(Tuesday, May 10th, 2016)
For the first time on this entire voyage, I have fellow passengers!
For the sake of their privacy, I am not going to write too much about them, or name them. That’s what I would want for myself, so that’s what I am going to do. (As you can tell, I am not a good target for Facebook marketing, ho ho.)
We have a Canadian/American and a Dutchman on board. They both boarded in Philadelphia. They thought they were headed across the Atlantic, immediately. Surprise! Come on down to Morehead City for a spell.
The CanAm guy is a retired ex-Microsoft dude traveling the low-carbon way from British Columbia (Cortez Island, pretty cool) to London, England. He’s getting off in Montoir. This means ferry, hitchhike, train, bus, and freighter travel. He’s a senior-league soccer player, a soccer coach, and a birder.
We have, over beers, figured out what Elon Musk or Richard Branson (whoops, “Sir Richard”) needs to do to lower the carbon footprint significantly for air travel. We would rather Elon do it. He seems less egotistical than Richard Branson. If someone could point Elon at this blog post we’d appreciate it, thanks. Hint: Low-altitude turboprops with high passenger count, all “economy class”. Get to work, Elon, it is more important than the people tube from San Francisco to Los Angeles and the infrastructure is already in place. We stand ready to advise.
The Dutch guy is an artist from The Hague who is doing a circle route of his own, freighter from France to Miami, train to Boston, some form of public transport to Philadelpia, and freighter transport from Philadelphia to either Antwerp or Bremmerhaven, whichever comes first. He’s been painting a mural of the Rickmers Antwerp, surrounded by dolphins, fish, and our emergency lifeboat. It is way cooler to see than to read about. He’s been on these voyages before, several times.
Both are very good to talk with, quite fun. I’ve had to make room in my incredibly busy schedule for them. I managed.
Both of them, with only a few beers, went swimming in our pool during a party. 10 degrees Celsius. I was raised in Florida: I don’t voluntarily go in water that isn’t at least body (specifically, live body) temperature.
And, from Hamburg to Genoa, I am told that I will have company as well. We shall see!