Our first day at sea has been an enjoyable day. We are traveling northeast against the trade winds but luckily today they are light winds and the gentle motion of the ship has a calming effect. In the Age of Sail the predictability of these winds were of great importance. To sail from Europe to the New World, sailors soon learned that they had to use the lower latitudes to catch the "trades," but for the return voyage they would sail far to the north for the favorable "westerlies" and the Gulf Stream currents.
During the morning, as we still are still close to the Caribbean it seemed appropriate that our first lecture was about the pirates of the Caribbean. What a colorful bunch of characters used to lurk about this area 200 years ago waiting to catch a convoy of merchant ships returning to Europe with bullion, sugar, rum or other exotic cargoes from the Indies.
The privateers, or 'gentlemen pirates' operated in the 16th century with letters of marque and carried out a form of legitimate plundering, while the pirates of the 17-18th centuries were a rough and scurvy lot. Hopefully the waters we will cross through the Atlantic will be free from pirates!
While the winds have been calm it has been overcast this morning but as the day progressed the nice warm sun returned and those who wanted to work on their tans could do so after our scrumptious lunch. In the afternoon the sun disappeared and we sailed though some rain showers. In the evening we all were invited to Captain J"rgen Cardestig's welcome cocktails and dinner.
