Surrealistic Skies

The light outside right now is simply surreal. The sea is so calm it looks like the cellophane strips dance companies wave to simulate the sea, and the evening light filtering through the clouds and reflecting off this too-still surface makes it appear as though the water actually slopes up as you look into the distance. Again, I've tried a few photos and videos; we'll see how they do. It's times like these I wish I were a painter. No artificial lens on the planet can do justice to the ethereal light we're enjoying this evening.

We're one-sixth of the way into one of those watches: engine on, autopilot on, plodding our way toward our destination. Where yesterday was an ideal sailing day, today is just plain boring. But...gotta take the good with the bad, I know.

And we are, indeed, moving inexorably toward Jan Mayen. The forecast is for more of the same so we'll likely be in this motor-on state all the way there. And once there, we'll likely be anchored off the southeast side of the island; it's not the preferred anchorage but with a wind from the west, however slight, we need to sure we're not on a lee shore. For those wondering: that means that a shore that's to leeward -- downwind -- from you, and if you should drag your anchor, say, you'd wind up aground. Not good. Better to be blown offshore than onshore, to put it simply.

Just saw the last flick of a whale's tail off the port bow about 40 yards. I should be saying meters, but you get the idea. I ran to get my camera but of course, by the time I got back on deck, there was nothing more to be seen. So now I have my camera by my side and I'll sit here for another two hours, hoping for another glimpse.

Some of the funky light surrounding us right now: