At sea, Cook Islands
A day at sea allowed for reflection on our trip, and to marvel at the early Polynesian explorers. We spent all day traveling southeast towards Rarotonga, with no land in sight for the entire day. Our modern equipment allows for easy navigation, with GPS telling us exactly when we will arrive and keeping us on a straight line. Compare this to the Polynesians who used stars, wind and swell direction, and it is remarkable that many of these tiny islands were ever discovered. Other tricks that helped them include large cloud formations over distant islands and birds. Frigate birds are rarely more than a day from land, and are thus a good sign of a nearby island. Seeing though that we were over one hundred miles from the nearest land, we did not see any frigates today, but did spot a few true oceanic birds such as tropicbirds and petrels.
The area we were sailing through would have been a difficult area to navigate around and survive in for long. Very deep water, all deeper than 12,000 feet and with no land in sight makes for few clues to help a navigator. The deep blue water, while pleasing to the eye, is a sign of the lack of nutrients in this deep water ecosystem. Other than the previous mentioned birds, the only other sightings for the faithful bow observers were a few flying fish. Fishing for subsistence would have been a difficult chore in this area.
Most of us spent the day relaxing or enjoying a lecture or two. We learned more from Spencer Wells about the Genographic project and Polynesian migration, and also about Captain Cook from Steve Maclean. After early morning rains, the sky cleared, and a sunny afternoon was enjoyed by all. Many people lounged on deck with a book or took a dip in the pool. As the sun set, the western sky lit up a brilliant crimson with fantastic streaking, making for a stunning end to this voyage through Polynesia.
A day at sea allowed for reflection on our trip, and to marvel at the early Polynesian explorers. We spent all day traveling southeast towards Rarotonga, with no land in sight for the entire day. Our modern equipment allows for easy navigation, with GPS telling us exactly when we will arrive and keeping us on a straight line. Compare this to the Polynesians who used stars, wind and swell direction, and it is remarkable that many of these tiny islands were ever discovered. Other tricks that helped them include large cloud formations over distant islands and birds. Frigate birds are rarely more than a day from land, and are thus a good sign of a nearby island. Seeing though that we were over one hundred miles from the nearest land, we did not see any frigates today, but did spot a few true oceanic birds such as tropicbirds and petrels.
The area we were sailing through would have been a difficult area to navigate around and survive in for long. Very deep water, all deeper than 12,000 feet and with no land in sight makes for few clues to help a navigator. The deep blue water, while pleasing to the eye, is a sign of the lack of nutrients in this deep water ecosystem. Other than the previous mentioned birds, the only other sightings for the faithful bow observers were a few flying fish. Fishing for subsistence would have been a difficult chore in this area.
Most of us spent the day relaxing or enjoying a lecture or two. We learned more from Spencer Wells about the Genographic project and Polynesian migration, and also about Captain Cook from Steve Maclean. After early morning rains, the sky cleared, and a sunny afternoon was enjoyed by all. Many people lounged on deck with a book or took a dip in the pool. As the sun set, the western sky lit up a brilliant crimson with fantastic streaking, making for a stunning end to this voyage through Polynesia.
