Projekt Morpheus Part 2: Paul´s your Captain? Bob´s your Uncle!

The countless experiences I had on the Morpheus are difficult to put into words. Conversations with Theo about philosophy and our world views, spontaneous jam sessions, navigation lessons with Hanns, cooking only "avec les moyens du bord", Paul's merciless wit, countless deep and/or funny conversations with whoever is on board, singing the Wellerman on the ferry while I bring people ashore or get them on board, and so on. These are all experiences and memories that I will treasure forever.

In this post, however, I would like to highlight a few of the projects that I have realized on the Morpheus myself and give some additional impressions.

The worm box:

We produce a lot of organic waste on board, which has to be laboriously brought back to shore and disposed of. Some plants are already being cultivated on deck, hence my idea: with a worm box, the waste can be used sensibly and returned to the plants in a small kind of life cycle.

Two boxes, a few sheets of wood, some styrofoam for insulation (probably superfluous) and a few other little things I could find are enough to create a worm-friendly compost box. I get the beasts from the local wormer in Geesthacht and the project is complete.

Science education: Everyone who comes aboard theMorpheus can and should contribute, using their skills. For me that means teaching people about science, specifically chemistry. To do this, I paint a sketch on a mirror in the mess hall, in which the smallest particles (quarks) are zoomed out bit by bit until you end up with the clearly dominant life form.

Turns out that taking photos of what is written on mirrors is not that easy.

I'm also hosting a couchsurfing meetup on board, where we have chit chat and I do a presentation on CO2. I want to do it very casually in 20 minutes, but I go super scien and the talk with discussion ultimately takes three quarters of an hour. An extremely cozy evening, many great people, great feedback on the event - a complete success! Except for the fact that we forgot the group photo. Pity!

Parts of the last slides of my CO2 presentation are still visible.

The Kettling:

We often fire up the grill on board. But you can also remove a cover and put a cauldron inside. Result: Chili con carne as if we are in Asterix and Obelix.

Paul preparing the potion

Dish out feat. Olga

Laying the floor with Cross Fit: Hanns gives us one of his ropes, which he doesn't need on board. Since this thing, which is definitely 220 meters and not 110 meters long, is too heavy to carry, so I have to haul in a total of six lengths of it across the harbour. Good training, and satisfactory result as a decorative board carpet.

The fresh water tank:

Since we always have to fetch our fresh water from land in canisters, it's time to make the fresh water tank usable again. That means: scooping out, scraping rust, cleaning, painting... and eventually filling.

What I didn't realize before: the fresh water tank is slumbering under the cigar lounge

Theo cleaning the tank...doesn't look like it here, but I helped! :D

Other small projects:

The hand cart once went overboard into the 5 meter depth of the harbor basin. Solution: a pry bar, a >5 meter rope and 5 minutes of patience fishing around.

Our neighbor Ali is also doing work on his boat. We help him set up his mast - with a 4-strong team we raise the mast "like you don't normally do". (quote Paul)

In the dungeon we set up a screen and with a laptop and beamer we have a movie night with "O Brother, Where Art Thou?".

The kitchen could do with some new paint, so I paint it with Olga's new yolk yellow. That brightens up the room a bit!

Scrapping Tour: Scrap accumulates on board again and again, which is brought ashore and sold at the scrap yard.

Heart projects of others:

Theo's Ship Art: Here, Theo expresses his passion for seafaring in his classically poetic way. Great guy, great artwork with awesome quotes and sayings!

Olga's Minions: The walls on deck should become more alive. Olga takes care of it and makes sure that there are always little helpers on deck.

I would like to thank Paul, Hanns, Theo, Olga, Gilli, Ali, Eren, Lato and the many extremely nice people who visited (shoutout to brother Hias! :D). You made these three weeks a truly unique experience!

Of course, I can't keep dreaming in Morpheus' arms forever, I must go on. Next destination: the journey...