Changes

In the fine print, like most businesses, there is a clause about reserving the right to make changes to the itinerary for various reasons.  They have taken advantage of this right and made several changes to the original list of places we were expecting to visit.  

The first changes we heard about from the captain.  Due to unrest in Madagascar we were not going to be able to stop there as planned and, due to the Agulhas Current we were not going to be able to reach Mozambique.  The Agulhas Current is pretty much just like the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic.  It’s a warm current the flows south between the East Coast of Africa and Madagascar.  It flows at up to about 4 knots and would be against us if we tried to go to Mozambique.  The next changes we actually heard about through a mass email sent out by the home office.  Due to Savannah, GA cancelling their participation in the Tall Ships festival in May we would not be ending the voyage there.  They had been exploring their options and ultimately decided to skip the US completely.  Now we are going to go to Bermuda around the 1 of May and from there we will be sailing to Lunenburg Nova Social, which happens to be the home of Windward Isles Sailing, the company that owns the ship.  The next change was announced by the captain at an all hands meeting a few days ago.  It seems that a lot of potential new trainees are indicating that they are not signing up due to concerns about Ebola in Africa.  The captain doesn’t seem to share the concerns but it’s affecting business so they have decided to take Senegal and Cape Verde off of the itinerary.  We are still planning on going to Namibia; however, they have indicated that if certain wind conditions exist, it may be necessary to forgo Namibia as well.  Evidently there is a strong wind that often blows from the south along the west coast of Africa and if it is blowing the ship will not be able to make the turn east to get into the port.  The new plan is to go straight from St Helena to the Caribbean, either to Grenada or Barbados.  This will give is more time to spend in the Caribbean and they have added Aruba.  Picton Castle has been invited to be the flagship of the tall ships festival in Aruba.  The rest of the Caribbean itinerary has been a bit vague as I guess the captain sort of makes it up as we go.

Some crew have pretty strong feelings about the changes and some may be leaving earlier than they originally had planned.  I don’t have really strong feelings but I am bummed about some of them.  I was really looking forward to seen Madagascar and all of the countries originally scheduled for Africa.  Savannah was a perfect jumping off point for me because my Mom and Dad were going to come and pick me up there, giving them the opportunity to see the ship and me the opportunity to spend some time with them after being away for so long.  I’m happy to go to Bermuda and Lunenburg.  I expect there will be a big to-do when we get in to Lunenburg since the ship has been out for 3 years.  Either way, I’m on board for sailing and gaining sea time, first and foremost, so I’m not letting the changes dampen my spirit at all.  Besides, this will make a bigger window of opportunity to be able to, maybe, meet up with some Lugnuts sailors in the Caribbean!