The Gray of the North Atlantic

Week of May 5, 2024

Water a dark gray, sky a light gray. Fog much of the time that obscures the line. Even though we were hugging the Canadian coastline much of the first full day at sea and into the early part of the second, you couldn’t see it anyway. Just the gray. I think what struck me is that we literally could have been anywhere on the sea, on the planet, in the matrix. We have the benefit of a navigation map on the TV in the room and a daily navigation brief from the Captain. I can’t imagine what an act of faith it had to have been to take this voyage 120 years ago, likely with a minimal understanding of the geography, dealing with one’s life in its biggest transition, packed into passenger spaces, and just having to trust the ship was pointed in the direction you hoped it would set you down in on the other end.