I had secretly been looking forward to this. It’s one of those places that’s special because of its geographic location\u2014the point where two continents almost meet. But it’s also an extremely busy traffic hub that every ship entering or leaving the Mediterranean must pass (okay, except for the Suez Canal, then). <\/p>\n
Then you also have that rock with monkeys, a small English enclave, and another small Spanish enclave on the Moroccan side. In short, plenty of reasons to be happy that we’ll be passing by during my watch. <\/p>\n
On one hand, it’s a real shame that this is happening in the dark; on the other hand, it makes the navigation challenge all the more interesting. It’s a great exercise in spotting and identifying lights, keeping an eye on the radar, and of course the AIS, which provides information on the course, speed, and size of ‘all’ ships. <\/p>\n
Of course, ‘all ships’ is relative here. Many small sailing yachts don’t have it, but even a large dark shadow we see sliding past the lights on the mainland turns out to be devoid of this tool. The navigation lights are also almost impossible to see, but what is clear is that it’s no small yacht. <\/p>\n
First Mate Ali reports that it’s a navy ship; they often couldn’t care less about good visibility, even when they aren’t necessarily at war. Surprised, I watch the ship as it sails on and quickly disappears from sight completely. <\/p>\n
The fact that the incredibly busy shipping traffic is still quite tense for some officers is evident from the excessive radio communication from a rather panic-stricken mate. He’s at odds with quite a few ships and gives so many orders to other vessels to get out of his way that it seems like he’s forgotten that VHF channel 16 isn’t his private channel. <\/p>\n
At one point, traffic control asks him not to keep doing this on channel 16 and to switch to a free channel. A little later, we hear the same traffic control trying in vain to get back in touch with the panicked mate because he’s performing some rather strange maneuvers. The officer has apparently forgotten that he needs to keep listening, or he’s fallen asleep. In any case, we don’t hear from him again. <\/p>\n
The rest of the passage goes smoothly until the end of the watch. That’s when Abel, whose birthday it is, comes up for his shift. We’ve decorated the wheelhouse with balloons and sing to him at the top of our lungs. Barely awake, Abel doesn’t seem quite ready for it yet, but after a cup of coffee, he’s finally able to accept the congratulations. Satisfied, I crawl into my bunk and feel the ship starting to get used to the long swell of the Atlantic Ocean. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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