Tuesday: April 10, 2012
I’m sitting here looking out at the Atlantic. It’s big. Let’s say…immense. And it is calm today. No wind…no whitecaps…and we are running with the small swells. I was ready for rough weather. During our first night the sea was rough and we rolled and bumped our way north-eastward. The next morning the ship’s motion was smooth, but the swells were the same height. That was strange. It was explained that the Gulf Stream was the problem; it causes all sorts of erratic currents which, when mixed with swells, cause ships to pitch and roll excessively.
The
Atlantic is also lonely, even in 2012.
We saw a two-masted sailing ship on our first day out.
The Captain announced that it was a research vessel which is always on the
Atlantic.
Yesterday Kathie and I saw a whale; it was jumping and slapping the water with its flukes…putting on a real show.
And last night Kathie saw a light on the horizon.
But that’s it…there is nothing out there.
How lonely must it have been for Columbus and his crew, who were not even certain that there was an end to their voyage. We wondered what it must have been like for the early Saints who were crowed below decks, for weeks, in all kinds of weather conditions. And here we are on a “pleasure” cruise, on the Atlantic.
100 years ago today the Titanic left England from Southampton; it sank four days later. But who’s thinking about that? It’s time to eat!
