Day 13 – At Sea (1 week done already!)

One week at sea, day 3 of our 6 day trans-Atlantic crossing – “how are you finding it?” I hear you all cry!

Well, our first week hasn’t been what we planned, mainly due to Bridge being ill, but also due to the weather. Of course if you volunteer to sail across the Atlantic in January, you would be a fool not to expect some inclement weather, and that’s exactly what we had today. Spanning 41.1 million square miles, the Atlantic covers around 20% of the earth’s surface, and approximately 29% of its water surface area. It is vast and wields unbridled energy. We experienced a little bit of that today with hour after hour of rolling and lurching over waves that were not exactly mountainous, but were certainly not far short of small hills. Rolling hills of awesome power, barrelling towards our bow, every one causing the ship to shudder and strain. Several times we heard the sounds of smashing crockery as another hapless crew member was caught out by a particularly big jolt.

Walking around the promenade deck was exhilarating at the same time as being slightly terrifying. The power of the sea is arresting, it engenders a sense of primal awe, a certain dread, it evokes the enormity of time itself. Every few minutes the vista changes. One moment you are strolling happily in the sun, yet 10 minutes later you are clinging to the hand rail whilst struggling to get your coat on, as the wind whips up out of nowhere, the sun vanishes and the water turns dark and volatile. Today even the crew were out on deck taking photos of the ocean. When it gets bad enough, they close the deck completely.

According to our lovely Captain Tom Connery (more on him below), Dan the weatherman is to blame, along with anyone engaging in the forbidden practice of whistling on deck (which apparently invokes the wind)! However, Captain Tom assures us that we are now moving away from the weather front which has been hampering us, and that calmer weather is ahead. Mind you, he seems to say that every day… 😏