From the Corner of No and Where

April 14, 2025
Latitude 00*00.0 N
Longitude 00*00.0 E

"Pobody's nerfect on Null Island" ~ Benjamin Errett

 We're in the middle of six consecutive days at sea. For us, it's pure bliss. We love sea days. We can do anything or nothing with equal lack of guilt. But some folks on board get a bit antsy. Fortunately, our arrival at Null Island broke the hypnotic waves. 

Don't let the graphic fool you. Null Island lives up to its name. It's literally nothing.

Of course, there is no such thing as Null Island. It's a pinpoint on the equator about equidistant from Gabon to the east and Ghana to the north. There's not a speck of land at those 0/0 coordinates. Not even a buoy marking the spot. (To be fair, there used to be but it kept being stolen.) 

Water churned beneath the Sky's bow as the captain executed a 360 degree turn at the 0/0 coordinates. 

But the non-place is surprisingly important. It's the starting point for all navigation using latitude and longitude. It's also, by a quirk of technology, a repository for myriad corrupt data. All sorts of computer errors end up assigned to these coordinates.

Go figure. (I sort of expected to find a floating island made up of all the mate-less socks that go wandering from the dryer!)

Null Island was fascinating to me because my dad would have found it so. He loved maps. When we went on our previous world cruise, I left my atlas with him and he followed our progress in it each day. He taught me to read maps as a kid and let me serve as navigator for our family camping trips. (Surprisingly, he didn't take the post from me even after I led us over the Big Horns on Highway 14A back when it was just a set of gravel switch backs!) 

My map of our travels done in art class. My goodness, there are lots of "fiddly bits" in the South Pacific and the Canadian arctic!

You may be wondering what people do on board during sea days. There are lots of options, but here are our favorites: Bible study at 9 in the Explorer's Lounge, Art class at 10 (I also sometimes sneak in at 2 if I'm seriously working on something), passenger choir. We also like to watch the enrichment lectures on our TV in our cabin (which is how we learned about Null Island!)

My latest compulsive art piece. My biggest challenge is knowing when it's done. 

We also enjoy the thelassotherapy pool in the spa and afternoon tea in the Wintergarden. 

A cello & violin playing. Delicious treats and hot tea. How very civilized.

We'll continue to enjoy our sea days...especially since the number of them is dwindling swiftly as we head north to Europe and the end of our cruise on May 6th!

More soon...