[Travelogue] Nothing to talk about but the weather

Among the many interesting things to do aboard a ship traveling for days at a time at 20 knots is watching the weather. No, really. It changes a lot faster than usual on both short and long time scales. We began this trip in summer, it's now fall, and before it's over we'll cross the equator and it will be spring. (And a month after we get back home it will be Winter -- all four seasons in just under four months). But the really interesting changes come in the short term. When I woke up this morning it was bright and sunny, and the sea was so calm that for a moment I thought we were somehow back in port. It stayed that way for most of the day. But just ten minutes ago we sailed into a little squall. In just a few minutes it went from calm and sunny to cloudy and windy enough to make the ship, which displaces 50,000 tons, heel to port as she were a sailboat. And this is a pretty small weather system. I wonder what things will be like when we head into typhoon territory.