The forecast remnants of the hurricane winds brought us to A Coruña on Monday, where we docked at the Marina Real Club Nautico. It’s a beautiful town, with one half a bustling metropolis and the other half the “Ciudad Vieja”, or the “Old City” for us gringos. Narrow streets lined with minuscule restaurants and hole-in-the-wall stores are reminiscent of a maze, with arbitrary turns and intersections every minute or so.

Somewhat frustratingly, although for the better, the massive winds were not at all as advertised and we almost would have been just as well continuing on. Such is life, though, and it still provides a good lesson in patience and going with the flow. Due to another weather system going through in the middle of next week with waves that could reach 30 feet, we’re making the next jump to Porto, Portugal.

While sitting my watches on board, I’ve found watching the ships and keeping track of the largest ones I see to be a palatable pastime. Unfortunately, though, I seem to have already won the game. Going into Sunday night, I passed four, 400 meter cargo ships. At over 1,300 feet long, these are the few largest ships in the world, and especially awe-inspiring when they pass barely a mile away. Fully loaded, examples such as the Maersk Maribo and MSC Raya weigh as much as 130,000 four-door sedans, or the entirety of Chicago’s population of 2.8 million.