The Sea
- Barry Cornwall (1787 – 1874)
THE SEA! the sea! the open sea!
The blue, the fresh, the ever free!
Without a mark, without a bound,
It runneth the Earth’s wide regions round;
It plays with the clouds; it mocks the skies;
Or like a cradled creature lies.
I’m on the sea! I’m on the sea!
I am where I would ever be;
With the blue above, and the blue below,
And silence wheresoe’er I go;
If a storm should come and awake the deep,
What matter? I shall ride and sleep.
I love, O, how I love to ride
On the fierce, foaming, bursting tide,
When every mad wave drowns the moon
Or whistles aloft his tempest tune,
And tells how goeth the world below,
And why the Sou’west blasts do blow.
I never was on the dull, tame shore,
But I lov’d the great sea more and more,
And backwards flew to her billowy breast,
Like a bird that seeketh its mother’s nest;
And a mother she was, and is, to me;
For I was born on the open sea!
The waves were white, and red the morn,
In the noisy hour when I was born;
And the whale it whistled, the porpoise roll’d,
And the dolphins bared their backs of gold;
And never was heard such an outcry wild,
As welcom’d to life the ocean-child!
A day at sea is tonic for one’s soul. The hurried pace of our day to day existence by design must slow as we watch the eastern coast of Greenland slip slowly by us. All on board National Geographic Explorer find open deck space as just after breakfast whales are sighted. And not just one or two; literally dozens of whales are spouting and feeding as far as the eye can see. Here a group of seven or eight fin whales, there three humpback whales. Spouts in singles and in small groups are seen near and far. The table is set in these food rich waters and whales have come from great distances to take advantage of the sea’s abundance. Great shearwaters, black-legged kittiwakes, and northern fulmars circle the ship, also looking for a tasty breakfast. Our morning, indeed the whole day, is spent in whale soup.
A day at sea brings the chance for so many things; to go to the gym, to get caught up on sleep, or maybe a massage by wellness specialist Claire Guiang. It offers the time to catch up on reading, or to edit photographs, or simply to chat with fellow shipmates. Of course excellent presentations were on offer during the day with topics ranging from the Cetaceans, History of the Vikings, Human Geography and Adventures, all themed on Greenland of course.
Tea time brought a special treat as Head Chef Mathijs Pasterkamp and Hotel Manager Anders von Hofsten served up hot and scrumptious lomito sandwiches on the sun deck while head bartender Pete Alvario poured the wine to complete the deal. More sightings of fin and humpback whales, along with a brief visit by white-beaked dolphins kept the photographers amongst us happy snapping throughout the day!
