The sun21 crew at the press conference after their arrival in New York (Beat von Scarpatetti, David Senn, Michel Thonney, Martin Vosseler, Mark Wüst, from the left)
Arrival in New York City
The mayor of Miami, Manuel A. Diaz, presents the crew the Keys to the City of Miami.
Arrival at Martinique.
The sun21 heading to Martinique.
On the way to the Canary Islands.
Due to a storm the sun21 sought refuge in the harbour of Casablanca (Morocco).

Weblog

Apr 17, 2007: Catching up

17°C / 63°F
Position:32° 16’ N-80° 15 W
Wind: 20km/h

Due to a lack of sunshine we had to dock at Jacksonville for a couple of days. As soon as the sun was back, we left the “Intercoastal Waterways” to catch up the plan and are now travelling along the coast of Georgia and South Caroline.

After a day under cloud-covered sky we landed at an empty dock in the middle of an open, completely deserted marsh landscape. Later we found out: It was 20 miles away from the center of Jacksonville, but still on City territory – we were told that Jacksonville had the greatest surface area of all US towns. The sign at the dock said: “No docking allowed”; but the dock master whom we contacted by phone was welcoming and agreed that we could stay there – for two and a half days due to lack of sunshine. The adjacent property belonged to the “Kingfish Tournament Club”. Once a year they organize a big competition: “Who can catch the biggest kingfish?”. Last year the first prize consisted of a boat worth $250,000. The staff of the well-equipped offices became our friends. They helped us in every way they could and offered us a tour to downtown Jacksonville and to the university campus. On the last evening we were invited to a private home where we played violin duets for our hosts and their neighbours.

When the weather cleared up we left Florida and the “Intracoastal Waterways” at the Mary’s River estuary. Since then we have been catching up to our schedule by travelling along the coast of Georgia and South Carolina under the best weather conditions. We enjoy being once more on the high seas and watching sea birds diving for fish by jack-knifing vertically into the water.

Here animals are often under enormous pressure from human activities. The first thing we saw after landing was a big poster that reminded boaters on the duty to protect the sea cows, called “manatees”. They are highly threatened by fast boats that kill the slow animals eating sea grass. We saw hundreds of these warning signs along the waterways; but also hundreds of boats that passed us at a very high speed – no chance for a manatee that gets in their way. We also saw a seagull that had swallowed a piece of a fishing line. A part of it was hanging out of its beak. It was very irritated and tried to get rid of it – it disappeared before we could organize help. It was a drama that left us pensive and sad; the seagull will not survive.

Comments

Ellen und Fredy Arnold aus Toffen:

Lieber Martin und crew

Dank der guten Berichte (wir haben bisher keinen verpasst) sind wir mit euch auf dieser einmaligen Reise. Wir gratulieren der crew zu dieser grossartigen Leistung und hoffen, dass das schw. Fernsehen die Ankunft in N.Y. überträgt. Wir freuen uns schon jetzt auf ein gesundes Wiedersehen.

Ellen und Frey

Martin, crew sun21:

Liebe Ellen, lieber Fredy, schoen, von Euch zu hoeren und Eure Begleitung zu spueren. Ich freue mich auch auf unser Wiedersehen. Zurzeit sind wir in Wilmington, N.C.. Im Gegensatz zur Schweiz ist es hier kalt, seit langem wieder einmal. Und das frische Hellgruen des Fruehlingslaubs - wieder in einer Gegend, wo sich die Jahreszeiten deutlich voneinander unterscheiden. Bis bald, Martin