Diary at Sea, Part 2

19 October, North Pacific Ocean, north of Iwo Jima

Holy smokes! Major turbulence all night long and early morning. Normally the rolling of the sea promotes sleep, like rocking a babe in arms. This, however, is like being towed behind a bucking bronco, with not much quality sleep to be had.

Things settle down by noon and Robbie cuts Henry’s hair.

At mid-afternoon, the most magnificent rainbow emerges ahead of the ship. You can see both ends of it as it touches the sea, and every color in the spectrum is easily detected in its span. Even the officer on duty emerges on the bridge to goggle at it and take a photo…. And these guys are not easily impressed with things you see from a ship!

Many people wonder what we do with all of the time we have at sea. Well, our days are defined by mealtimes – at 7:30 am, 11:30 am and 5:30 pm. This is the only schedule we have.

Henry gets up very early to explore the ship and take pictures of the sunrise. Often he will spend time with the crew on the bridge, trading stories and histories. Much of the rest of his day is spent editing and organizing some 20,000+ photos taken over the last 8 years. He also works on his music collection and studies books selected for this occasion on how to use his iPhone and photo apps.  He also likes to help clean and maintain the common areas of the ship.

Robbie learned knitting specifically for a craft pastime for the trip, and just started a new dishcloth project. She also brought along a volume of New York Times Sunday crosswords to work, and is now trying to learn how to play the Xun flute, a simple potato-shaped instrument acquired in China made of heavy fired clay. Many books to read – mostly fiction and many selected because they are set in locations to be visited on the journey. For example – right now, a biography of Benjamin Franklin, inspired by our stop in Philadelphia. (Which I hope will help me reclaim a teensy bit of pride in being an American, which frankly has dissolved almost completely over the last year or two). And of course writing the blog and selecting photos for it from Henry’s vast output.

Walking the cargo deck of the ship has been a fun activity in good weather; however, the captain has advised in the future that he does not want us on the deck without a crew member present…. out of safety concerns, particularly since we have had some very rough going and he doesn’t want to lose a passenger.

We nonetheless have full access to the large Pilot Deck, which is partially shaded and includes a 360-degree view of the ocean around us, as well as The Blue Bar, a recreation room with lots of windows which we can use when the weather is bad. Simply gazing out to sea consumes a fair amount of time.  

Sometimes we check out our progress on the bridge.

We get a little internet service on this ship, but it’s pretty weak – and after a while, you realize that 95% of your email is junk and that most of the news has a boring sameness to it that you can easily forgo.

Evenings after dinner we often watch video material on a monitor we brought with us. We purchased a number of The Great Courses lecture series – Oceanography, Extreme Weather, Music History, Geographical Wonders of the World, Human Culture and Geography and Astronomy – hundreds of hours’ worth. Also a variety of movies.

And, as noted early on, sleep factors significantly. The freshness of the air, tang of the salt water, thrum of the engine, rocking of the boat (sometimes gentle) and rushing sound of the water as we plow through it combine to create a near-perfect environment for deep and restful napping.

That’s it.

20 October, North Pacific Ocean, a little further east

An occasional bump but mostly smooth sailing today.

We have dinner brought up to The Blue Bar so we can watch the sun set while we dine.

21 October, North Pacific Ocean, a bit more east

Catastrophe! It appears that the cable on our external hard drive device has given out. A tragic event as that drive contains all of our Great Courses lectures and most of our movies. And it appears we have a month or more to go on this trip.

Henry cuts Robbie’s hair – his first experiment with barbering. The technique used is to stand in strong wind (so the cut hair flies away). Robbie pulls her hair up away from her scalp between her fingers with hands held flat, palms downward, and Henry cuts whatever is above her fingers. This way, if it is too short, it is her own fault! The results are … well, about what you’d expect. Patchy. Fortunately, the stuff grows back.

The crew holds a barbecue party tonight. Pork ribs and chicken wings are on the grill, and the Romanian officers prepare some special sausage, garlic sauce and steak. All served with toast, boiled shrimp (with heads for the Filipinos), fruit ambrosia for dessert, and beer supplied by the captain. A superb repast compared to the daily swill.

The captain is chatty tonight, and talks about some of his favorite topics – the voyage of Columbus (his hobby on land is making balsa ship models, including the Santa Maria, the only one of Columbus’ ships that made it), which ports have the most beautiful women (many of them do) and the spiritual aspect of being out on the ocean.

22 October, North Pacific Ocean, a teensy bit to the east

The provenance of the title of this blog, Slow Boat to China, is kind of interesting.

According to the consensus on the most reliable authority available (quick Internet search), it originated in the early 20th century among serious gamblers – card players, I guess. When one of them had a losing streak, the beneficiary thereof would state, “Wish we were on a slow boat to China.” Meaning, China is far, far away; a slow boat will take a very long time to get there, and in the meantime, I can win all of your money since your luck is so bad.

It was only later (in the 30’s or 40’s?) made into a romantic song:

“I’d like to get you on a slow boat to China, all to myself alone.
To get you and keep you in my arms ever more, leaving your lovers weeping on a far-away shore.

Out on the briny with the moon big and shiny, melting your heart of stone.
I’d like to get you on a slow boat to China, all to myself alone.”

They just don’t write ‘em like that any more! Unless you count, “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I’m Gone” by Wm. Nelson.

After a sleepless night and some expensive and time-consuming research, we figured out how to connect our external hard drive wirelessly, so we are back in business with our video entertainment…. At least for now! Quite a relief.

23 October, North Pacific Ocean, north of Marshall Islands

The crew, having repainted and repaired it, filled the swimming pool today and had a pool party just before dinner time. They had a blast. The water looked inviting, but it was a bit too cool and breezy for us to join them.

24 October, North Pacific Ocean, an iota to the east of last time

We have now been at sea since 14 October. For at least the last 7 days, we have not seen another single sign of …. anything. Not a ship, not a rubber raft, not a distant shoreline, not a dolphin or whale, not a plane flying overhead. Just the good ship New Orleans, with 22 human souls and a bug on board, in the midst of seemingly endless ocean extending out in all directions. A single frigate bird hitches a ride with us and soars out over the wake from time to time.
It’s impossible to be more remote from the rest of the world and still be on this planet. Think about it…. What an incredible feeling – peaceful and exhilarating all at once.

Thanks to the Internet and satellites – if you insist, you can still find out that rumor has it Melania is going to leave The Donald since she has hired a “body double.” Oh boy.

Finished knitting a hat.

25 October – North Pacific Ocean, just west of Midway Island

We turn southeast so that we will be running parallel to the Hawaiian Island chain to our north. Here we are in the neighborhood of US territory for the first time since leaving Philadelphia back in June!

Three sea birds and a small bird (a stowaway sparrow?) welcome us back today, although we still cannot see any land and have a long way to go.

 

25 October AGAIN – North Pacific Ocean, south of Hawaiian Island chain

This morning we passed over the International Date Line, and will be able to re-live October 25th!

Second chances – we don’t get very many of them. What to do? How about telling the people you care about that you love them. Feel grateful to be alive. Do something that will make somebody else feel that way. Maybe that’s enough….

Poor Ed has now lost two feet from his remaining five legs. Perhaps this is how insects age – body parts fall off until none are left. Immobility – a sad precursor to the end. Ed, however, has a “can-do” attitude! He continues to attempt to scale vertical surfaces (with middling success) and chirps lustily.

Truth be told – there probably aren’t too many giant crickets who have the opportunity to die of old age. Lucky bug!