July 18, 2010
Hi world! It’s Sunday. There is no ship meeting at lunchtime today but there is a formal dinner at 1930, equipt with red wine and desert. Folks on the ship really know how to cook…and eat (and drink too but that’s another story). It is lat 40, long about 41. I woke up again as always at 0330 for the watch but it is almost 9 am now and I am snuggled into the bunk to nap and write. Rio and I have created a cozy little nook here. Claus and Christine and the rest took the wall out of the middle so that we could have a bunk for two. They call it the honeymoon suite (and I guess it is appropriate). What a strange coupling I have got myself into in addition to a strange adventure. Yet we seem to fit like glue in many ways, even when we are bickering about bedsheets and laundry, a daily chore since we do it all by hand. He keeps trying to get me to do his laundry and I keep trying to get him to do mine. I said that he should do mine all the time to make up for the thousands of years that women have done mens laundry. That worked for about one load. Now I am back to scrubbing my own socks…
Anyhow, this little bed nestled in between the Shiela and Peter (the women’s and the men’s heads) is just perfect for a day like today- cold, cloudy, on the brink of rain again. A little light wind is coming up from the north, enough to sail. The ship creaks and moans, her sails aching in the cold. Other than that, it is quiet. Sleepiness sets in like it did on the helm today. Oops, falling asleep again despite the reinstatement of my coffee habit. Sometimes nothing helps but to get some ZZZzzzzz…]
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July 14, 2010 Lat 42 Long 47
The list continues…spinner dolphins, whales (whales!), sharks (the fin bobbing consistently and menacingly through the calm water gave it away and sent a shiver down my spine), the multi-dimensional sunfish that swims on the top of the water with two big eyes looking up into the white clouds and the blue sky…Words cannot describe the beauty that exists in the water. Out in the big blue, out in the middle, those of the wild are not afraid of humans and humans, in turn, are not afraid to be a little wild. The wild creatures come right up to the ship. They are curious and so are we! This morning was perfect. The sun came in like a bright orange bulb, spreading its color across the sky. I was up before it was, of course. I took the star and constellation book up on deck with me to try to identify things in the early morning darkness. I thought I saw Venus and Polarus and some constellations.
Our lives hang in the balance. At any moment, a storm or a mechanical breakdown or a human vulnerability or even a rogue wave for that matter could be the end of one or all of us. In the meantime, there is a shark doing his thing, swimming in the ocean less than ten meters from the ship. He is all black, like a shadow lurking. There are dolphins too, wisely on the other side of the ship, acting like the hunters they are. They jump and teem, sometimes in pairs or four at a time, when they have found a school of fish and are going in for the kill. There is the sun shining. I am on a crazy adventure. I can hardly believe that I am here. I have to pinch myself and I am full of gratitude. Thank you, I whisper.
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WRITTEN: July 13, 2010 Day After Rio’s Birthday !
Looking off the stern with Rio standing in the fog at midnight feeling like we could be in the 1700’s or 1800’s, on a cargo ship bound for the “New World” or maybe what we thought was India but turned out to be the New World. With the light and the mist and the way he was dressed (minus the camcorder and the lazer pointer draped around his neck), I imagined I was the wife of a sailor who was on crew on this giant vessel, but alas he died at sea and here this stranger is trying to console me on the stern in the middle of the night…Ah, the tragedy and I am mourning, but he is kind of cute…
After many cachasas (very strong Brazilian liquor), Rio was waving the lazer pointer around in the water, green streams hitting the tiny waves. We are watching the lazerstream cut through the fog and then suddenly it lands on items floating in the water, like a river of odd-shaped fish. What is it? We are stunned. Have we stumbled across a school of mutant ahi? Quick, get the lines out! Time for sushi again..No, it is a line of biodegradable trash. Someone has cleaned out the galley and is dumping the compost off the deck at midship. Wine bottled bob in the sea, pieces of lettuce and carrot as well, cardboard wrappers from spaghetti cartons. I announce, rather unlady-like, “The Heraclitus is taking a dump!” And we both break down in peels of laughter. But touchingly, lovingly, we are only half joking. She after all , is truly a living, creature, a sea giant, like a giant kissing fish in the middle of the ocean.
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Written on: July 12, 2010 Rio's Birthday!
The sea. I smell her pungently. It smells like we are going into her crevices, her intimate places. The sea teems with life today! I worked hard on watch this morning and I wanted to. It felt good. Jellyfish, birds, pilot whales (pilot whales!), dolphins, a school of six yellowfin tuna, as slick as Japanese swords- right now we are only 300 miles from Newfoundland. This is new territory for me, on the physical level here on earth and in my life, in experiences too. I have never been here before except in my dreams. HOw DOES when act when suddenly her dreams have come true? There is nothing at all to do but stand there with my mouth open like a stunned baby, watching the vibrant world go by.
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WRITTEN: July 11, 2010
Things I Saw At Sea Today (Starboard, Early Morning Shift, 1,000 miles from land)
A moth
A spider
A jellyfish
A piece of seagrass
A thin, brown and white feather
A jellyfish attached to a piece of seagrass
A feather attached to a piece of seagrass
A piece of seagrass attached to a jellyfish attached to a feather (just kidding)
A watery path of bubbles portside
Half a white feather
Another feather (where do all these feathers come from?)
Ripples on top of ripples on top of water folded and creased like a silk blanket
---- ---- ---- --
Hi world! It’s Sunday. There is no ship meeting at lunchtime today but there is a formal dinner at 1930, equipt with red wine and desert. Folks on the ship really know how to cook…and eat (and drink too but that’s another story). It is lat 40, long about 41. I woke up again as always at 0330 for the watch but it is almost 9 am now and I am snuggled into the bunk to nap and write. Rio and I have created a cozy little nook here. Claus and Christine and the rest took the wall out of the middle so that we could have a bunk for two. They call it the honeymoon suite (and I guess it is appropriate). What a strange coupling I have got myself into in addition to a strange adventure. Yet we seem to fit like glue in many ways, even when we are bickering about bedsheets and laundry, a daily chore since we do it all by hand. He keeps trying to get me to do his laundry and I keep trying to get him to do mine. I said that he should do mine all the time to make up for the thousands of years that women have done mens laundry. That worked for about one load. Now I am back to scrubbing my own socks…
Anyhow, this little bed nestled in between the Shiela and Peter (the women’s and the men’s heads) is just perfect for a day like today- cold, cloudy, on the brink of rain again. A little light wind is coming up from the north, enough to sail. The ship creaks and moans, her sails aching in the cold. Other than that, it is quiet. Sleepiness sets in like it did on the helm today. Oops, falling asleep again despite the reinstatement of my coffee habit. Sometimes nothing helps but to get some ZZZzzzzz…]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
July 14, 2010 Lat 42 Long 47
The list continues…spinner dolphins, whales (whales!), sharks (the fin bobbing consistently and menacingly through the calm water gave it away and sent a shiver down my spine), the multi-dimensional sunfish that swims on the top of the water with two big eyes looking up into the white clouds and the blue sky…Words cannot describe the beauty that exists in the water. Out in the big blue, out in the middle, those of the wild are not afraid of humans and humans, in turn, are not afraid to be a little wild. The wild creatures come right up to the ship. They are curious and so are we! This morning was perfect. The sun came in like a bright orange bulb, spreading its color across the sky. I was up before it was, of course. I took the star and constellation book up on deck with me to try to identify things in the early morning darkness. I thought I saw Venus and Polarus and some constellations.
Our lives hang in the balance. At any moment, a storm or a mechanical breakdown or a human vulnerability or even a rogue wave for that matter could be the end of one or all of us. In the meantime, there is a shark doing his thing, swimming in the ocean less than ten meters from the ship. He is all black, like a shadow lurking. There are dolphins too, wisely on the other side of the ship, acting like the hunters they are. They jump and teem, sometimes in pairs or four at a time, when they have found a school of fish and are going in for the kill. There is the sun shining. I am on a crazy adventure. I can hardly believe that I am here. I have to pinch myself and I am full of gratitude. Thank you, I whisper.
--- ---- ---- ----
WRITTEN: July 13, 2010 Day After Rio’s Birthday !
Looking off the stern with Rio standing in the fog at midnight feeling like we could be in the 1700’s or 1800’s, on a cargo ship bound for the “New World” or maybe what we thought was India but turned out to be the New World. With the light and the mist and the way he was dressed (minus the camcorder and the lazer pointer draped around his neck), I imagined I was the wife of a sailor who was on crew on this giant vessel, but alas he died at sea and here this stranger is trying to console me on the stern in the middle of the night…Ah, the tragedy and I am mourning, but he is kind of cute…
After many cachasas (very strong Brazilian liquor), Rio was waving the lazer pointer around in the water, green streams hitting the tiny waves. We are watching the lazerstream cut through the fog and then suddenly it lands on items floating in the water, like a river of odd-shaped fish. What is it? We are stunned. Have we stumbled across a school of mutant ahi? Quick, get the lines out! Time for sushi again..No, it is a line of biodegradable trash. Someone has cleaned out the galley and is dumping the compost off the deck at midship. Wine bottled bob in the sea, pieces of lettuce and carrot as well, cardboard wrappers from spaghetti cartons. I announce, rather unlady-like, “The Heraclitus is taking a dump!” And we both break down in peels of laughter. But touchingly, lovingly, we are only half joking. She after all , is truly a living, creature, a sea giant, like a giant kissing fish in the middle of the ocean.
=== === ===
Written on: July 12, 2010 Rio's Birthday!
The sea. I smell her pungently. It smells like we are going into her crevices, her intimate places. The sea teems with life today! I worked hard on watch this morning and I wanted to. It felt good. Jellyfish, birds, pilot whales (pilot whales!), dolphins, a school of six yellowfin tuna, as slick as Japanese swords- right now we are only 300 miles from Newfoundland. This is new territory for me, on the physical level here on earth and in my life, in experiences too. I have never been here before except in my dreams. HOw DOES when act when suddenly her dreams have come true? There is nothing at all to do but stand there with my mouth open like a stunned baby, watching the vibrant world go by.
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
WRITTEN: July 11, 2010
Things I Saw At Sea Today (Starboard, Early Morning Shift, 1,000 miles from land)
A moth
A spider
A jellyfish
A piece of seagrass
A thin, brown and white feather
A jellyfish attached to a piece of seagrass
A feather attached to a piece of seagrass
A piece of seagrass attached to a jellyfish attached to a feather (just kidding)
A watery path of bubbles portside
Half a white feather
Another feather (where do all these feathers come from?)
Ripples on top of ripples on top of water folded and creased like a silk blanket
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posted by Nikki Lyn Pugh | 3:06 PM
1 Comments:
What a wonderful adventure, Nik. And, your writing is amazing. The sea is good for you. This poem is amazing. Have fun in Europe!
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