Bark Europa

Name: Bark Europa
Address: Rotterdam, NL
Telephone: +31102810990
Rating: 4.9

World wanderer and adventure seeker! Join us for a once in a lifetime experience. In a light breeze 30 sails billow from EUROPA, taking her towards the horizon.
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Since 1994 the barque EUROPA has roamed the seas of the world and built up the reputation of a ship that really sails. A professional crew of 14 and a complement of 48 voyage crewmembers of all ages and nationalities sail her. Tall Ships enthusiasts, some with no sailing experience, take the wheel, hoist the yards, navigate, etc.

22/07/2025

Bark Europa has been sailing well east of the area of the Atlantic Ocean that is conventionally known as the Sargasso Sea, but several days have found us surrounded by yellow clumps of floating plants (technically an algae, not a plant) which is known as Sargasso, or Sargasso W**d. On a couple of occasions we have collected some of the plants with a trawl.

I was astounded to find that each basketball-sized clump of feathery plant contains a complex ecosystem where organisms are born, breed and live their entire lives. We found crabs the size of my fingernail, coin-sized fish, centimeter-long shrimp and a multitude of other tiny creatures barely visible to the eye, darting about in our buckets. In contrast, we have also been trawling the open ocean as part of a “plastic in the oceans” project and, in these trawls, we find only a few juvenile flying fish, some ocean-adapted insects called Sea Skaters and tiny, blue copepods.

To help us explore this tiny undersea world of the Sargasso, we placed some of the creatures we found under a microscope, and an astonishing level of detail exploded before us. Feathery mouth parts of a crab, silvery green fish scales, the hair-like fringe along the edge of a crab’s claw, reflecting the light like a neon halo. We saw spiral shells the size of pin heads attached to plants, and an unidentified pink tube, with intricate white markings, and a fringe of pink hairs extending in all directions.

To me, the most stunning thing we were able to observe closely, was a cluster of fish eggs that were about to hatch. In their transparent egg cases, we could see their entire bodies, curled tightly inside: eyes, spine, black-spotted white skin. There were several of the fish larvae, already hatched with bulging red bellies. We also saw some that were no longer in their egg sacs, but were still tightly curled and even more that were actually observed hatching under the microscope.

I marvel that these animals, which float on the surface of an ocean 12,000 feet deep, are completely dependent on their floating seaw**d home for survival. If one of those tiny crabs were to fall off into the sea, it would die immediately. The two clusters of eggs sacs we found were attached to the plant with very strong, fibrous hairs that were very difficult to tear apart- an insurance policy that the eggs would hatch where they were laid.

As I look out from the ship and see hundreds of these floating clumps of “w**d”, I still find it hard to believe that each one is a world in itself, ingeniously populating an otherwise harsh environment. I also learned that some of these clumps may have been floating for one hundred years. Amazing!

- Sara Lyon, July 14th 2025

🗺️ Sailing from Brazil to the Azores
⛵️ www.barkeuropa.com/en/en/logbook/sargasso
🌊 Find your dream voyage: www.barkeuropa.com/en/our-voyages
📷 Isley Reust
📷 Microscope Marretje Adriaanse

22/07/2025

Wonders of the Northern Hemisphere

After crossing the equator, the world subtly shifted, not just above, but below the surface. As we sailed east of the legendary Sargasso Sea, we entered a region of the Atlantic full of golden sargassum w**d. At first glance: just floating seaw**d. But look closer, and an entire hidden world emerges.

💬 “I was astounded to find that each basketball-sized clump of feathery plant contains a complex ecosystem where organisms are born, breed, and live their entire lives,” wrote voyage crew member Sara Lyon.

In our nets: fingernail-sized crabs, coin-sized fish, shrimp, tiny blue copepods — and two clusters of fish eggs ready to hatch. With the help of a microscope, we watched intricate details come to life: the hair-like fringe on a crab’s claw glowing like a neon halo, spiral shells smaller than a pinhead, and a pink tube-like creature adorned with delicate markings.

💬 “We even managed to film a fish egg trying to hatch right in front of our eyes,” added research Marretje Adriaanse. “When would one ever be able to witness this?”

These micro-discoveries spark more than awe, they start conversations. About our relationship with nature, about childhood memories, about how little we really know of the world we float upon.

This is life on board Bark EUROPA. A sail training ship, but also a floating classroom, a platform for research, and a place to reconnect with the planet in its rawest, most magical form.

🔍 Read the full stories in our logbook, link in bio
🌎 Join a voyage and see the ocean with new eyes

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21/07/2025

Wonders of the Northern Hemisphere🦀

After we crossed the equator, the organisms we found also instantly changed. We soon sailed through an area of sargassum w**d. Biologists estimate more than 7 million tons of sargassum gulfw**d is floating in the sargasso sea! We are not sailing through the sargasso sea, but we still find loads of it. Unfortunately, the weather was not fit for the manta trawl, but that did not stop our curiosity. Sargassum floats create a habitat for species we otherwise would not find: over fifty species of organisms have adapted specifically to the sargassum, like the well camouflaged sargassum fish. And indeed, we found it!

We were lucky and the sargassum floats continued to accompany us for a few days – on the next manta trawl day it was still there. This time we even caught fish eggs ready to hatch. We took the microscope out and I could attach my camera to it to project the images live on a television screen. We even managed to film a fish egg trying to hatch right in front of our eyes. When would one ever be able to witness this? After a peaceful moment of wonder we continued – fish eyes, crab legs, small crustaceans, we studied it all. I asked some voyage crew to do the narration, and this was soon taken to the next level with weird voices and loads of laughter.

I love days like these, when I, and all who are interested hurdle around our latest catch to share our amazement and wonder (Sara also wrote a beautiful blog about the whole experience!). Deep conversations always start when I go through samples. We talk about the world, nature and our relationship with nature, our youth, our education; whatever animals we find it always triggers something. It always leads to conversations I rarely find myself in at home. But here, there is the right time and the right setting to dive in, to go a little bit deeper, with people I might not have met in any other circumstance. Viewpoints I wouldn’t have come across.

It has also been a few years since I came across sargassum w**d, so I count myself a lucky person today.

- Marretje Adriaanse, July 11th 2025
🗺️ Sailing from Brazil to the Azores
⛵️ www.barkeuropa.com/en/en/logbook/wonders-northern-hemisphere
🌊 Find our upcoming voyages: www.barkeuropa.com/en/our-voyages
📷 Isley Reust
📷 Microscope Marretje Adriaanse

16/07/2025

Plastic research on board
6.7.2025??? – By Marretje Adriaanse

For the past three years, and others before me, we have been collecting
plastic samples for the Ocean Cleanup. This means we have something on
board, called a “Manta Trawl”. It catches microplastics floating on the
water surface, which we then send to a laboratory in Rotterdam for
further analysis. Questions we like to find answers to are for example,
what type of plastic do we find? Fishing gear? Single use packaging?
Mermaid tears? And, how long has it been floating around? Where did it
come from? Since we go where the wind brings us, we tend to travel to
places where motorised vessels do not – they often just pick the
shortest route. So, by contributing as a sailing vessel, we can help
gather a better understanding of the plastic out there, and not only at
the coast or on the major routes.

As it is hard to use when we go fast, I always try to deploy it when the
wind has calmed down. Of course, frequently when it is all ready and has
just entered the water, wind picks up or even storms appear out of
nowhere behind us. And so, when there is no wind, we sometimes use it
to, just to taunt the gods – see if they want to bully me enough to make
us in the process have good sailing weather again.

On the last leg the weather was friendly and there were no difficulties.
On this trip however, an endless row of squalls was stowed upon us.
Already 10 minutes after we had put it in the water, we had to abandon
the mission. Luckily, I could try again the day after. On a sunny day we
gathered around the samples to see how much plastic is floating around
us, and learn about the plankton that lives amongst it. When you look at
the surface one would never guess there is so much life swimming around
us. Two weeks ago, we mostly found Portuguese man o’ war (Physalia), sea
skaters (Halobates) and small violet snails (Janthina). This has now
shifted to copepods, blue buttons (Porpita) and loads of tiny fish. We
are passing the equator and will soon sail in different currents,
bringing different species. Whenever we bring up our first sample of the
day, we all hurdle around the net to find out what there is this time!

The last few days we had little to now wind. This morning the conditions
seemed perfect again. And while I was planning to get the trawl ready,
of course, the wind picked up again. I want to be optimistic and not
assume I personally am being prevented to do some science. I like to
believe Neptune is maybe giving us his blessing. Maybe rewarding us with
wind for doing research and contributing to efforts to keep his ocean clean?

We are curious to see what is floating around us, so we will just give
it a go anyway.

15/07/2025

Meeting Neptune's Court🧜‍♂️

We have been away for a week but it feels longer. In a record time we have a crew that functions like a supportive group. People sing songs together, cheer each other on, make jokes and have fun. It is hard to describe what gives it away, but this group is a good one. The atmosphere is great.

The atmosphere is so good, that when we locked them up in the deckhouse yesterday, so we could set up the equation crossing ceremony in peace, the atmosphere didn’t change. They kept on singing, joking around – as if they were not remotely worried about what was waiting for them outside…

It also didn’t help that the spooky music list on my phone, suddenly changed to Taylor Swift. Of course, this was only a brief interlude in the symphony of fear as the pollywogs prepared to face the Court of King Neptune. And they were worried. We have been preparing for days, gave them some information about what was to come – but not enough to really give anything away. And so, for days they we could hear them mumbling in the corridors. What are they going to do? What is going to happen?

Case puts on a question each day, always starting with ‘would you rather…’. Fittingly, one day before he wrote “Would you rather have no eyebrows or no hair?”. For some, stress greatly increased after this. And we, the shellbacks, didn’t even have to lift a finger.

Unfortunately, I can not tell you what really happened. Shellback code. All I can say, is that memories have been made and we will land in the Azores with a ship full of shellbacks and short in pollywogs. If you are waiting for your loved ones, I can not promise you will recognize them. I can however promise you they are all the better for it.

- Marretje Adriaanse, July 11th 2025

📷 Isley Reust

14/07/2025

We crossed the line🌊

We crossed the equator, marked by the loud sound of the horn. In the minutes prior, Marcus played guitar and Captain Moritz sang a self-made song about the whole experience. We enjoyed ourselves. Meanwhile, the voyage crew seemed nervous, they know crossing the equator is accompanied by a ceremony, the content of which is strictly hidden. What they did not know was when it would all start.
We granted them another night and will welcome them to the Northern Hemisphere tomorrow.

The Europa has not been in the Northern Hemisphere since the first trip I did, sailing from Tenerife to Puerto Madryn. This was already three years ago. Since that time, I have grown as a person and met so many new sailors. Still, I think back fondly on this trip and all the people who were on board then. It was a magical trip. And I feel honoured to now be on board for this trip in the opposite direction, sailing back to Europe. A full circle sailed.

More to come, but for now I have to cut it short: there is a ceremony to prepare.

- Marretje Adriaanse, July 11th 2025
📷 Isley Reust

02/07/2025

When the day met the night🌌

I love music, and apparently so does the part of my brain that retains valuable information. I could possibly have cured cancer and solved world hunger, had I not stored away all the lyrics to ‘Piano Man’ or ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. Surely, that will come in handy someday soon.

One such set of lyrics, that I don’t think I will ever be able to forget, is from an old Panic At The Disco! song: ‘’When the moon fell in love with the sun, all was golden in the sky. All was golden when the day met the night.’’

We have many expressive ways to talk about sunsets, all generations have waxed poetic about it in the past, and will hopefully continue to do so in the future. Even rock painting Neanderthals probably spoke about sunsets in single syllable grunts. Expressions of splendour centuries before the discovery of atoms and visual light spectrums and sliced bread. One of my favourites is that of e.e. cummings: ‘’If day has to become night, this is a beautiful way.’’

For the past couple of days I have been going around asking crew members if they have a preferred constellation, planet and or other celestial phenomenon. With the exception of one or two, who supplied me with immediate and passionate answers, everyone had the exact same response – a rare form of unity – ‘’I don’t know much about the (science of) stars.’’

Despite my curiosity having no correct desired response, everyone felt the need to use lack of knowledge to diminish their value of what they enjoy in nature. I do not support the notion that scientific knowledge is required to understand the beauty of something. It can simply be beautiful, regardless of the atoms or the systems that create it.

I frequently think about past versions of myself, the things they enjoyed and disliked, where they were, where they thought they were going. I think, be it because of science or any other factors that we allow to inhibit ourselves, we have refrained from enjoying what we used to. We used to be so good at looking at stars or seeing cloud shapes or imagining life on other planets.

Many of these song lyrics I carry around in my overfilled brain – now including MANY sea shanties and 2 Swedish folk songs - has formed part of my past, and continue to carry me through my present. As for many other people, I’m sure, I frequently have to remind myself that I still have time. I’m young and I need to enjoy life as it comes. As Billy Joel more eloquently put it: ‘’Slow down, you’re doing fine. You can’t be everything you want to be before your time.’’

I can’t rewrite my past. It is now prologue. I can outline my plans for the future, plan it out like a novel, but only time will write what happens. For now, I can choose to look at the stars with childlike amazement, and see sunsets for the breath taking, and breath giving, phenomena that they are – without needing scientific proof or understanding. I think e.e. cummings - should he also have had the blessing to sail on Europa, and the heartbreak of having to leave her behind - would have agreed, that if my present has to become past, this is a beautiful way.

To my fellow travellers – friends – we have time. We can simply like a star because we like it. Heck, we can even name it if we want, science be damned. Our past is our prologue. Your future is yours.

Slow down. You’re doing fine. Brazil waits for you…

- Anya Marx, June 30th 2025
📷 Marretje Adriaanse

01/07/2025

Yesterday, at the end of a long day, I told Isley I wasn’t sure if I could handle another eventful day, or even hour at that point. The last two days have been nothing short of eventful. And as I am writing this, trying to tell you about everything that has been going on the last few days, I am still in doubt if I should not rather run outside to film the endless rain that just hit us this morning. Film the raindrops dripping from the railings, the people on deck standing out with their bright coloured hoods or the horizon. The horizon is no longer a neat line: the clouds cover where the sea ends and where the sky starts: we are sailing into the mist – if I was directing a movie about sailing in the 18th century, maybe including a battle at sea, this is the weather in which I would like to film it.

At the same time Niels, one of our engineers, who also used to be a fire fighter, is giving firefighting training on deck. And at the same time Isley just picked up a guitar, playing gentle tunes right next to me, tunes I could easily dream away on. And at the same time, I would like to tell you about the last two days. An event-free day has been too much to ask, I think!

Two days ago, there were rainbows all around the ship. Multiple rainbows, on portside and starboard. I spend a full hour running around on the deck like crazy person, trying to figure out from which angle I wanted to capture it. As soon as I found a good spot they would disappear and then reappear after I would have put my camera away. It felt a bit like when you think you killed all the flies in the kitchen and then new ones keep appearing. I went through the more positive version of that emotional rollercoaster. At the end, the most beautiful rainbow anyone on board has ever seen, formed around the ship. The rainbow was a full circle, and we were sailing right in the middle of it all. This is the moment I think I lost my sanity and I only have blurry pictures made in full panic mode.

Where do you go? Where do you look? There is no protocol for being in the middle of a rainbow. In the meantime, while I entered full panic mode, the lucky ones up in the rigging had an amazing view, and as I understood, something not far from a spiritual moment. Someone even joked they just had a conversation about religion, mentioning how they did not believe in a deity, to then 10 minutes later receive an incredible natural phenomenon – almost as if someone wanted to prove them wrong.

Yesterday we did a man-over-board (MOB) drill in which Romeo, a homemade doll, was strapped to a buoy and chucked overboard. After which, with the whole crew, we stopped the ship to save him. The crew worked as a ‘well-oiled machine’, as we would say in the Netherlands (and as it happens apparently, everywhere else) - and all the sails were taken away in a matter of minutes. It is always astonishing how fast we can bring the ship to a full stop. Romeo was saved, and after setting a few sails back up the speed was perfect to put the manta trawl in the water and do some plastic research. As if this was all not enough excitement already, a whale came to check out what we were up to, circling the ship multiple times before diving back into the deep. She was only a few meters from the manta trawl, clearly observing it - and again, I was close to losing my sanity trying to work out how to capture this on camera.

I have put my camera to rest. I brought so many batteries; the camera will never make that choice for me. It is hard to let go, to accept you cannot document all or even remember all. Time to enjoy the moment. As Toni Morrison once said: “At some point in life, the world’s beauty becomes enough. You don’t need to photograph, paint, or even remember it. It is enough”.

Beautiful words I will end this blog with, to know perfectly well, I will be running around with a camera again tomorrow.

- Marretje Adriaanse, June 26th 2025
🌈 Matthias Dresscher

26/06/2025

The magic of night watch🌌

Bark EUROPA is being solely stirred by us, the Voyage Crew. During the day there is naturally a lot going on on the ship and as Voyage Crew we also have plenty of other things to do.

During the night this is different: in our watch we are five, two people on the wheel for 30 minutes each, two people on the look-out for 30 minutes each and one person is always on break for 30 minutes, then we change and continue rotating. We are supported by an officer on the bridge and two members of the permanent crew, who also have other tasks. The remainder of the ship's crew is sleeping and trusts us blindly to be sailed safely to South America. This responsibility and their trust make us proud!

On the look-out there is complete darkness at night, no disturbing lights and we can wonder at a sky full of stars, that is only visible at sea or in the mountains! Millions of shining dots are visible like glow worms or fireflies (thank you Philippe) and we can also see many star signs like scorpio, the southern cross or the lyra. Every once in a while, we also see shooting stars and meteorites passing by and brightening the sky. Adding to that the sound of the ocean, which always gives me a rush of joy!

At the wheel there is more light: the bridge, the compass and other instruments produce a dimm light. From 2am onwards, the moon rises exactly behind us and trails above Bark EUROPA brightening the nightly waveplay. Yesterday a gigantic whale visited us: blowing loudly he showed up only 20 meters next to our ship and accompanying us for 10 minutes for sure. I will certainly never forget his in moonlight silver shimmering body and the elegance of his flowing movements!

- Matthias Drescher, Voyage Crew

25/06/2025

Homesick 💭

I feel it is important to inform you, that a lot of what I write is not my own. Not my words or my stories or my experiences or my feelings. I am just a mosaic of all the songs I have heard, the people I’ve met and the places I’ve been. “All my good lines are always stolen’’ – a quote that is itself taken from a book I read some time ago.

Just for you, I will attempt to write about an experience that has in fact been mine: Being on this ship has made me homesick – just not for my own home.

Don’t get me wrong, I miss my family and my dog and my bed and my people, but somehow that is different. That’s mine. I get to go back and have it all again. It will of course be different – so will I - but it will be home.

I have instead become homesick for homes I have never had. I miss the feeling of working a job in a theatre in Wisconsin, or hiking in Sweden. I nostalgically long for mornings in French cafes, cuddles with cats in Quebec or picnics on Austrian hills. I (unfortunately) have never done any of these things, but my crewmates have – therefore, by extension so have I.

They’ve shared their lives in pictures and stories and songs and smells. The Durban curry brought up conversations of swimming in Umhlanga, and the Hasselback potatoes prompted talks of Swedish traditions. Our emotions can overcome any language barriers – the inability to express
an experience in words can be bypassed by conveying similar feelings.

I can feel the sunshine of a childhood in Brazil because I’ve felt the sunshine of Christmas holidays in Cape Town. It’s not the same experience, but the same feeling, and that is enough to understand. There is some beauty in sharing with others. To be loved is to be known. To feel understood, even if briefly and incompletely.

It can be a scary process, though. At the start, we hesitantly talked about where we come from and how Europa found her way to us. Now, even just a week in, people reminisce about crazy ex-roommates and their favourite birthday gifts – the type of silly but significant things that come out as they uncover the layers of their souls. We bring so many parts of ourselves along with us wherever we go.

I am not writing this story. It is my pen on the paper, but it is our collective experience. My best lines are sometimes stolen, but my best adventures are always shared. Together, we are building a collective home on Europa. One filled with tales of burnt toast, and catching tiny fish with big hooks. We decorate this home with laughter and good food
and idealizations of warding off pirates. Strong foundations laid by the shanties we sing, the jokes we make and the places we go.

This home will also become one I will be homesick for. But it will be an altogether new and different homesickness – a type I can only truly share with my fellow sailors. One without a cure.

- Anya Marx, Voyage crew
📷 Marretje Adriaanse

24/06/2025

The life on board resembles a microcosm. Influence from outside is reduced to a minimum. Neither Donald, Vladimir or Benjamin nor WhatsApp or Instagram play a role or direct our thoughts or feelings.

Our screentime has been drastically reduced. Make-up and choice of clothes are suddenly no longer important. The social standing plays equally no role like the car brand that you drive at home. What counts are our own strength and capabilities that we can use to our advantage and that of our crew members.

Some are successfully fishing, some are making music together, offer photo editing workshops or are peeling potatoes. Everyone is literally pulling on the same string. I had the pleasure of getting a hair and beard cut. Sitting in the sun on the look-out, surrounded by warm wind and with unparalleled view it was a special pleasure that others were able to enjoy too.

- Matthias Dresscher, voyage crew, June 16th 2025
📷 Yse Boucas

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http://www.barkeuropa.com/

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Ocean Wanderer

In a light breeze 30 sails billow from EUROPA, taking her towards the horizon. Our voyages bring us to remote islands and cities all over the world, giving you the possibility to step on board halfway through a long ocean crossing.

Bark EUROPA follows the favourable winds of traditional sailing routes. This has brought her to all continents, sailing the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Ocean, thus earning her nickname Ocean Wanderer. From December to March in the Southern hemisphere summer EUROPA conducts expeditions to the Antarctic Peninsula.

EUROPA also participates in Tall Ships Races, the largest international ocean races for sail-training ships in the world. Races occur annually in various parts of the world with thousands of spectators. Our crew and guests are international and of different ages, united in their search for adventure and new experiences.

22/07/2025

22/07/2025

21/07/2025

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14/07/2025

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26/06/2025

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24/06/2025

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