Baltic Sea

Being at sea is be a very calming, exciting, beautiful, and serene experience. Being at training to be a crew member of an extremely large vessel can be a little overwhelming. However, you take a look out from deck 6 of 14 and see the water with no land at sight and a sunset highlighting the solitude and all those overwhelming feelings float away with the swells.

I am on day two of a six month cruise around Scandinavia, Mediterranean, and the Canaries before I cross the Atlantic bound for Miami. I am playing trombone in the ship’s orchestra. This is a near perfect situation as it combines two of my biggest passions playing trombone and traveling the world.

Even though I’m a musician, I still must learn the ropes of safety. This is a good thing as there can be upwards of 2700 people on my ship, and in case of emergency, the safety team will need as much trained help they can muster. This being said, I am in no way a fan of three and an half hours of training with a Greek safety officer whose accent is thicker then pea soup and thirst for showing his authority is greater then the stranded desert vagabond. I have the utmost compassion for those whose, mother tongue is not English, because for all the years I’ve spoken English, I feel as if I am taking a foreign language class where the teacher believes in immersion instead of safety. All said in done, in the next couple weeks I will be certified in crowd management, maritime safety, security, Save the Waves environmental concerns, and more.

Departure from Amsterdam was quite spectacular. Cruising through a canal we passed; windmills as they rotate providing power to the people, motorcycles that speed along the road, small boats on a day cruise with people waving at the city cruising by, and small yurts set up for the fisherman catching dinner. The saying, ”The grass is always greener on the other side” seems to hold true in this land. Bunnies hop through the greenest grass fields and all the people seem to smile.

We are in the Baltic Sea heading for Stockholm, Sweden. These days sunset is around 10:00 pm, which is great as I am usually done with my last show by then and able to go out on deck and enjoy the sky’s colors. It is especially lovely when you see another ship out in the sea. It makes you feel akin to that other ship even though it is more then likely you will never meet another soul from that ship. At times there are sights of land, but I have no clue what land it is. But is no less spectacular when the light from the lighthouse reaches us beckoning, “hey! Notice me.”

Tomorrow we will reach the Swedish Archipelago by morning. The cruise director makes it sound absolutely gorgeous and of course it will be.. I am so ecstatic! I will have the chance, opportunity, and fortune to go out on the deck, perhaps with an espresso or cocktail, and enjoy the sights, sound and smells as we pilot to port. As I write this, my first port awaits me and will try to harbor this excitement a one more nigh, but the excitement of what is to come may cause my reality to visit in dreams.

P.S. There are at least two great puns in this blog…sorry/you’re welcome.