It’s quiet, with the occasional ripple of a small wave. I can only hear the captain snoring softly in his bunk in the wheelhouse.
I missed the “ice thriller” at the beginning of last night, my watch didn’t start until 2:00 a.m., when we had just got out of the thick ice we had got into in a bay in search of a sheltered anchorage.
Now we’re drifting in open water, like a ghost ship, rudderless, with the rudder turned fully to port to compensate for the wind on the mast.
Everyone, especially Pyotr and Voy, is resting, getting a good night’s sleep.
I sit with my eyes on the radar and keep an eye on what’s happening. This island ahead looks so close, but according to the radar it’s almost a mile. Distances are much harder to estimate here, there are no reference points, and at night it’s even harder. Outside, there is the first reddish stripe on the horizon.
An hour later, the wind picks up and we drift towards the island at 1.5 knots. So we wake up Pyotr, start the engine and sail into a sunrise that is so colorful it’s almost too kitschy.
Alan has started his watch, we are enjoying the spectacle of the early hours when orcas appear, a whole family is in the bay. Two of them suddenly appear right next to the boat, dive under it several times before we become uninteresting and they leave us again.
Several times I thought it couldn’t get any better. And every day, nature tops our adventure with yet more magical moments. This explains the permanent happy grin on the (sometimes tired) faces of the crew 🙂 !
