[ The Ship’s Log – 24 November 2025 ]
Another voyage begins. It doesn’t matter how many miles you’ve logged —
every embarkation feels like starting from zero.
Out here, off Port Elizabeth — Nelson Mandela Bay.
The water is foaming, the wind slices across your face,
and the swell tosses the launch up and down without warning,
as if it wants to test you before you even come alongside.
Nothing out here comes easy.
Only the familiar strain in your back,
the steady thrum of the launch’s engine,
and your eyes locked on the steel hull waiting ahead.
This is a rhythm only sailors understand:
up… down… up… down.
One wrong step and you’re overboard.
And yet it’s precisely this moment that sharpens you.
Plant your feet, hold fast, climb the pilot ladder.
Because that’s the life.
There’s no can’t.
There’s only MUST.
_ Capt. Yiannis Kougioumtzoglou
Location: At the outer anchorage, Port Elizabeth.
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