palette of water. Feeling more like an insignificant speck of dust than
I have ever felt before. Not in a bad way, just in a humbling sort of way.
In school we learn that most of the earth is comprised of water. We
look at globes and see all of the blue, yet what we mostly study are all
of the land parts where we humans live and create complicated worlds of
our own. I have always known this about the largeness of the sea, but
until now I have not felt it. Having not seen another vessel nor land
for ten days, and knowing that the water below me is near 4,000 feet
deep, I am humbled. I look at our chart and see that up ahead, beneath
the sea , there rises a mountain because the water depth changes from
4,389 feet to 1,317 feet. A 3,000-foot mountain with its own complex
habitat and from the surface it is a tiny circle on my navigational
chart. Its peak lies out of touch of all but the most technologically
advanced submarines. Amazing.
We are not quite halfway by mileage, but may be halfway time-wise since
our overall pace is picking up as we enter the Trades and are able to
maintain about 6-6.5 knots average. An occasional bird, a dolphin or
flying fish are our only companions.
To me, it feels as if the ocean itself has become an entity. It has a
personality, is moody and serene, beautiful and ugly. It is constant.
Always here, demanding respect. It is enveloping when it gently rocks
us to sleep with gentle swells. It is fierce when it throws large steep
wind waves at us.
It is blue. So blue. Indescribably blue.
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