Day 57 Indian Ocean

Thursday, foggy early, mostly blue sky through most of the day. Water temp is warm. It is hot in the sun at midday. Very little wind. Cold at home, but -63C in Siberia. Last night was smooth and uneventful. We had another time zone change, and are now 11 hours ahead of home. Wrote another short story this morning.

One of the crewman asked why anyone would pay this much money to live on a freighter. I explained, "Its just another day in paradise." I guess it makes a big difference if you don't have to do it. Scored a triple this afternoon. Probably won't be able to do this in the North Pacific, in February. Spent nearly 2 hours on the focsl, all on the raised platform. The pool was refilled this morning, so I used it when I came back from the focsl. After I showered, I dragged out a deck chair on the Pilot Deck.

Saw a rainbow and distant showers to the port side. I like the focsl because it is close to the water, and right out in front. Saw no birds today. For the first time this voyage, I saw or noticed flying fish. They looked like dragon flies. They were so small I didn't recognize them as flying fish at first. Finally saw one 4 inches long. What I remember from the Navy were fish the size that lake perch used to be when I was a kid. Back then, a misguided fish would occasionally fling itself onto the hangar deck. That's hangar deck, not flight deck.

Today the water in front of me was a rare cobalt blue, with lighter streaks from the penetrating sunlight. Perhaps it is because of the higher angle of the sun. I came back from the focsl on the port side, passing through the base of two of the cranes. One structure was being cleaned and prepared for painting. Had to wait for a break in the falling paint chips and soapy degreaser dripping down. Later, I stopped for falling sparks from welding. I'm going to start wearing my hard hat on deck, like I'm probably supposed to. Thankfully, this is way different from a cruise ship. There are 3000 less people, and no lines! Between the focsl and the Pilot Deck, I finished listening to "The Man Who Loved China", interesting non-fiction about a British scholar, Joseph Needham. The ipod is recharging now. I want to watch the last half of "Calendar Girls" tonight. We should pass through the Maldives early tomorrow.