At Sea
The sun rose about eight thirty revealing a fair wind and a following sea. The sailor’s prayer had been answered as we steamed south, parallel to the Moroccan Coast. A long low swell came from the west gently raising and lowering the Endeavour. A discerning observer noted that a smaller, less obvious swell came from the north overtaking us as it moved to the south. On top of these two ‘topographical’ features, smaller waves were imposed by the local breezes which were moving barely as fast as the ship. All in all, a most delightful day to be at sea and a wonderful start to our journey to the Furious Fifties.
Morning exercise class gave way to reading on the aft deck. Sometime midmorning a small landbird appeared out of nowhere and lit on the starboard bow. Clearly a dove had come out of the blue. Of all of the groups of birds, doves are among the most capable of island pioneers showing up in most of the islands of the world, especially in the Pacific Ocean. Even the largest dove, the dodo, was an island species.
We soon adopted the turtle dove as our dove. This terrestrial flyer had come at least as far as the nearest shore, 120 miles to the east. We were unsure of how long it would stay but we ventured a guess that it might stay another day until we were at the Selvage Islands. Here were a group of islands just north of the Canaries where he might find land as well as an archepelago that Lindblad Expeditions had never visited. A first in more ways than one.
This turtle dove was not the first stowaway that has found a ship to make a perfectly good island in its travels. A year ago on the Endeavour in these waters, a collared dove rode with us for a day before flying off in the direction of Madeira. Later, on the same trip, exactly in the middle of the ocean, a cattle egret hitched a ride of more than a day only to fly off to the west toward South America. It may be that ship assisted introductions of birds is not an uncommon event.
Our daily program had included a quote by Alan Lightman which proved to be prophetic: “This is a world of changed plans, sudden opportunities and unexpected visions.” We were changing our itinerary to include a place we had never been, the Selveges, and in the longer view, we will have gained some time that will give us new opportunities as we head for waters that will not be so benevolent.
The sun rose about eight thirty revealing a fair wind and a following sea. The sailor’s prayer had been answered as we steamed south, parallel to the Moroccan Coast. A long low swell came from the west gently raising and lowering the Endeavour. A discerning observer noted that a smaller, less obvious swell came from the north overtaking us as it moved to the south. On top of these two ‘topographical’ features, smaller waves were imposed by the local breezes which were moving barely as fast as the ship. All in all, a most delightful day to be at sea and a wonderful start to our journey to the Furious Fifties.
Morning exercise class gave way to reading on the aft deck. Sometime midmorning a small landbird appeared out of nowhere and lit on the starboard bow. Clearly a dove had come out of the blue. Of all of the groups of birds, doves are among the most capable of island pioneers showing up in most of the islands of the world, especially in the Pacific Ocean. Even the largest dove, the dodo, was an island species.
We soon adopted the turtle dove as our dove. This terrestrial flyer had come at least as far as the nearest shore, 120 miles to the east. We were unsure of how long it would stay but we ventured a guess that it might stay another day until we were at the Selvage Islands. Here were a group of islands just north of the Canaries where he might find land as well as an archepelago that Lindblad Expeditions had never visited. A first in more ways than one.
This turtle dove was not the first stowaway that has found a ship to make a perfectly good island in its travels. A year ago on the Endeavour in these waters, a collared dove rode with us for a day before flying off in the direction of Madeira. Later, on the same trip, exactly in the middle of the ocean, a cattle egret hitched a ride of more than a day only to fly off to the west toward South America. It may be that ship assisted introductions of birds is not an uncommon event.
Our daily program had included a quote by Alan Lightman which proved to be prophetic: “This is a world of changed plans, sudden opportunities and unexpected visions.” We were changing our itinerary to include a place we had never been, the Selveges, and in the longer view, we will have gained some time that will give us new opportunities as we head for waters that will not be so benevolent.
