Sasha Globe Sailor #3
November 20, 2018, off the Detroit of Gibraltarht
We left Portugal in a greying rain (1). We found a very small weather window and we're trying to sneak between two depressions. It's a bit fair in timing, so we're going fast, straight for the setting sun (2) to get away from the coast.
We turned south three days ago. It is the calm before the storm: the weather is mild and the sea is beautiful (3). This navigation is punctuated by dolphins (see story), sunsets and this long and peaceful movement that the boat has, this movement so typical of the swell of the sea. Finally! After the storms along the Portuguese coast, it is good to see that the sea is waiting. The wind is warmer and we discover a thin film of sand on the bridge in the early morning: it is the Sahara desert that comes to meet us. A day spent without wax (4), some flying fish on deck and those sunsets that I will never tire of (5).
Sunsets at sea are something! Any sailor will tell you. And I think you haven't finished hearing about it on this page. So I'm going to try to explain myself.
When the sun sets at sea, it offers a different spectacle every day. Having the immensity of the sea under the eyes, it is a spectacle that we see preparing well in advance. Already in the late afternoon the colors change, and something different is felt in the air. Like a whisper coming from the sea, which would slip to our ears: "Watch out, it's coming soon". Nothing changes on board, but everyone is listening, eyes wide open, because the show will soon begin.
It's a private show, shared only with your watchmates. A play of gold and light that pierces the clouds, highlights them, bringing out their soft and mysterious forms, a game that is reflected on the surface of the water and dances with the waves. It is a game that the earth stages only for us, the only privileged ones off, the only beings to contemplate this incredible spectacle. It's a huge gift, almost too big for that handful of beings that we are. So big that our chest swells with emotion, and while everyone observes in silence, tears of joy fill my eyes.