Somewhere off Cape Fear

So I am currently in the midst of what is my longest transit on the Sunrise. We left NYC at 8:30 on Monday morning, and are now about 45 miles due east of Cape Fear. We slowed down for a while last evening as we entered the northeasterly currents of the gulf stream, but as of this morning are back up to a break neck pace of 10 knots.

Yesterday was a fairly mundane day. It was an opportunity for a bit more of relaxed pace for myself, although the crew was really busy. In the afternoon we saw a group of pilot whales as we were off Oregon Inlet on the Outer Banks of NC, and then a bit later we had dolphins swimming right off the bow of the ship.

Beginning at about 2:00am this morning, the seas began to get a little rougher. Already, several of my colleagues from our DC office who had joined the ship for the transit from New York to Miami had been feeling sick. But this morning they were dropping like flies. At one point, I was sitting in the campaigner's office when a large wave hit the side of the ship, sending us all flying from our chairs, computers flying off desks - it was really something. But I am feeling great.

I spent a little time on deck this morning, which is amazing in heavy seas. The ship is pitching and rolling like crazy. There is a device on the bridge that records the rolling of the ship in degrees, and several times this morning the ship rolled to 45 degrees - which is half way to rolling sideways. It would never roll all the way over, but it is something when this huge ship rolls from 45 degrees to port all the way over to 45 degrees to starboard. I am loving it. I had hoped we would get a little rough seas, just so I would know what it is like. All this movement of the ship is happening in seas of about 8 - 10 feet, which is not that big. I can't imagine what 30 - 40 - or even 50 foot swells in the Southern Ocean would be like on this ship. And the Southern Ocean is where the ship is headed from Miami.

The ocean color out here is amazing. It is a deep rich icy kind of blue. I have never seen the water this color in the U.S. before. It is really beautiful. Also while on deck this morning, we saw flying fish. What a crazy idea. These fish jump out of the water and start flapping wings. At first I thought they were small birds, but then they would dive back into the sea. How does Darwin explain flying fish?

Well ... almost lunch time, which I hear will be ramen noodles because it is too rough to cook a big meal.

5 more days on the ship ... then back to DC. Looking forward to getting home to my wife and little Abe Lincoln.

More to come...