I (the founder) do not often share personal experiences from my work and my own experiences at sea, but as Christmas Eve is tomorrow I thought I’d share some pictures from my very first Christmas at Sea. It was onboard T/S Gunilla. I was 16 years old and a student at Öckerö seglande gymnasieskola. It was in the middle of the Atlantic (or somewhere between Morocco and Cape Verde 🤔) and the very opposite of a white Christmas. It was also my very first time being at sea. My class studied social science (Not a seafaring class, shocking I know). We sailed for two months every semester and this is form the first year when we started in Marrakesh, sailed to Las Plamas, Grenada (The the Spanish one), The Dominican Republic and last but not least Miami. Onboard there were 11 crewmembers, 1 teacher and 44 students. We worked in three shifts and the days looked something like this at sea.
An example for a day at the 12-04 watch.
Wake up at 11.55 get dressed for night watch
00.00-04.00 watch duty. We took turns working in the kitchen, lifebuoy duty, manoeuvring the ship (Old school way), trying to stay awake while looking out in the pitch Black Sea at lookout post, or being at deck, trimming the sails, painting or something else off the never ending work that needs o be done onboard.
04.00 - 08.00 sleep
08.00-12.00 eat, study eat
12.00-16.00 watch duty
16.00-00.00 fighting the internal battle off choosing between sleep, good grades and a social life.
It was a very special high school and I am forever grateful for the opportunity to go there, even though I very much prefer ships that runs by an engine 100% off the time. When we travel the world we realise how small it actually is and how similar we humans are each other, no matter in which country we grew up in.
A picture off the captain and my incredible teacher at Christmas Eve.
Being away from home during the holidays is hard for some people and a blessing for others. For me it is hard but celebrating onboard together is vary special and amazing in it’s own way. 
Have you ever celebrated Christmas at sea? If you have don’t forget to use our hashtag #saltyxmas when you share your holiday onboard photos!
❤️ Merry Christmas Everyone ❤️
