The temperature is now 22 degrees Celsius. Dolphins are jumping happily in the Rainbow Warrior's bow waves. The entire crew is smiling and joking. We are in the middle of the Strait of Gibraltar on the way to Barcelona and the Mediterranean Sea. This situation is rather different from the last 6 day's experiences.
When we left Germany and headed south, we knew exactly what was to come: A class A gale in the North Sea, English Channel and the Bay of Biscay. The ship was bouncing around in the seas like a rubber duck in the bathtub. Pablo, one of our deckhands got so seasick I think he lost at least a few pounds during that time. He could not eat anything at all.
For my part, this trip will end in Barcelona. After this trip I have sailed 9.5 out of the 12 months this year. Time to have a little vacation! During the European tour these last three months we have had a documentary crew on board. The YouTube-series of 'Stories from the Rainbow Warrior' has another episode with me in it telling the story of how I ended up sailing for Greenpeace. It's been great, but it has also been a hectic boat trip with 25,000 new people visiting the ship in five different cities.
Last night, sailing the Mediterranean, lit up by the full moon, I looked back again up the sails and rigging. I almost get a tear in the eye when admiring this amazing example of sailing engineering. This is an incredible ship, and a real work of art in many ways. It occasionally is good to recall how lucky and privileged I am to get to sail on this ship with all these incredibly wonderful people.
In a few days I will be back in Helsinki, the darkness, and slush. It does not matter! It's great to come home after a long time.