Editor’s note: Benjamin Stevens is a sophomore at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine and left port May 9 aboard the college’s training vessel State of Maine. He joins 240 other students on the voyage, which includes stops in New York City; Tampa, Fla.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Baltimore; Quebec City; Eastport and Searsport. Stevens also is a participant in the Island Institute/The Working Waterfront student journalism program, and will post messages and photos when Internet connections allow.
For the first time in my life, I stood on the bridge of a 500-foot long vessel and could see nothing but ocean stretching out to the horizon and turning into the blue sky. Nothing else in every direction. Even without any features in the endless blue scape, the ocean does not seem empty to me. I feel right at home.
The ocean is an eternally romantic thing, but even romantic things can become eternally embarrassing at sea. When the ship rolls seven degrees to one side, it’s easy to keep your balance—until you have to shower. Then you have to time your foot scrubbing perfectly, or you’ll end up tumbling across the room!
It’s a world where the simple is agitated by an unpredictable amount of vertigo. In a storm, you have to watch your juice and your milk, or the cup will spill over without you touching it. It’s good training for paying attention, especially when your laptop slides across the desk and crashes onto the floor.
We’re at a place for vertigo, as Bono would say.