winter camp

Yesterday I needed a breather so I went up on the top deck. It's got a
number (like 05 or something) but I don't know it. It's the one that's
large and flat and outside at the same level as the bridge. We have an
open bridge here and can go up there whenever which rules because it's
got a good view. I'd rather be outside though, most of the time. I stood
up there and looked out. We've been out in the real water for a day and
half now. Rolling swells and no sign of land. Off the starboard side
(the right, the east) the sky grew darker to the distance and the
horizon was obscured by rainshadow. The weather did a knockout thing: it
created the most perfect and complete rainbow I've ever seen. It grew
out of the sea in the middle distance, which means I could see where it
hit the water and it even sort of reflected down into it for a bit. Then
it made a complete arch -- a full half circle and came down into the
water on the other side. Again, in the middle distance. It was bright as
fuck and even slightly doubled: mirrored like, with a faint echo of
itself back and to the left. I stood up there looking at it till it went
away, like 45 minutes or so.

Today I went up there and just stared off over the sea for a while. A
group of sea birds were swooping back and forth and all around the ship.
Some gulls I think, some petrels and a couple albatrosses (albatross?
albatri? albatrothe?) sailing and gliding over the waves. They just go
and go and go and never have to flap. They're supposed to be good luck,
unless you shoot one, which I didn't. There's something captivating and
beautiful to me about an expanse of water as far as can be seen in every
direction. Lonely and sad but also full and present and important. We're
in port tomorrow and we're supposed to be completely in the drydock by
tomorrow night around 8. I guess it's like this huge sort of box that
the boat goes into and then they close a gate behind the boat and suck
all the water out. Then it settles down on blocks and they get to work.
We get to run around town too if we want when we're off. That's good cuz
I was a little worried we'd be stuck on the ship. It's weird being on a
ship. It's like a house with less decoration and more noise that moves
around on its own. I haven't been sleeping very well the last couple of
nights. Sometimes lying in my bunk it's like being on a long distance
train journey except the motion is less jerky. The sway can be likened
to the feeling of when an airplane banks. Your ears even pop sometimes
(well, mine do).