At Sea, Between South Georgia and Tristan da Cunha

Today we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with our third day at sea as we make our way toward Tristan da Cunha. We have a rolling sea beneath the hull and still a number of albatross and petrels soaring in our wake as we sail northeast. We have spent the day hearing presentations on the formation of volcanic oceanic islands, and on the people on these isolated islands and how modern times and communications systems have altered their lives as they develop ever more immediate contact with the rest of the world. We have also continued our workshop activities on photography and writing for digital communications media.

At this point in our crossing to Tristan we have all adopted the relaxing pace of sea days, which pass seamlessly from one of the next as the great ocean rolls by. The experience makes us one with the generations of seafarers who have spent their lives in exactly this way, watching the waves, the wind and the weather, enjoying the passing seabirds and the company of congenial shipmates. The ship becomes our world and while we can have as much contact with the world beyond the waves as we wish, our focus is on what is happening around us, right here and right now, with time suspended as we sail along.