some not so quietly.

TEAM SA LOGBOOK - 22nd May - Brazil to Trinidad

22nd of May 2009 – back on sea! - Brandon Schoor
long 055 25.6w
lat 37 08 75

Speed 5.5
wind speed EbyS 4

Today we left Brazil after 3 days delay and we got our new first mate called Ben, he looks like a cool guy... When we left Brazil, we were motoring going about 8knots but later when we were a bit far from port, we switched off the motor and set all the sails and we were on our way to Trinidad. Today was no school, only day and nav watch.

Later on they called for all free hands on deck because we were going not fast so we had to strike all the sails and start to motor again and well we were doing the striking. It was raining so hard but at the same time we all enjoyed it...

TEAM SA LOGBOOK - Wrap up - 14th to 21st May - Port Natal, Brazil

Port Natal, Brazil – 14 to 21 May 2009 - Bryan Castle

We finally arrived in Natal on the 14th of May, and were greeted by white sandy beaches and beautiful warm water... and a bunch of big industrial buildings and one rather large bridge. We were met by a pilot who guided us up the river to the port where we would be docking and finally get back on land. Docking stations, port authorities and clearances were the only things preventing us going ashore. However we did eventually clear those obstacles and were let ashore!

Now, the next thing to accomplish was to find a way to Ponta Negra, which involved either getting a bus or a taxi. Some of us were fortunate to be seen by a tour guide person, called Addy, who showed us the right bus to take and where we could exchange money and even went as far as escorting us to Ponta Negra itself. The beach looked awesome and the water was incredible!! There were plenty of shops, especially a lot of touristy shops, where nearly everyone spent too much money! Our curfew was at 11 pm which was great because it allowed us more time to have fun (going to clubs, drinking and partying!!!) before we had to sober up and get back to the ship.

The 15th was very exciting for us all; it was the day we would meet our home stay families and go live somewhere normal for 2 nights! But before that 20 students signed up to go to 2 different schools to do an English class. It didn't involve any teaching, the class Shane and I were in just asked questions, as in the other classes. We all had bunches of fun and answered some interesting questions (like what we do in our happy hour, which is what they called our free time).

There was a reception at 5.45pm where we were to meet our host families. Shane, Jonas and I were put in the same family with 2 boys, Fellipo and Enrico. We were allowed to leave whenever we wanted so the 6 of us left to go to their house, which was INCREDIBLE! And after settling in we went out to meet the others at Pittburger, a burger restaurant, where we all bought something...the milkshakes tasted great!

DUNE BUGGYING on the 16th! Everyone agrees that it was easily one of the best days we have had! Our home stay families dropped us off at the buggying agency and from there we split ourselves into groups of 4 and got into our buggies and were underway in no time! I was in a buggy with Monde, Asekho and Patrick; and the 3 of us just messed around the whole time, thoroughly enjoying the day! Our driver was great, he did a lot of drifting around the dunes (which led to a lot of screaming coming from Monde!).

We made few stops during the day: at a lagoon for a few pics, at another pit stop just by a beach with souvenirs shops (interesting clothing) and the chance to watch Marx fall off a sand board, as well as at a restaurant that actually had its tables in the water, with all the fish and swimming people and everything. After a brief swim and lunch we were taken to an area where we could slide down a hill on belly boards into water, which nearly everyone did... a bit expensive, but worth it!!

Our next stop (don't worry we are nearly at the end) gave us the chance to go on a zip wire in a chair like contraption into a dam, and after Mr Allman showing us the way, we all had great fun going down!

Finally, after a long but phenomenal day, everyone had the chance to relax on the beach until it was time to go home... obviously not without a street race! Involving bumper to bumper action and some side scraping and hi 5ing between cars, and a lot of speed... it was... INTENSE! And we all loved it!

Then the 17th... the last day of our home stay... sad times. No more great food or big beds or huge TV's, but I was excited to get back to the rest of the floaties and share stories. So, after having spent some time in the mall, everyone returned to the ship, and we were then allowed shore leave, which we all utilized by going to the beautiful Brazilian beaches!

Ah, the 18th, the day we found out that we would be staying in Natal for 2 extra days, which was great news especially for Felix and myself who were smiling from ear to ear. The only problem was figuring out how to spend the few remaining Raels in the best way possible (which in my opinion was on food!). And with that good news bestowed upon us by Mr. Allman, we had even more shore leave while we waited for our EPIRB to arrive, which was the reason we weren't leaving.

A snap back into reality came the next day, because we had to have school, while still at port!!! Nothing more agonizing than sitting in a hot room staring at land, longing for the beach...but we made it through just fine! And were allowed to go on land from 6 till 9pm.

The 20th, the day of expected departure, was when our first mate Kent decided to resign, which meant we were stuck longer at Natal, which doesnt sound too bad, but everyone had run out of money and we were anxious to go so that we could still have time to get shore leave at Tobago. Fortunately though, Hilary gave us each 15 raels more for groceries! I was so happy!

Finally, departure day! Or new 1st mate, Ben had arrived early in the morning, so we were set to leave at 10am...WHICH WE DID!!! All farewells said to Brazil, we were soon underway to our next destination unknown, with who knows what adventures awaiting us...

TEAM SA LOGBOOK - 21st May - Port Natal, Brazil

21th of May 2009 - Brandon Schoor

Still in port & rainy weather

Today was a normal school day on the ship but we weren't on sea, we were still in Brazil for the last day. We did all the things we do everyday like day watch, nav watch and normal classes except one thing changed: our shore leave, instead of just having shore leave for two hours from 7pm till 9pm we had it even for four hours from 7pm to 11pm. The reason we had longer shore leave was because tomorrow we would be leaving Brazil as we finally got our a new first mate (reason for our delay) and his name is Ben. So we will leave tomorrow definitely. Some of the team mates were excited to get back onto sea and some wanted to stay including me but we had to go as we have no choice.....

Head of School Update - Brazil to Trinidad

Dear Friends and Families,

Concordia will depart Natal today - if all goes according to plan! The new piece of safety equipment is scheduled for delivery early this afternoon (it is coming with a new crew member - see note below) and the vessel will depart shortly thereafter. We apologize for the delay but have worked as quickly as possible to ensure safe replacement of necessary equipment.

We will also have a change in crew today. Chief Mate Kent Cassels will be replaced by Chief Mate Ben Gowland,who has sailed previously with Concordia.

This service delay will now impact the vessel's time in Trinidad & Tobago. The vessel can make up time enroute if winds are favourable and so at this time we are only announcing a revised arrival date of June 1st. We will keep you updated throughout next week and will make best speed to ensure limited disruption to the schedule. While frustrating it is important that we place safety first and the students have enjoyed additional shore leave time in Natal as a result of the delay.

Enjoy the rest of your week - we are supposed to hit 28 degrees in Lunenburg today - and Happy Memorial Day weekend to our American families!

Cheers,
Kate

TEAM SA LOGBOOK - 20th May - Port Natal, Brazil

20th of May 2009 - 2nd additional day in port (Acad. Day 1) - Asekho Mdaka

I woke up at 6am for my navigation watch and today it was a different day as we were going to have class while we were still in port. This came as a surprise to people as they planned to do some grocery shopping. We went for breakfast at the usual time and colors it was said that Mr Allman caught some people walking in groups of three instead of four and those people got a port suspension of seven hours. The sad part is that these guys were in a group of six and three were inside as others were looking after their clothes but Mr. Allman did not see it that way. But we also had good news as they told us that the new 1st mate is coming tomorrow and that means we will sail round about 4pm. We had a class at 10am till 12pm.

There was not much interesting during the day as people's minds were still thinking about fun time on shore. I almost forgot our team S.A meeting where we talked about how we felt about our home stay and the port program. We were told that we are allowed to go ashore at 6pm and come back at 9pm. Those who still had money to spend went out and ate dinner while me and others sign for dinner here on the ship. Even if I had a plan to go a could not because I was having a class from 1800 to 1900 and watch from 2000 to 2200 so I was forced to stay.

The best thing was that during my watch it started to rain and people came out and danced in the rain, it looked like people were happy today.

TEAM SA LOGBOOK - 19th May - Port Natal, Brazil

19th of May 2009 - 1st additional (6th) port day - Felix Kleinwort

Today is our first day that we have got extra, because we are still waiting for our new EPIRB, which is supposed to be delivered tomorrow. Kent our first mate is gone, for personal reasons and we will get a new mate on Thursday. So we will spend two more days than planned in Natal, which most of us liked very much, but some of us were running short on money, so they couldn't really do anything.

I went with Max, Jonas and Karl to the beach, where we spend most of the day. Besides swimming and lying in the sun we went to the internet café, from where we had the chance to call our family with skype. It was the first time I saw them via camera since we left Cape Town, that was really exciting for me.

In the evening we went to have dinner with Jenn, Jonas and Kate. We went to a really nice restaurant were we ate from a buffet. The food was really good and I enjoyed my last proper food before going back to the routine of the ship and the bad food we get there. In the taxi we took, we could watch a movie, because there was a screen. So we watched Transporter 3 on our way back home.

After all I really liked it today, but I am already looking forward to being back on sea.

TEAM SA LOGBOOK - 18th May - Port Natal, Brazil

18th of May 2009 - 5th port day - Asekho Mdaka

I woke up at 7am in the morning in a hotel as we were having a watch trip the last night. We woke up and showered and went for breakfast. The funny thing is that in the hotel they said it is only 4 people in a room and we were eight. As we woke up, the first four went for breakfast while I and other three people were waiting for them to come back, they came in laughing and told us that they already signed for our room.

We went down for breakfast and as we arrived taking plates and started serving, one guy came to us and ask our room number then we told them and they said that there were four people who came for breakfast already. We stopped serving and Sarah was talking with the guy saying that we are eight people in our room. The guy looked shocked and said okay and we could have breakfast quickly as we were rushing for provisioning.

We waited for the provisioning that was supposed to be at 9:30 am, but ended up being 1pm. After that people went out to the beach but this time people started walking when they were going to the beach as it came as a surprise that we still have two days left, but not having enough money anymore.

By that time I was doing my laundry and watching a movie. It was also my galley day so I was supposed to serve people food but today the cook made things easy as he said we must just make one big table and sit with the Captain and the teachers. When the dinner was finished I went to do my night watch and went to bed.

TEAM SA LOGBOOK - 17th May - Port Natal, Brazil

17th of May 2009 - 4th port day - Monde Sitole

It was the last day of our home stay, the longest I have stayed offshore. The day was obviously a tormenting day for us as we had to say goodbye to our home stay families. Nevertherless, the day itself was a blessing as we squizzed, laughed and giggled for yet another day together. The day started with a long table of exotic and succulent fruits exclusive to Brazil, and dessert fit enough for a monarchy. Afterwards, I took a long shower and they insisted I put perfume on, and yeah I did. Afterwards they gave us a surprise box with a Brazilian T-shirt, a book about Natal and Havaiannas sandals.

Hereafter, we drove to the biggest Cashew nut tree in the world, it's really big and charismatic. We took many pictures and it was there that I met many of the Class Afloat students. I was really delighted, we hugged as it seemed like it was a long time, but it was only 2 days.


Afterwards we drove for about 2 hours to a SPA. We had a massage and aroma therapy treatment. After sitting in the jaccuzzi, we went to have a meal in the big mall where the were about 30 restaurants alongside one another. We went to the vegetarian one. I had a treat - my stomach was so full, it felt as if it was going to explode. The family gave me also a cd collection of Brazilian samba music. We drove hereafter to the ship, at the time it was 3.40pm, and the time allocated for our return was 3pm, but we drove anyway and arrived 4.12pm.

The day in essence was lifechanging. We had the greatest hospitality treatment. We enjoyed ourselves. This trip is proving to be worth it everyday and we all feel honoured to be in this voyage.

TEAM SA LOGBOOK - 16th May - Port Natal, Brazil

16th of May - 3rd port day - Shane Barnes

We are currently docked in Porto De Natal and today is Dune Bugging day!!
I spent the night with my home-stay family and it was unbelievable, Bryan and Jonas were with me as well.

At my family's home or rather a very fancy apartment, I had an amazing breakfast and I totally loved it. After we had breakfast our 'mother' took us to the place where everyone was supposed to meet before we would go out with the buggies. When we arrived at the rendezvous for the Class Afloat faculty and students, most of them were not present yet except for some. Our lunch was given as soon as everyone followed suite, which was a sandwich and a cool drink.

The buggies were waiting outside so we all got in, four people in each buggy. Hilary, Marx, Brandon and I claimed ownership of a very awesome looking buggy. After everyone filled a buggy it was off to the dunes!! The buggies roared as we made our way through the city, we were like a huge motorcade. The buggies speeded over the beautiful bridge of Natal to get to the dunes. We shortly arrived at our first pit-stop to take photos and then we were on the dunes again and I must say, our driver was totally cool.

The next stop was for picture taking again and then we hit the dunes again at a blistering speed which was sooo bloody awesome!! We stopped for a swim in some kind of dam where a party was already taking place but we all had a swim and I think everyone enjoyed it especially the part where Monde apparently lost his shorts while swimming, revealing much of which made Asekho bursting out with a very ridiculous laugh.

We were on the road again to our last stop of the day, it was some kind of beach restaurant and we all just chilled until it was time to get back to Natal and back to our families. The ride back was totally awesome, our driver was driving far better than a F1driver!

He did some very impressive driving maneuvers all the way back to Natal. My family picked us up from where they dropped us this morning, Jonas, Bryan and me, and took us home where we played games with the two young brothers and we had a wonderful dinner, played some more games and then slept at last!