Wednesday – The Stillness of the Black Sea

According to our captain, he doesn’t remember having ever seen conditions like we’ve had today. The sea was so still and the visibility so clear that you could see for 20 miles in all directions. The sea’s surface, totally wave-free, and sporting only the gentlest of ripple patterns, was as blue as the sky and as still as treacle…photos of it look so unreal that it they look like they’ve been created by CGI.

We saw lots of dolphins playing in the sea (easy to spot when the water is so calm), and most of the day had a slightly surreal quality to it. Over to our Starboard aft, we were told was Sevastopol and Odessa, and an area of massive political and social unrest. Two Russian frigates passed by (or we think they were Russian); a stark reminder of turmoil just over the horizon.

I ran my penultimate class this afternoon; a quiet, but challenging boat scene. Most people seemed to do very well with it, and enjoyed it… just one more to go, then…