Day 22 Atlantic Ocean

Thursday, daylight came a little earlier, as we work our way east through this time zone. 14 degrees C. Light rain last night and this morning washed some of the salt from my side window. The sun peeked through the clouds briefly this morning. We passed through the Grand Banks overnight, and continue to make good time. The sea is still pleasant, although last night the maximum roll was 9 degrees starboard, 11 port. In the dark of the night, I counted seconds between rolls. The cycle is 8 seconds. As I look out from the bridge this morning, I can see this small, lower frequency swell from the port fore quarter. The ship has a steady roll, and a slight pitch today. There are almost white caps. A few wave crests break, for the first time since Philadelphia. Perhaps, Beaufort Scale 3. The wake disappears sooner when the water is not as smooth. This is incredibly fine weather for this time of the year in the North Atlantic. Sometimes, I see the same yellow-green floating sea plants, even larger clumps. I saw these off Florida. This afternoon, I saw small flocks of small birds floating next to these clumps, and finding things to eat in them.

Paul, last night we had duck. I am still full. Juice choices this morning were pineapple or tomato. The label read 'Jus de Tomato', and I was thinking 'just the tomato', but of course it is juice of tomato. Meals are offered for 1 hour, to accomodate people going on and coming off watch. I have created a playlist on the ipod. In the privacy of my cabin, I can sing along, and no one complains.

I was given limited permission to walk the main upper deck. Last night after supper, I made the loop. The distance from the accommodation structure to the bow is almost 2 football fields. At the bow, I go up one level to the fo'c's'l', to cross over to the other side. One loop is almost a quarter mile. Fo'c's'l' I love this word. It can have 0, 3, or 4 apostrophes. The early English sailors corrupted the word forecastle to focsl. Another example is bosun for boatswain. No one even bothers with the apostrophes anymore on some of these words. The focsl is the place where the anchor and mooring cables and winches are. There is a similar place for aft mooring gear. The main deck and focsl are very dangerous during cargo and mooring operations, and I am happy to stay out of the way and inside, at those times.