I’m a Seafarer
I didn’t choose to be, rather I was chosen. There was no Sea tradition on my family, neither in the community where I born and grew up. I was not sent by any psychological or vocational test. I was not even in love by the Sea. I just came, at some point in my life, with good and free will, looking for an opportunity.
What I discovered, was really another world.

I’m a Seafarer
I’m part of your life. Even if you don’t know me.
I see you in the streets, on television, everywhere. I care about you.
I help to deliver the clothes that you wear, the energy that warms and moves you, the food that supports your smile. I also help you to visit paradisiac places and to achieve your biggest dreams.
Truly, I’m never alone. I just close my eyes and I see you all following your lives. It warms my soul to know that I have a mission. And you are a huge part of it.

I’m a Seafarer
This is much more than a profession – this is a way of living.
The absence of trivial things and emotions, the singularity of living in a small ship floating in a huge Sea, the over exposure to Mother Nature, the constant movement of the platform and the infinite departure-arrival cycle, all mixed, creates a unique environment. Not just for the body. Also much for the soul.
Seafarers are forged with steel and silver, blended with faith, courage and strength, blessed by God.

I’m a Seafarer
I don’t have an easy life at Sea.
I miss my beloved. I miss the perfume, the flavours and the colors of my country. I miss the daily routine and those so simple things. I miss intimacy.
Days at Sea requires me all, delivering all my energy to learn and to work, facing infinite challenges. Not only physical and technical. Also social ones.
Shipping is a multicultural and multicolored place. Here you find people as high as sunny mountains and as deep as the darkest abyss. Living together in a confined space, sharing wave’s frequency. Unique.
Sea is really the land of secrets. Warm and cold, blue, orange and also gray. Magic and crazy. The perfect place to a deep conversation with yourself.

I’m a Seafarer
I confess.
I have a parallel life.
When at Sea, I follow Sea rules, traveling around the world, dreaming about return home. When at home, I follow family rules, immersed in a ocean of love and care, thinking about return to Sea.
In either places, I belong, I share and I try to deliver the best of me. In either places, my liberty ends where other’s liberty begins. I respect.
However, the different habitats change my attitude, my humor, senses and feelings, dressing me with different colors. Like a Sea chameleon.

But, in both places, I’m always a Seafarer. Forged with steel and silver, blended with faith, courage and strength, blessed by God.

Alvaro Sardinha
Proud to be Seafarer