Medivac

 

Before we ever sailed away from Southampton my traveling compadre and I roamed around the ship exploring and getting the lay of the land. We also scouted out the weak, and feeble among us and started numbering just who was going to be air lifted off the ship first.

Three day’s out, the captain announced that because of the weather, and our slower speed

Passing A Tanker In 10 Foot Seas

That we would not be able to call at our first port on Sunday, Gran Canaria Las Palmas. Instead, we would head directly to the next port of call Santa Cruz De Teneri.

It all sounded quite reasonable as we have been sailing in 10-foot seas, since exiting the English Channel and heading south in the Atlantic. Little did we know that the topless Captain had something up his sleeve.

It was only a few minutes until the Captain came on again and said that “We had a patient that needed to be flown off the ship”, and he was altering our course and heading full speed towards Lisbon where the helicopter could come from.

Gee not even three full days in and already we were doing medivacs with a helicopter. We speculated which person we tagged was the lucky winner of a ride in a basket, and even though we will never know for sure we went with our number one pick of a older fellow with a walker that had to stop every few steps to catch his breath.

Sky Carriage Approaching Sky Princess

Unlike Queen Mary 2 people were out on the upper deck to watch the action. I stayed in our stateroom and fussed with my scanner and was finally able to hear the captain talk to the helicopter. Everyone got great praise for doing their jobs! And the patient was in good hands.

It took two tries to lift the patient off, as the seas were really rolling, and the wind was strong. After the first attempt the captain told us he was moving to a new spot, and they would try again. The second attempt was successful

Our Little Detour

Approaching the Strait Of Gibraltar, we saw plenty of cargo ships. Some heading from the strait and other like us heading south. We even spotted two NATO warships, that were keeping a eye out for Russian ships, that are apparently blocked from these waters, because of russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Flipping russians

Canceling our first port of call, has given us a extra sea day, and as far as I’m concerned cruising is fine until ports happen. But a port will be happening tomorrow. Las Palmas, and then the very next day Funchal. Another full day at sea and we will call at Vigo, on the Portugal mainland. After that it is one full day to get back to Southampton, where we will be heading back to amerika specifically Fort Lauderdale Florida.