My Atlantic Crossing by Ella

I felt really excited to be leaving Tenerife because we were going on a long trip. I also felt really nervous in case a storm came, in case it would lightning bolt the boat, but one never came. When we left Daddy and I saw pilot whales spouting - I felt really really happy it was a good way to start the trip.

The first day came and I felt really seasick. I threw up three times because I was not feeling well at all I stayed up on deck for quite a while in case I threw up again but I didn’t, I felt miserable though. Luckily I soon got better but not for long because I caught my Dad’s tummy bug, I felt awful again and this was my worst time on the boat, I felt even more worse when December 1st came as I was not allowed to eat my chocolate advent calendar as Mummy said my tummy might not be well enough for it. I kept asking to eat it, but the answer was always no.

Each day we had to have school. We began the day by waking up, having breakfast, then I would read for a bit and then Daddy would call us up on deck for school for spellings and math, it was weird having lessons on a rolling boat outside in the sunshine with nothing to see but sea. At lunchtime we had a daily competition to see who had the closest guess to what our average speed had been for the last twenty-four hours, Daddy and I were the ones to get it right most of the time. After we would go down below whilst Mummy and Daddy would swap watch, I would play on my DS and Jack would play with his cars, even though there was not much space for him he managed to play quite well on the small floor space. Soon after Mummy would call us for school again.
We had German with Mummy which I did not like much but sometimes we had German drawing competitions which was good fun. At dusk we would have a Harribou and chocolate feast and we would snuggle down in the saloon and listen to Narnia talking books, I loved snuggling all four of us. At night either both Jack and I or just one of us would go up on deck with Daddy whilst Mummy slept and had a night watch with him, this was my favourite part of the day. Daddy would read us the legends of the stars and then we would have to hunt the sky for them. It was such good fun. Sometimes too we would listen to the I pod and sing along before we had to go to bed - night night!

When we reached half way across the Atlantic we were allowed to have the day off school and to watch a film on the lap top, we watched a film we had wanted to see for ages, Prince Caspian, we had popcorn too, it smelt delicious. Mummy brought out some word searches and we completed those as well, it was fun. Mummy and Daddy put on a puppet show for us at night time called Flash Gordon Saves the Earth and then Jack and I had a puppet show for them called Colours, I enjoyed putting on a show.

After a while on the boat I did get a bit bored with doing the same things all the time, I wanted to be in the Caribbean, in Barbados, I just wanted to be there. I even dreamt about flying there and wishing that I had. I also dreamt about my room back home and my comfortable bed and duvet. When I would go up on deck it was awful because all I could see was the sea, no land, no ships and not many dolphins on this trip either, we only saw them twice. I just wanted to be there, I really did, it felt like we would never arrive. The nights were really difficult and I found it hard because it was so hot and sticky down below, I loved my bunk (bed) but, I could not get to sleep with the heat and always rolling from side to side. I used a water bottle to rub on my forehead to try and cool me down but it never really worked. Then I would get myself comfortable on leaning on one side of the bunk but then a wave would come and push Brimble and me to the other side and I would have to try and get comfortable all over again, this kept happening all through the night. Another thing that kept me awake were all the noises on the boat, the coke cans rolling, the glasses rattling, the tin cans banging, the waves bashing and the sail slamming, it was absolutely awful sleeping on Brimble on the Atlantic crossing.

Something else that annoyed me was that everyone else saw flying fish flying but I missed them every time, even though Mummy and Daddy said they flew out over the waves for ages I could never spy them. Many mornings we would find dead flying fish on the decks, this was because at night they cannot see the boat and when they fly they land on the decks. One morning we found such a tiny one, maybe two centimetres long, Mummy wondered if it was the fish’s first flying trip, we felt a little sorry for it. I did not like it though when I had to pick the fish up and throw them back into the water they were slimy and disgusting. I was amazed at their beautiful soft shimmering wings that were able to open up so gracefully. I am still hoping to see flying fish sometime in the Caribbean and will keep a good look out.

On the 24th morning I woke up and saw land, I was so excited I screamed for joy, I couldn’t believe we were finally here in the Caribbean. It had been a very long twenty-four days, it felt like about a hundred days. I am also off pasta for a while as we ate it so much on the trip! I was proud to have crossed the Atlantic Ocean, especially as all the other children we have met so far on their boats flew out to the Caribbean and missed this long sail. I would not really like to do such a long passage again. A five or ten day sail is OK but not twenty four days although if someone asked me to do it again because they wanted my company I would cross the Atlantic again.

As we came in to Carlise Bay in Barbados we saw our good friends on Starblazer, they cheered to see us and cried for joy, no one was sure if we would make it in for Christmas as we were the smallest boat to do the crossing, but we had! As we anchored two turtles popped up as if to welcome us in to the Caribbean, it was fantastic and we were all so happy, I could not stop smiling. The water was as hot as it could be and the water was also light light blue and the beach was a golden sand colour which when I walked on it later cooled my feet. It was great to be able to swim to the beach from our boat. I was glad to have reached land.