The day started with a unexpected surprise: the sunrise was... a green light!  For years I've looked at sunsets everywhere for that magic green ray and today there it was, a circle as green as the one I saw through the sextant just the day before.  Coincidence, one might say. Still it‘s good to know that magic exists even if it is just in our backs.

I was ending my morning shift, with my hands and head on tasks such as dish washing, laundry and cleaning.  Jacob worked his wonders in the kichen again.  This time we enjoyed a true English breakfast, with bacon and eggs, and baked beans.  The only thing missing at 8am was half a pint. (Only joking!)  

At my side was Jens, we share a lot of the daily working tunes not routines!  We were on deck and suddently the fishing gear started to bend.  I remembered to jump up really fast and run to pick it up and start pulling. The bait came out of the water first with no fish but then it went under the water again and I felt the fish biting so strongly that my heart started racing. I began dreaming... and it was true: my first catch in the Atlantic Ocean!   Slowly I pulled up the line and the fish was really beautiful, with golden and blue skin.  Mikkel A told me it was a ‘dorado‘.   It made all sense!   He was the one who picked up the fish from the water on deck where it had landed.  

I was in a state of WOW - I couldn‘t believe I’d done it. My mind travelled back to when I was younger and learned how to fish with my boyfriend.  I even won a first prize in a contest.  The trophy was actually bigger than the fish that I caught!

Back in the moment, I looked at Jens and we did a high five but I sensed that something was missing.  I felt it was also his fish too and there was nothing I could do to change the fact that I had caught it...

Then just after lunch the universe made everything even.  No coincidence at all.  

I look at the fishing gear bending and shouted "fish again"!  I jumped with even more enthusiasm than before, I pulled with short movements and a huge fish jumped out of the water!  I was in a state of WOW part two and started to say repeatedly, "Call Jens, call Jens".  (Tine later confirmed that I‘d said it several times in a row.) Finally, Jens appeared on deck and I passed over the gear and he caught the second dorado – bigger than the first one.  

I do not know if I was happier in that moment, with this shared happiness.  It's almost indescribable, like a warm feeling in the chest and feeling sparkles coming out of the eyes, as if my whole being was smiling.

Mikkel A again took the fish inside the boat and Jens and I made another high five.  The circle was now complete.  It might be more than a feeling or as we called it here on board, a "being".

In the afternoon we did the first part of a workshop about Oceans of Hope.  This is really important to get us set and ready for the arrival in Boston at ECTRIMS (European Committee for treatment and research in Multiple Sclerosis).  We re-read our old blog posts.  I must say that I felt as if I was re-living each step of the jouney all over again in rewind mode.  As if I was there again, with brighter colors and renewed sensations.  The whole experience became even deeper because I could now add the perspectives of other crew members.  This made the same moments even more vivid and special.  What a major unexpected insight and gift of life!

The dinner was at ‘Jacob's Gourmet Restaurant‘: fresh dorado with rice and red wine. What a treat!  I didn't even mind doing the dishes in exchange.

How in the world we could guess Oceans of Hope would be like this?  I can't wait for all the tomorrows of my life so I can share this eye and heart opening project with everyone.  I know that "my persons" back home sense that I am really happy and fulfilled.  I have so much love and joy to give back.  My life's already changed in just one month: being grateful and smiling all day long with the amazing Danish crew is the most visible side effects of Oceans of Hope in me.

What a blessing!   Just another unexpected day at the paradise called Oceans of Hope.  Did I forget to mention MS?  Great, it's becoming a delightful habit.  I closed my eyes and I slipped away...