Life at Sea Part 8: Land

Six months after departing, Bremerhaven is on the horizon. I know the sights I’ll see: the mall designed to look like Venice, the lock meant to keep the tides out of the shipyard, the dilapidated, antique ship on rollers, the Ikea. It is the first and only time I have returned to the land of a previous port—the ship’s home, but not mine. I thought, or maybe hoped, for a sense of loss when departing the ship that has been my life for half a year, but all I feel is relief. I don’t have to be seasick; I don’t have to be crammed into tight hallways with incessant teens; I don’t have to live a day on repeat. I am telling all the students to remember the good times because they may never get this experience again, but I can’t completely do the same. I am ready to return to shore. The memories, good and bad, are there but so is a deep exhaustion. Literature makes it seem nothing but romantic, but it is a challenging life. The sea shines, and it will be there when I am ready to return, but for now, I am reminded why our ancestors walked up out of the ocean. Thanks lungfish. I am grateful for the experience, the memories, and all else I gained. This is a milestone for the ages, but I prefer imperial miles to nautical on this day.

Some highlights:

• Puking on the stairs to the main deck during our first storm

• Swimming off the coast of Spain and seeing dolphins and whales

• Lying in the bowsprit

• Seeing thousands of flying fish flitting over the surf

• Surfing on a black sand beach in Tenerife

• Christmas dinner on the ship

• New Year’s Eve fireworks off the ship

• Night on the river in Suriname

• Climbing the mast

• Crepes in Cabo Verde

• Eating pizza off an ironing board in Barbados

• Pastel de Nata in Porto

• Helming during the storm

• Building an intricate signpost in the Dominican Republic

• Swimming through a waterfall during a storm in Dominica

• Sitting with an elderly woman in Cuba, hearing her story

• Climbing to the very top of the main mast

• Drifting past Florida in a serious current

• All the white roofs in Bermuda

• Playing community water polo in Horta

• Wondering the streets of The Hague

• Experential Knowledge