Observations of a Stranger
Day 69
Noon Position: 48 05S 39 44W
Course/Speed: ENE 6-7
Wind: W 17
Sail: Twins poled
Bar: 1014
Sea: W to 10
Sky: Clear, bright sun
Cabin Temp: 58
Water Temp: 51
Miles last 24-hours: 179. Best single day for miles yet, I believe.
Miles since departure: 8993
I am a stranger in a strange land, an alien exploring an environment for which he is wholly unsuited, can barely comprehend. I cannot swim with the white-sided dolphins. I cannot fly with the chocolate petrel. I cannot surf the waves they both surf. Disassociated from my ship, I am dead meat in half an hour.
From my windows I observe beings that share nothing with humans except, in the case of the chocolate petrel and the black browed albatross, a certain curiosity about the other. All afternoon the petrels cruise the waves in and around Mo. They swing high and low and circle endlessly eyeing the boat as if they are the field biologists for their race, as if they are making notes they will report at the annual meeting of the Petrel Oceanographic Society, Southern Chapter, concerning the recent discovery of the previously-unknown-to-science creature with great white wings that does not fly.
For my part, it is interesting to consider what makes them alien–or, put another way, what of the thousand and one normal human experiences they will live and die without experiencing, ever even suspecting.
For example, their world contains…
No fresh water
No squishing mud between toes
No daffodils in spring; no peaches in summer; no squash soup in fall
No hamburgers, no pizza
No hot coffee
No hot showers
No hot anything except the blood that fills your beating heart
No baseball
No algebra
No CNN, No NPR
No piano, No violin
No road rage
No elevator conversation
No Bright Lights, Big City
No smog
No Pledge of Allegiance
No national debt (no debt)
No fire drills (no fire)
No sexual harassment seminars
No dreams, no sleep
No corner pub
No holidays
No friends
No holding hands
No church, no school
No priest, no president, no god.
The singular defining element of the petrel world is an abstraction–motion, a triad of movement that is the constant heave of the sea, the wind that pushes it skyward, and the petrel itself, surfing endlessly; perpetual motion in which there is no fixed point, no roost, like the sparrow’s bush or the hawk’s tree. Unlike the heron that sleeps in the sun after its morning feed, the petrel keeps flying, always flying. Colors in this world include blue, gray, white, and a pale turquoise and ranges in between. That’s it. Temperatures are inconsequential because somehow you don’t get cold. Territories do not exist; there is no kingdom of Petrels East into which Petrels West may not trespass, and there are no boarders, as such–the sea and wind go round and round. Days are no different from nights except for the change in the quality of light, because at night the wind still blows and the waves still heave and you are always flying; every day, all day you are gliding; for an entire life, you surf that interstice of wind over waves.
As you glide this world of motion, your own body hardly even moves a muscle. Movement defines you, but you are a study in stillness. You are the fixed point.
Unless you are a gadfly petrel, and here the one difference is that you do not glide, ever! Instead you flap your wings madly 24/7…in wind and rain and sleet and snow, in calm, in storm, and on clear days and cold nights. Endless, utterly frantic self-propelled motion. So, for the gadfly, there is yet one more element that makes him alien–his is a life without rest.
Hi Randall… Glad you’re enjoying the birdlife… In fact, the Southern Ocean birds don’t fly the entire time! Albatrosses and petrels rest on the sea surface quite often – particularly when it’s calmer. Petrels will often cluster in sociable groups and chatter to each other! I noticed that they often stayed not far from my boat for days. It will be interesting to see for how long certain birds will stay in Mo’s vicinity – keep an eye out! Excellent DMG today!
Randall the Superbowel this year will be The New England Patriots and the Eagles.
( I am struggling to spell the city of brotherly love hahaha pure honesty) Feb 4th I hear.
So who would you wager on ???
I’ll bet you one dollar (US) and I’ll pick the Eagles.
Good post Randall. I can’t imagine you as a stranger in that strange land. An Argentine solo sailor, who sailed up the east coast of South America, through the Panama Canal and then on to cross the Pacific in his dug out Canoe, said that suddenly they came over him a feeling, after many months on the ocean, of utter peace. He no longer felt an imposter traveling over the ocean – but rather he became PART of the ocean, with as much legitimacy as that chocolate Petrel you describe or the floating coconuts he periodically came across. !! Fair winds.
Beautifully Written. Safe journey!⛵️😎💞
What Dorothy said and fair winds.
Bonjour Randall. I guess you or i would not miss all those things had we not experienced them in our lifetime. There are a million others that come from other cultures that we know nothing of. I read and see someone who is on a roll…in a deep and delicious relationship with his surroundings. I get the feeling that, for now, this is all that matters. Bonne continuation !
Hi Randall I hope you have more calm seas than rough seas I made 2 trips to Antarctica while serving in the coast guard its beautiful part of the world Traveled the same route you are doing down the coast of Peru and Chile straits of Magellan New Zealand and then 4 months in the South Pole We broke ice in mcmurdo sound to open up the shipping lanes so the supply ships could supply the navy and scientists at mc murdo. Stay safe and hope you have wonderful journey.