Navigation on this vast ocean
I have written that we are headed south or north or west, mentioning latitude and longitude, waypoints and stations.
I see these items on websites and mapping applications. If I go to the bridge I can see radar of the area. The maps show underwater ridges, fractures and plateaus. We see moving colors on the map to indicate wind and waves.
I try to let the mystery be, and not stare at a screen to try and make sense of anything. My experience is of the ocean, the waves and the wind. The swell and the occasional bird, the clouds. I can feel the movement of the boat, up and down, side to side. I can look out the window and see the forward motion and the bow splash. There are no lines or visual cues about where we are or where we’ve been. The days and nights are not reliable indicators of time, since we are far south during the southern summer.
King Neptune set us some tasks to appease his wrath. Arrange the many condiments on the galley tables by expiration date. Count all the pictures of penguins on the ship. Learn two knots. Calculate the volume of the bridge using an uncalibrated measure based on either ping pong balls, disc golf discs or cornhole bags. There was some serious math involved in calculating the bridge volume. It’s a big space full of strange angles. Volume by ping pong ball, 4,662,335. Volume by disc, 104,537. No one is checking the math but there had to be photographic evidence of the process.
Our crossing ceremony is tomorrow. Someone changed the words to a Bee Gee’s song to reflect the science that has been done. I will be participating as part of the rhythm section, we have practice later this evening.
Here’s a pretty picture from the end of cruise report.
