Living in the Past: Sailing on a Sea of Glass

Right now I am sailing down the Taiwan strait between the Republic of China and the People's Republic of China on the MS Volendam which is a medium sized ship in the Holland America fleet. We had some rough seas when we passed through a gale on the way to Xiamen, China so this eerie calm that fades into a featureless horizon is quite welcome. Though, I imagine that for sailboats it would be worrisome without a puff of wind to fill their sails. One of the things I have missed in the China sea is the dearth of pleasure boats that you see all over the Mediteranean, Carribean and east and west coasts of the U.S. What you see here is fleets and fleets of fishing boats as well as container ships and in the river systems a veritable traffic jam of working barges of all sizes and colors.

Back to the Sea of Glass, I have a recording with me of Giles Reaves "Sea of Glass" and his music perfectly captures the mystery and the haunting beauty of this seascape. Giles Reaves is a composer of music that would be classified as contemporary classical by some and New Age by others. You can find his music on his website and I think you can still order some of his CD's from the "Hearts of Space" site.

In one of the stairwells of the ship I found some painting by one of the earlier captains of the MS Volendam, Stephen J. Card. I would like to share them with you as his technique as a maritime artist is both accomplished and intriguing. He has managed to capture the history of each of the iterations of the MS Volendam (We are currently cruising on the Volendam III) and acquaints the viewers with the proud heritage of this venerable line of cruising vessels. Mr. Card, a British citizen, currently lives and paints in Bermuda