Location: Underway to Borneo
Any long ocean voyage begins with an adjustment period. As the trip progresses and the novelty of the voyage wears off, the trip eventually becomes a simple matter of routine. Get up to watch. Stand watch. Back to bed. Eat a meal. Cook a meal. Go to class. Within this routine, the simple beauties of an ocean passage come to light. Seeing dolphins and catching fish for dinner. The beauty of a distant squall. A sunrise. This morning’s sunrise was no exception. As we steamed east toward Indonesia, the sun’s first light came through the light cumulus clouds that had been surrounding us for the last few days. The light was yellow, red, and orange; the clouds were black in contrast. I went below for a camera. I don’t know if I have ever taken pictures of a sunrise, despite having seen so many at sea that it would be hard to count them all. The beauty of these routines is two-fold: the beauty of the thing itself and the beauty of slowing down and relaxing enough to see the beauty of the routine.