64PE374 - Dagboek 4 (in het Engels)

After begging, kneeling and the promise of some beers, the bridge team decided to write a blog for the Nioz website…..! We would like to introduce ourselves: Pieter (Captain), Bert (1st Mate) and Alle (2nd Mate), all dutchies!! During the voyage the bridge is manned for 24 hours. We all do 4 hours on and 8 hours off. Before joining the Pelagia we all did different kinds of sports within the marine sector: Pieter worked on dredging vessels and on merchant ships. Bert was and still is a person who loves sailing: before the Pelagia he crossed the world on sailing boats! Alle worked in the offshore on tug vessels. All of us, as you can read, had different disciplines but for working on the Pelagia, one thing is in common: we guess we all have something with nature, research and all that goes with it…!

The bridge team

One of the good things on sailing on the Pelagia is meeting interesting people. Every person has his own story and especially on board (even if you don’t want, you can’t hide) you are very close with each other. Nice conversations will develop and friends will be made. Another good thing about being on board Pelagia is the research worldwide. That is just awesome!! For example this coming winter a cruise is planned to St. Martin in the Caribbean, who doesn’t want to be on board?! The last years we sailed in a lot of different areas: North Atlantic, Red Sea, North Sea, Mediterranean, Black Sea, Baltic sea and many more!! For us and of course the crew it is a kind of new discovery…, every sea has got his secrets. Last year we have been spoiled with seeing Marine mammals, really many dolphins and whales! Every time again it is special!!

Pelagia in front of Stromboli (picture: Damien Cardinal)

At this moment we are half way with the Geotraces Leg 3 cruise, sailing in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Yesterday we sailed through Messina Straight and had a swim next to the Stromboli volcano! Really amazing, the volcano is still active (but sleeping) and we were just approximately 1 km away from it. Seawater with a temperature of 28 degrees was a warm welcome for everyone and of course a nice break! The cruise so far is nice, people on board are friendly, we are on schedule and the weather is great. According to the forecast, for the next week again fine weather. Total of 19 stations through the northern part of the Mediterranean with final destination Lisbon. Then the Geotraces cruises are finished for this year. Hopefully next year we can continue with this! 

On behalf of the bridge team,
Alle Fockema