Kristine Gagnon
Sept. 25, 1995 aboard Concordia
Madeira, Portugal
After four days at sea from Ponta Delgada we were happy to see land. The high cliffs of Madeira were more beautiful than I had imagined. I was amazed as we sailed by these tropical islands. Every building and every home was built right into the mountainous terrain. The island, being so green, made the white homes with their red roofs stand out.
We finally docked in the harbor of Funchal, and were eventually set free to explore the unknown town. The inhabitants of this island all speak Portuguese. This made communication a little tricky for us, but after a few minutes of charades we finally understood the directions to the restaurant. The food resembled what I am used to in America. Pizzas are popular. I noticed a lot of seafood on the menu including squid, shark, clams and mussels.
On the second day we visited the wine making factory of Madeira. Vintage Madeiras are only made from the superior grapes of a particularly fine year. They must remain in a cask for a minimum of 20 years. Another specialty of Madeira is their fine embroidery which I found to be very expensive but very beautiful. The market was another exciting place to visit where thousands of fish were being cleaned and sold right before your eyes.
The people of Funchal were a lot like the people in North America. The main two differences are the language and the fact that "football" is actually soccer in America.
Brodie Fraser
October 4, 1995 aboard Concordia
Maintenance aboard Concordia
One thing I have learned about Class Afloat is that it's not a cruise. Many hours are spent doing hard labor for the benefit of the ship. Things like rust busting, corrosion sealing, priming, painting, sanding, varnishing, scrubbing, washing, hauling, easing, and belaying are the various kinds of maintenance and operations work that must be done.
Extra hours of work can be assigned if a student breaks any of the Class Afloat rules. Some of these rules are missing Colors, being late for class, sleeping in class, missing curfew, plus many more. When a punishment of work is assigned it is called bo'sun's (boatswain's) duty, which is an entirely unamusing use of precious free time. To make it even worse, the evil bo'sun takes pride in giving bo'sun's duty victims the worst jobs. Many hours have been spent by many people doing bo'sun's duty.
On one particular occasion, six students broke one of the rules. As a result, they were given bo'sun's duty: four had to miss a day visit to Casablanca, and two had to miss two weeks of special land programs. All free time was replaced with bo'sun's duty. Endless hours of constant work, with a new world right there, yet untouchable. The main thing to learn from bo'sun's duty is: try to be good.
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