Beauty and Power

Today marked the end of the third week at sea, and it was one of the most exciting days our voyage so far!  I awoke just before sunrise and as I climbed the stairs to the deck with my cup of coffee, I was immediately struck by how calm the ocean was. The water was almost glassy, with only the smallest ripples visible on the surface. This peacefulness, especially in comparison to the 15 foot swells and 30 knot winds we experienced a week ago, was a clear reminder of how the ocean can be simultaneously extremely beautiful and powerful.

The excitement of the day started just after lunch. As my watch was relieving the previous watch from their deck duties, we heard one of our fishing poles start reeling off fast - FISH ON! For about 45 minutes, three different crew members battled the fish while the rest of the boat huddled around the rails trying to catch the first glimpse of what it could be. It was a striped marlin, about 4 feet long, and just as beautiful and powerful as the ocean. We watched it swim around the surface for another 20 minutes before it snapped the line and swam back into the deep blue.

We've been living on this closed community  vessel for three weeks, and while we do some daily cleaning of the common areas, a deep clean was definitely needed. For about 2.5 hours, everyone on the boat chipped in to scrub the boat from top to bottom. It started by creating a "fire line" of people leading from the galley (kitchen) up the stairs and on deck. Almost everything from the galley was emptied and passed down the chain of people to be washed and rinsed on deck. Every floor, wall, seat, corner and ceiling on the Robert C. Seaman's was scrubbed down. It was hard work, but we were blasting music and passing around chocolate and candy to make it fun. And it felt good to take care of this wonderful ship that is keeping us afloat!

After scrubbing and cleaning for several hours, we earned a well-deserved swim call!!! Jumping off of the deck and into the clear blue water was immediately refreshing. I brought my snorkel mask with me and dove down where it got quieter and looked down into the endless blue water. I tried to imagine everything that lay below me in the 5000 meters of water. Then I floated on the surface and looked up into the endless blue sky and tried to imagine everything that existed above me. I felt very small, but also very lucky to be in such a beautiful and powerful place.

But the excitement of the day wasn't over. we had slightly re-routed our course so that we could visit an unnamed seamount near the island of Niue. A seamount is an underwater mountain that generates upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich waters and can attract marine life. After a delicious dinner in our sparkly clean salon, we started chumming the water with bait. Within an hour, we saw a shadow of something large and graceful swimming deep below our boat. After throwing in some more frozen sardines, it came up to the surface and we were all amazed to see that it was a blue shark- one of the most hunted sharks in the ocean. It was as blue as the ocean, had long pectoral fins, and a streamlined body. Everyone on the boat was captivated for an hour, watching it glide through the water. And again, I was amazed by how much power and beauty the ocean contains. It was the perfect ending to another perfect day on the Robert C. Seaman's.

-Adele Zawada