Excuses

Silver seas of obsidian water that churns a Wedgewood blue... beneath
chaotic skies filled with many stories of high altitude clouds... sunrises
and sunsets galore, with lightning in the nimbocumulous clouds off on the
horizon and strangely remarkable visibility in spite of the complex moisture
in the air... the Sea of Bengal has been a gorgeous transit, and I have the
photos to prove it. But you have to wait until tomorrow (my time- 16 hours
in Seattle's future) when I buy a top-up card in Columbo, Sri Lanka-
technology notwithstanding, I should be able to upload some pretty cool
stuff.

We always look at the names of other ships on the AIS and crack jokes about
some of them, but the vessel name that always comes up and is the stuff of
legend is one of the Titan lines. They name all their vessels with the name
"Titan" followed by something else, much as Maersk, Crowley, or any number
of other companies does, as well. Titan's motor-vessel "Titan Uranus" has
got to be the most famously named and most often referenced ship amongst
mariners.

Looking at the AIS info I can see a 347 meter Maersk ship on our port
quarter right now. That is huge (we're 275 meters). The most common new
ship being built that I see out here is a split house, 366 meter container
ship built in Korea- all the major lines now have them. Last trip I saw a
398 meter ship... and Maersk actually has a 403 meter container ship. Do
the math... that is an astounding 1,309.75 feet! That's almost a quarter
mile! I'd hate to forget something stupid, like a screwdriver, at the
forecastle and have to walk the length of that deck to retrieve it... it's
bad enough on this little 275 meter ship.

The Old Man called the entire deck up to the bridge for a meeting. Some
people were nervous- captains don't do that very often- and some suspected a
random drug test- which would mean something went very wrong. It was to
tell us how happy he was with us. Seriously. No bitching, no fighting,
super productive, good work... neither the Delegate (25 years out here) nor
the Bosun (18 years out here) have ever heard of that happening. I think
"atta-boys" are silly, but it was nice of him- he's a class act in lots of
ways. But it was also a stark reminder that it isn't normally like this out
here. Which is a little nerve wracking to think about.

I like the Steiner 7x50 binoculars better than the Fujinon 7x50s.

OK. I gotta work.