Time and Weather

I haven't worn a watch for several years. Between my computer screen and my phone which are never far from reach, I no longer have a need to strap a small clock to my wrist. On the boat is another story, where it feels more like being on vacation than anywhere else. When I did wear a watch, I would ceremoniously take it off upon embarking an any adventure - whether boarding an airplane, or checking into a hotel or what have you. On the boat I rely on more laid back methods of time and weather assessment.

The first thing I do upon waking in my cozy cocoon is to open my eyes and focus on the south eastern facing window (porthole) over the vanity in my room. Depending on the shadow over the window I can tell when it's noon-ish, and time to get up. Noon-ish looks like this... see the shadow?

Once I'm up and making coffee, I can look at the cabin door and, based on the shadows of the rails above and outside, without even opening the door, I can tell how sunny it is. The sharper the the lines in the shadow, the better. This is what I look for:

Then I have a seat at the table to sip my coffee and flick on the Travel Channel. From that vantage point I can see the water dancing on the forward portholes in the guest suite. This didn't photograph well, so here's a video clip:

And finally, I can open the hatch over the salon to let the sun and fresh air stream in. It's delightful. Because the hatch is about 8 feet overhead at that spot, I have to turn the galley trach can over and stand on it to be able to reach the latches.

The sun beams down on the table and with my coffee cup I fashion some kind of sun dial. Unfortunately I have no concept of how to read a sun dial, but I imagine someone can tell it's noon-ish here too: It's all so beautiful, the way nature tells you it's time to start your day. I'm the luckiest girl in the world.