Location: Underway to Tarragona
When we begin passage, making our way to a new destination, my internal clock stops. Days fold into each other, and I lose my ability to know if we started the passage four days ago or if it was yesterday. We have all fallen into the comforting routine of our watch schedules, mealtimes, and class. It used to be an overwhelming pattern, made difficult by storm conditions, nausea, disorientation from lack of sleep, and natural stress that comes with an extreme change of pace. Now, we have settled into the flow of things, and what used to be a stressor is now a comfort we look forward to as our shore time comes to an end.
We are approximately two days away from our port in Spain, which also means we are two days closer to being done with this experience. It’s a hard concept to internalize when this lifestyle has become a reality for all of us. We have no idea what our lives back home will look like. I know it will be disorienting to be put back into my old life, no longer surrounded by the people I crossed an ocean with. I will say things only my crew will understand, I’ll panic a little when I place an open glass on the counter, expecting it to be launched across the room, and I’m sure I’ll brace myself in the shower, ready to body slam the wall as I await the nonexistent swell. I also know that this experience has permanently changed us all in ways that we don’t fully understand yet, ways that will become clearer as we try to squeeze into our old lives and old routines.
BUT we still have at least two weeks left, so no more dwelling on the daunting end date of this remarkable experience! Today was another passage routine day accompanied by sail-handling with Gabe, marvelous food from Santana, and fascinating oceanography lessons with Amanda. We are sailing through such a neat area because not only is it beautiful, but the Mediterranean Sea is considered a negative estuary. In a normal estuary, you have incoming salt water from the ocean that mixes with freshwater input from river runoff. Saltwater is denser than freshwater, and densities don’t like to mix, so the freshwater input sits on top of the salty water. In the Med, you get the opposite effect because it has such a high salinity (We have measured it to be around 40 PSU compared to the average 35 PSU). The saltiness of the Med increases its density. It causes it to sink below the Atlantic Ocean waters, which creates a unique vertical circulation, the exact opposite process that occurs in positive estuaries! SUPER FREAKIN COOL!
Okay, enough nerding out. Cate, I know we have new watch teams, but it still feels so wrong without you. And Eddie, our cabin looks sadder every day without you in it. I can’t wait to give you both the biggest squeeze when I see you again!
Also: Maya and Soph, I DON”T HAVE SCURVY, but I miss you two so so much <3 Good luck with moving!!