Here I sit. White, long sleeved, starched shirt on, top button undone and tie loosened. Dinner jacket with brass buttons thrown over the back of the chair. Yep, the charter cruises are over and I have to wear the jacket and tie to dinner at night unless I want the PO mess food. Which I discovered, I don't.
The routine for 1st call is that I open the clinic at 0800 and run it until noon. There is a break from noon until 1400 for lunch and I reopen the clinic. Then I run it until 1600 when whoever is 2nd call takes over until 1800. When I got relieved, I went to my cabin to read and finished my book. TV sucks and I can't seem to write right now, so I went forward. Below decks forward you can hear and feel the ship crashing through the waves. The deck heaves, there is a pause, and the everything shudders to the accompanying crash. I sat there for a moment, listening. It is a neat sensation.
Then I climbed up the stairs to the 4th deck and went out to the bow. Up there, I was alone in the twilight. There was no sound really, but the hum of the wind and the occasional vibrant hum of a taut line in the wind. We are heading East, into the growing darkness. There were low flying, scattered pastry clouds. They looked low enough that I waited for parts of the ship to disappear into them. Behind us was the glow of the sunset interrupted only by the occasional dark shadow of a cloud like a bad memory in the rose colored past. I enjoy sailing East at sunset. It is like we are charging forward to meet the night and whatever it brings. Let us leave behind the memories of the day and gladly fight through the night to tomorrow.
Allow me a little artistic license for the day. Tomorrow is San Juan and a day off. Let's get there and see what the day brings.
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