A great big gulp of spring

Posted by at 10:27 AM, June 26, 2004

Hello!

When I awoke this morning the ship was already in motion, tossing cruelly from side to side on its way to Reykjavik, making balance difficult. Actually, that’s not entirely true. It’s not even partially true. The ship was still docked in Húsavik; the unsteady ground was mine alone. A rather unfortunate side effect of last night’s excess I’m afraid...

Hey! Guess what! I got to work on the banner again today! Such great news. No, really. I mean, who wouldn’t want to spend our last day in Húsavik working in the helicopter hanger on a project that has been from its inception frustrating bordering on stupefying? And then to trick poor, unsuspecting Kate Morton by inviting her into this dark world. It just seems so cruel. For the sake of accuracy, and of history, here is the progress made today on the aforementioned instrument of Satan: sewing reinforcements, grommets installed, outlines of all the letters, double and triple checking of the message for spelling and translation.

I walked into town to buy some souvenirs and postcards from the Whale Centre, happily chatted with Abbi as he autographed my Iceland Whale Watching book, and then got kidnapped by Irene and Brian who took me to the geothermal hot tubs up on the hill. Unfortunately the pump to the tubs had been shut and the water was cool. However, the view was panoramic, purple flowers were everywhere in bloom, and Arctic Terns were dive-bombing us as we walked toward the bluff. This brief excursion was just what I needed to repair my day. It was like taking a great big gulp of spring.

We left Húsavik at 6:45 sharp, and I wandered out to the helicopter pad to say good-bye to this little treasure on the map. I felt a bit of a tug as my heart tried to stay behind a moment longer. I waved to Abbi, the lone spectator to my departure, and he blew me a kiss that reminded me to come back. I stood there watching as we left the harbor and motored out to sea.

Today was Marta’s birthday, and, after the soccer game (Sweden nil, Holland nil), there was a bit of a party in the lounge. I know you’ll be shocked to hear that there was smoking and drinking and music and laughing and spilled beer. But there were also dolphins swimming alongside the ship and an assortment of treats that Marta brought from Spain. There was also good entertainment in the form of people trying to drink red wine from Gianluca’s leather flask without bending their elbows. Good times. Good times.

-Marnee