Today was the Day of the Albatross. From dawn till dusk we were accompanied by the Southern Ocean’s masters of winds and waves. Greatest of them all, the wandering albatross, with wings spanning over 10 feet made for the perfect escorts on our journey south towards Antarctica.
Chilean poet and diplomat Pablo Neruda penned the following verse capturing in 15 elegant lines the majesty and wonder of these magnificent beings, symbol of all that is wild and free.
The wind sails the open sea
steered by the albatross
that glides, falls, dances, climbs,
hangs motionless in the fading light,
touches the waves’ towers,
settles down in
the disorderly element’s
seething mortar
while the salt crowns it with laurels
and the furious foam hisses,
skims the waves
with its great symphonic wings,
leaving above the tempest
a book that flies on forever:
the statue of the wind
-Pablo Neruda
With Antarctica nearing ever closer and with fair winds and calm seas we ended our day anticipating the adventures that await us, dreaming of elegant masters of the wind.
