Travelogue: open seas

Bay of Biscay – September 23
Date and time: 23.09.25, 15:00
Location: LAT 46.24°, LON 10.00°
SOG (speed over ground): 11.5 knots
Wind: 12.9 knots

The sea is calm and generous today, filled with encounters that feel like small gifts. Whales swam by in steady rhythm, their presence both immense and fleeting. The bird life has returned, circling and darting over the water, and to my surprise, even a butterfly appeared. Where it was headed I cannot imagine, perhaps south toward Africa, though it seemed improbably delicate against the scale of sea and sky.

We are due to arrive in Gijón tomorrow, sometime between afternoon and evening. Hard to believe after so many weeks at sea. I will stay on a few more days before making my way home, though already part of me is trying to stretch the time, unwilling to let go just yet.

On deck the crew works with their usual focus, preparing for inspections and taking advantage of good weather to repair what storms and cold had made impossible. The ocean still spreads wide in every direction, no sight of land yet, but under this soft sky and steady swell it feels both infinite and familiar, as if it has let us slip gently back toward the world of land again.