The world’s beauty becomes enough
Yesterday, at the end of a long day, I told Isley I wasn’t sure if I could handle another eventful day, or even hour at that point. The last two days have been nothing short of eventful. And as I am writing this, trying to tell you about everything that has been going on the last few days, I am still in doubt if I should not rather run outside to film the endless rain that just hit us this morning. Film the raindrops dripping from the railings, the people on deck standing out with their bright coloured hoods or the horizon. The horizon is no longer a neat line: the clouds cover where the sea ends and where the sky starts: we are sailing into the mist – if I was directing a movie about sailing in the 18th century, maybe including a battle at sea, this is the weather in which I would like to film it.
At the same time Niels, one of our engineers, who also used to be a fire fighter, is giving firefighting training on deck. And at the same time Isley just picked up a guitar, playing gentle tunes right next to me, tunes I could easily dream away on. And at the same time, I would like to tell you about the last two days. An event-free day has been too much to ask, I think!
Two days ago, there were rainbows all around the ship. Multiple rainbows, on portside and starboard. I spend a full hour running around on the deck like crazy person, trying to figure out from which angle I wanted to capture it. As soon as I found a good spot they would disappear and then reappear after I would have put my camera away. It felt a bit like when you think you killed all the flies in the kitchen and then new ones keep appearing. I went through the more positive version of that emotional rollercoaster. At the end, the most beautiful rainbow anyone on board has ever seen, formed around the ship. The rainbow was a full circle, and we were sailing right in the middle of it all. This is the moment I think I lost my sanity and I only have blurry pictures made in full panic mode.
Where do you go? Where do you look? There is no protocol for being in the middle of a rainbow. In the meantime, while I entered full panic mode, the lucky ones up in the rigging had an amazing view, and as I understood, something not far from a spiritual moment. Someone even joked they just had a conversation about religion, mentioning how they did not believe in a deity, to then 10 minutes later receive an incredible natural phenomenon – almost as if someone wanted to prove them wrong.
Yesterday we did a man-over-board (MOB) drill in which Romeo, a homemade doll, was strapped to a buoy and chucked overboard. After which, with the whole crew, we stopped the ship to save him. The crew worked as a ‘well-oiled machine’, as we would say in the Netherlands (and as it happens apparently, everywhere else) - and all the sails were taken away in a matter of minutes. It is always astonishing how fast we can bring the ship to a full stop. Romeo was saved, and after setting a few sails back up the speed was perfect to put the manta trawl in the water and do some plastic research. As if this was all not enough excitement already, a whale came to check out what we were up to, circling the ship multiple times before diving back into the deep. She was only a few meters from the manta trawl, clearly observing it - and again, I was close to losing my sanity trying to work out how to capture this on camera.
I have put my camera to rest. I brought so many batteries; the camera will never make that choice for me. It is hard to let go, to accept you cannot document all or even remember all. Time to enjoy the moment. As Toni Morrison once said: “At some point in life, the world’s beauty becomes enough. You don’t need to photograph, paint, or even remember it. It is enough”.
Beautiful words I will end this blog with, to know perfectly well, I will be running around with a camera again tomorrow.