At 9 o'clock I'm on U-deck, ready to sprint to Sines. Next to the gangway I have a chat with the watchman, a 31 year old Filipino sailor named Francis. Everybody who comes on board has to pass the watchman and is registered. Francis is an O.S., an Ordinary Sailor - the lowest sailor in rank.He is very interested in what I am planning today, he is the first sailor I know, who will disembark himself at the slightest chance. Most sailors and officers rarely, if ever, set foot ashore; either out of indifference, or because all their time goes to loading and unloading, or because they are simply too broken up. They stay on the ship for months. At breakfast I asked the captain the question. His answer: "I only disembark with my full suitcase". Never, except on the last day of his contract.But not Francis !
"He takes his Iphone out of his overalls and starts scrolling."
Pictures of his visit to Antwerp last year: Brabo, the Grote Markt, the Bourla and... The chaos after the first "cut" of the slates; he remembers his trip through the mud to the Seafarer's Center on the Italiëlei very well. And he keeps on scrolling: pictures of Francis in New York, in Hamburg, in New Orleans... Everywhere his cheerful snout pops up, always in a good mood.When his contract on the Alessia is over, he flies to the Philippines to marry his fiancée, a teacher he has known for a long time and with whom he has built a little house. His Iphone shows a white villa with a breathtaking view, spared by fern, all alone, because his sweetheart only earns $500 a month as a teacher, he himself $1,250. Is there anything left at the end of each month? "Sometimes" he says. "I give that to my sister. She's at the police academy in Manila. She wants to be a cop."Ten minutes later, I finally descend the gangway, straight into the immigration officer's car. The man is very friendly. He drops me off at the only bank branch in town, because of course I forgot my money on board.It gets better and better. The sun chases away the last clouds and Sines turns out to be a sleepy little town with multicoloured houses in streets that fidget around a medieval castle overlooking the sea. Next to the castle stands the huge statue of the most famous inhabitant of Sines : Vasco Da Gama, the explorer who put India on the map in the 15th century.
"Sines' past is greater than the somewhat poor present,"
But still, the inhabitants are proud: their town is not very soup, but their port is the largest and best equipped in all of Portugal.While I'm sitting on an empty terrace behind a white wine, our ship is unloaded by five container cranes, the same as those in Antwerp. I can see them busy from here. "In Lisbon only cruise ships come," says the pub owner with his nose picked up.Talk about nose. From the fishing port downstairs irresistible smells of fish and shellfish start to take off. A large number of fishing boats are anchored in the bay and as I descend from the town to sea level, two just walk in with their catch. They moor just in front of the fish-mine, but unfortunately that is forbidden territory for foreigners.Coincidentally I am standing next to a pile of crates full of red, grey and white fish that have been dropped off by previous boats. They are picked up by the owner of a restaurant behind me. It says "O Bejinha" on the facade. It's a bare, somewhat primitive looking shed, but freshness doesn't need a wreath. It's fixed: I'm eating here this afternoon.Around the corner and under the same roof, there is a cafe. There's a sleeping dog outside the door. He doesn't even look up when I step over him to the bar. I inquire until what time "O Bejinha" stays open and as an answer my name is asked. Someone will call me within an hour to go to the table, as long as I am allowed to sit here.
"Turns out cafe and diner are connected by a hole in the wall."
All liquor will be passed through here. An hour later someone sticks his head through the hole and shouts out loud "EDUARDO" !!!!"O Benjinha" is packed with Portuguese. Before I am allowed to sit at the table, the patron pulls me up to a cooling eye in which the fish I just saw outside are lying. Newly caught tongues, red beans, brill, octopus, hake, pieces of cod, etcetera. I have to point out which one I want. I point. A sole of about a kilo is held in front of my nose. I nod with an air as if this is daily fare for me. Okay. I'll do it.As an appetizer, I get a plate full of squid chunks in greens with olive oil. With bread I wipe away the last residue and at the same time the tongue is put down, in its entirety. And half a litre of white wine. Then coffee. With a Portuguese cognac. The bill afterwards is simple. It says - next to the drink - : octopus & 1 peixe. 1 fish. Together 27 €. Later someone tells me I paid too much. Yeah, I guess so.
*
Night. As the Alessia steams towards the coast of Andalusia, I wake up from the heat. The air inside is thick and I unscrew the porthole. Fresh oxygen flows in and when I look up I see the stars for the first time this trip. The sky is pitch black and countless twinkling lights invite me. In piama trousers and T-shirt I shoot up deck E and from there down the outer stairs to deck D, which stretches over the full width of the ship, more than 40 meters on five.There I am, at half past two at night, all alone and surrounded by the sea that you can only hear but not see. Above that a sky resembling a tightly stretched black sail in which someone has punctured thousands, no millions of holes through which lights shine, from one horizon to the other. The stars of the big bear claim the strongest light, elsewhere stands the little bear, no further reaches my knowledge. Between the stars the light sweeps of the Milky Way are visible.
"When I look up, it's like I'm right at the center of it all."
You sometimes hear it said that in certain situations a human being acts on his own. It's a bit like that. It is as if the door to my subconscious is ajar, with behind it the true reason for my presence here.Gradually it becomes clear what brought me here. Things coincide. I think of my family, my loved ones and my forever absent. Everything that happened had a reason and from the result I now see the direction. This direction I must continue in my life.I crawl back into bed. At half past four I get up again and go outside again. The number of stars in the sky is less and their light fades. It's darker now. I'll stay on deck for a long time. It's strange, I feel wide awake and don't feel like sleeping anymore. The ship sails on undisturbed through the night.
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