Bart Bear's Blog

One of my favourite things to do on a cruise is to find a sunny spot, out of the wind and watch the ship's wake stretching out behind us to the horizon. You can see how good the sailor on the helm is by seeing how straight the wake is. Learners leave a wake that is all wiggles. Actually, this very straight wake is that of the "Queen Mary 2" crossing the Great Australian Bight. The ship is being steered by an auto-pilot, a combination of computer and GPS, so it had better be straight. You can often see seabirds flying low above the wake, catching the fish that got too close to the propellers, got stunned (or hacked) and float to the surface in the wake. Mostly I see terns and gannets, but once I saw a magnificent albatross. When there is no land in sight you can see the curve of the horizon and no matter how long you look, the horizon is always the same distance away from the ship.

Labels: boats, cruising