The blue we see

We think we see the same colours, but we don’t. Our eyes are not identical, and so we may always see a slightly different shade. Is it purple? Is it blue? Green? Turquoise? All of us might have been in disagreement on a certain colour once in our lives. Technically, the colour red could be described as #FF1111, but I will never know what you see. Or what our cat sees, or the spider in the corner, or the flying fish that jumped onto the deck yesterday – after which it was sacrificed as a fishing lure.

Here on board, it becomes very clear we also experience temperature in a very different way. The temperature, could be described as 19 degrees Celsius. For some that means, they feel cold. Packed in as many layers as they could possibly bring, scarfs, hats; the whole shebang, “de hele
reutemeteut (NL)” or “en die hele klerekas (RSA)”. Others are walking around in shorts.

Some of us, are sprinkling the food with extra chilli flakes, and in the meantime, I can have no chilli pepper at all – also to the benefit of the crew, as there are only a limited distance you can flee from smelly farts. But in all seriousness: somehow, even with all these dietary wishes, Esme and Ines still manage to put dishes on the table every day that everybody loves. Even though there are so many differences, cultural and personal, we still find similarities. Astoundingly, there is sometimes full agreement of what we all love and like. And not only
related to food. 

There are some things we just all love. The feeling of sailing – having the wind push us across the ocean. The beauty of sunsets, the stars, the colour of the water. The water changes, and the last few days it was
bright blue. A shade of blue that is again so hard to explain, but whatever you imagine the ocean to be coloured – it was better. Much better. Here I am again! Confronted with colours. We all shared conversations of how incredible it looked, but did we all see the same thing?

How beautiful and interesting, that we never know what the other experiences. All we can do is share what we feel, experience, see and share. And listen to what the other experiences. In our stories we learn where we share common ground, where we differ, and for those who listen well, we can learn and discover where the other person came from. We can learn what has shaped us, and why we look at life the way we do. 

Here on board, we finally have time to do so. To really observe, listen and learn. To observe how others look at life, and through it learn, how we look at life ourselves. And in my case, feel lucky and blessed to see so many colours – even if they’re only a million shades of blue.