Sailing

I never thought making a pizza could be quite so difficult as the time I had tonight. At one point I actually had one leg in the air at a 90 degree angle and my arm fully extended in front of me so that three pizzas and their various toppings did not fly to the ground. For goodness sake, why would you not put a lip on the countertop in the galley of a ship?
Eleven days at sea and I am ready for land. I was so excited for the open ocean. Blue in every direction can get tiring, though. Not that I haven’t enjoyed it. Walking up a floor is thrilling. It’s like being drunk without the headache or nausea. Well, let me take that back, it’s not always without the nausea. I spent the first three days disoriented and dizzy in the head, which resulted in nausea with fortunately no vomiting. Medication finally took affect and my head was sorted out. The middle seven or so days were wonderful. I could work, eat, sleep with virtually no disturbance and all the benefits of sailing, of which there are many.
We have been blessed with a plethora of wildlife, ranging from whales to squid, as well as non-living spectacles, the most brilliant of which was the meteor shower, the Leonides. I could not have imagined the breathtaking wonder of a sky full of shooting stars in a black expanse as far as the eye can see in every direction. I’m sure I will never witness anything like it again. I was sad for crew members who expected “meteor shower” to mean a constant spray of shooting stars everywhere they looked. I personally have never witnessed the frequency and clarity of meteors we saw. If you were blind, you couldn’t miss them. Several times we slept on deck 8 to watch the show. Even overcome with drowsiness I didn’t want to miss the magnificence overhead.
Though most of the sea life was too far from the ship to get a good look at, dolphins were the major exception. Playful creatures by nature, anytime there was a pod near the ship they spent their time diving in and out of the waves created at the bow. It made me laugh watching them, seemingly having a wonderful time. At one point there were eight dolphins at the bow and more heading for the ship from every direction, as if they had called to the others to let them know where the party was. Another incredible sea creature is the flying fish we’ve seen our whole journey from Benin. When people told me of flying fish I thought the fish jumped particularly high out of the water. These fish have wings and fly 20 feet, 3 feet above the surface of the water. It’s truly unlike anything I’ve seen before.
As no one could go anywhere these past eleven days, crew members had to be more creative than usual in order to not go stir crazy. In the day we all do our “sail jobs”. Mine has been scanning, page by page, all the patient charts into the computer. It’s been tedious at best, but on rougher days, just staying seated in front of my computer has been challenging. I managed to work out a way to wedge both feet under the wheels so my chair didn’t end up at the other end of the room. After work, friends and I would often sit on the bow till the sun set, which was invariably beautiful. After dinner we played games, watched movies, prepared for Christmas. Event after event has taken place this past week and a half in preparation for Christmas. Each Sunday we’ve had an Advent service. There was a story night, which was mostly aimed at children, but adults enjoyed it, too. Winter Wonderland, an all age bazaar and craft sale, completely overtook midships. There were decorations everywhere and the scent of spiced apple cider filled the air.
Tomorrow, in the wee hours of the morning, we arrive in Santa Cruz, Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands. A small part of me is sad my sail with the Africa Mercy is coming to a close. I might be more sad if I hadn’t had terrible sleeps the last three nights due to the movement of the ship Leeeeeeeft, Riiiiiiiiiiight, then thud thud thud. To add insult to injury, the water tanks, as well as the generators, are just under my room. The noise has been deafening for three days, so much so that I considered sleeping in the rain on deck 8 last night. I settled for the library. Overall, though, it has been a wonderful and unique experience. I wouldn’t trade it. And forevermore I can start stories “when I was at sea…” which alone may be worth it.