Thoughts from the Wide Ocean
I could spend hours on the deck just looking at the ocean. For days at a time, there was no land in sight. The water was not only one shade of blue. Sometimes it was dark blue. At other times it was a transparent blue that let me see all the tropical fish in multiple colors swimming close to our ship. When storm clouds rose above us, the sea was nearly black.
After sunset stars lit up the sky and millions of little reflections of light filled the water around us. My oldest brother, Toivo, explained that all those tiny bits of light were phosphorus. Just like the small shapes of stars and moons and of a cross we received in Sunday school to hang on the wall by our bed. Just as numbers on an alarm clock could be seen when it was dark, the phosphorus in the ocean can be seen only at night.
We stayed for a short time in Port Said and then continued through the Suez Canal to the Red Sea. The tropical heat began to feel oppressive. The men came to the dinner table without shirts - but mother protested. What would it be like if the women did the same? They suffered from the heat as much as the men. It was too hot to sleep in the cabins, so whoever could found a place to sleep on the deck. I chose a spot under one of the lifeboats. That was lovely. Looking up at the clear starry sky before I fell asleep was awe-inspiring.
During the day we could see fish of all colors and shapes swimming around the boat. Sometimes a giant sea turtle came right next to the ship. When the men tried to catch it, it dove into the depths. On some days we saw sharks nearby, other times dolphins followed us for several hours.
The Sunday School song "Wide, wide, as the ocean" became a reality in that wide and endless space.
The sea changed color from deepest navy blue to light blue and turquoise.
The ocean was so vast that I sometimes thought we would never see land again.
The ocean was deep, and fish swam around in the clear waters. It was fascinating.
We had not experienced anything like that when we traveled on a large passenger ship. From high up on the large liners, the sea lay far below and looked like an unspecified mass of blue.
My favorite place was often at the bow on the upper deck. I felt the fresh wind that filled the sail while I watched the Ebeneser plow through the waves
with the water foaming on both sides of the ship.
Bear with me when I share one more story from the ocean journey in my next post.
The story of a storm that could have caused the whole journey to become a disaster.
After that, the stories will come from Ceylon.
The story of a storm that could have caused the whole journey to become a disaster.
After that, the stories will come from Ceylon.
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