Thursday June 24, 2010 Day 5

…and then there are the sounds the ship makes herself- her moans, her squeaks, her clangs. Especially when we are under sail, which we are finally now, the ship moves and sways and creaks and chirps while the ropes moan against metal on deck and door hinges rattle with the swells. Last night and today, it was not bath water out there as it had been in the past. Suddenly, we are in the Gulf Stream, going at times, close to 9 knots on just the current alone! We are on the Grand Highway (think of “Little Dude” the turtle and his dad on Finding Nemo). It is proof that human beings under sail are more like animals. This is the current that Great Honu, Dolphins, Sharks, schools of thousands of marlin and tuna, and countless kinds of birds use to travel to cooler waters during summer in order to feed. Big ships can go anywhere, but little ships like ours, ships that rely on sail (we do have a motor too but only so much gas) are wise to flow with nature. And that makes sense as the Heraclitus feels to me more like a sea creature- wild and bucking with the wind under her sails. She is more living organism than machine.
There are little comforts here- no air conditioning nor heat except for the stove, a pump hose for shower and to clean after using the bathroom. After almost a week, the sea saturates me, invading my pours and tear ducts, my skin and my heart.