Neither Ahead nor Astern

Neither Ahead nor Astern

For the first time in a very long while, the sun will not set astern. Neither will it rise ahead. For the next 60 days or so, the sun will set off our port beam and rise on our starboard. We are Northbound.

I have looked forward to this turn North. It means we leave the Southern Ocean and the Roaring Forties. It means we chase the Sun to warmer climes. It means we leave the never ending parade of lows and troughs and fronts to race eastward across this landless expanse ocean without wondering if the next one will be the one with our name on it. Most importantly, It means we are headed home.

But despite the grief and anxiety, part of me is sorry to go. There is simply no other place on earth like it. It grows on you in ways you don’t first notice. I figure something like the way lichens grow on rocks. Slow, steady, immovable, multicoloured, and tough. And as anxious as I am to leave, I wonder when I’ll be back.

Having had a tiny smattering of what this place can dish out, I am in absolute awe of not only those we came here centuries ago, but those we come here still and venture farther South than I dared go. What immortal stuff runs through their veins I can only imagine but it must be more than ice.

North it is then. Not due North but close to it as we cannot meander blindly through the maze of Tongatapu. I will be nice to be warm again. And dry. Warm and dry sounds pretty good right about now.

Follow my tracks in real-time:
https://bit.ly/svseaburban