Setting sail

Grande Nigeria: spot the dummy!

“Welcome aboard!” - the Captain of Grimaldi’s vessel Grande Nigeria introduced himself to me with a smile and handshake. A fairly short Italian man with a classic moustache, he nevertheless commands the respect of everyone else on board this huge cargo ship. (I just hope his name is Mario.) The boat is 200 metres long (656 feet) and a website said it has a gross tonnage of 57,000 tonnes. I just can’t quite comprehend that. It’s big. Some of my fellow-passengers (who embarked in Hamburg) said it was pretty hair-raising coming into port - precious more than 20 centimetres on both sides!

Having loaded up with lots of British cars and containers here, we’re meant to depart at 2 a.m. towards Antwerp, the final European stop before Dakar in Senegal, where I disembark in about 10 days’ time. So I thought I’d use a final bit of UK 3G signal to share the experience before we sail off!

So far things have been quite pleasant:

• The cabin is comfortable with plenty of space. 
• The first meal was decent and the coffee wasn’t too bad either! Thanks, Italians. 
• Friendly fellow-passengers (Germans and Brits) to eat and chat with.  They're all going the whole hog and taking this ship all the way to South America!
• A basic gym to do a bit of exercise. 
• Pretty spectacular views from the deck. 

The forecast seems fairly calm for the next few days, which will be nice for getting used to life on board. Everyone who knows anything about the seas has made some wry comment about the Bay of Biscay though… We’ll see how that is!

For those who don’t know, why on earth am I travelling like this?! It’s more expensive than flying, and takes about 48 times as long. A few reasons: 

My desk set up with writing paper, books, drawing pad, Bible...

1. Emotional: to have time to process the rollercoaster of leaving and saying goodbye to family, church and friends, before the busyness of arriving somewhere new. 
2. Transitional: to have time to stop and think about arriving in the Gambia, and begin to get my head round various related issues, now that all of packing up and leaving is done! 
3. Spiritual: it’s so rare to get both quality and quantity time to pray, meditate on God’s word, and think about things. With a fairly big change in lifestyle, ministry, responsibilities, culture, all just round the corner, it felt like some time to do those things would be valuable. 

So, here goes… “Buona notte!” (= good night!, I think)