Why Do I Feel So Connected To The Ocean
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We have a problem.
“What’s the matter, sir?” asks Captain Boudreaux from his place at the helm.
It is early in the morning and I have yet to get any sleep as there are still three days left in this race to the finish line for us, and we must catch up to our friends if we’re going to win. We’ve been racing since leaving the island of Dominica, but only recently has it become apparent that they are gaining on us.
They sailed past Martinique yesterday afternoon, so now the race is more intense than ever. As a result, every moment I’m awake my mind is occupied with the race and how I will beat them. My head is spinning with calculations trying to determine the speed we need to maintain to catch up to the others.
But as much as it helps me keep focused, these thoughts are keeping me from getting some rest, which is why I ask the question to Captain Boudreaux who seems like he could be able to explain.
“I’m not sure,” I reply. “Do you know anything about ships?”
Boudreaux shakes his head. “No.” He looks confused.
I sigh. Why don’t they teach sailors about ship dynamics? It is something that should be common knowledge among mariners. “I’m talking about sailing ships,” I explain.
“Oh! You mean the ones like on the television show Deadliest Catch, right?” he asked.
He’s referring to the Discovery Channel show called Deadliest Catch. It features Alaskan crab fishermen risking their lives for one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. They work long hours under poor conditions, but somehow manage to pull out big hauls year after year.
It has all the trappings of what people think it takes to become a professional fisherman. In fact, I believe that is part of why it is such a popular show—we want to see other people living the dream that we hope to achieve someday.
This brings me back to our current situation. “Yes, exactly!” I respond. “There are no sails on those ships, though; it’s all motorized with a rudder.”
At least he understands my reference.
“Well, if we can figure out how fast they are traveling compared to ours,” I say, “maybe we can come up with an idea as to how to catch them.”
Captain Boudreaux nods in understanding. “Okay, well, let me take a look at their position on the chart.” He turns and opens one of the portholes to get a better view outside. After studying the map, he comes to the conclusion that our course was slightly different, and so we were traveling faster or slower than they were.
He looks at the compass to find out the direction we are currently headed.
“They’re ahead of us by two nautical miles,” he says as he turns around with the chart.
Two nautical miles. That’s not very far in distance, but it means that we would have to make significant gains on them to close the gap. I try not to sound discouraged when I respond to him. “How soon do we think they’ll arrive here?”
The captain thinks for a second. “Probably another couple of days, maybe a few hours more than that.”
Another couple of days? A few hours isn’t very much time at all, and I know there are things on our ship that need attention as soon as possible before the weather gets bad. We can’t afford to sit here for another day without doing anything productive while we wait.
This is where I begin to feel hopeless and helpless because I realize there really is nothing I can do. All of my efforts are being wasted away while we continue to sail toward the finish line, and we’re losing ground instead of catching up.
If I had the resources, I would be able to build myself an airboat or even a submarine. Then I could chase down this other ship and overtake them, but that isn’t realistic.
“Can we speed up then?” I ask. “Maybe we could increase our velocity and catch them within the next few hours.”
Captain Boudreaux shakes his head. “I’m afraid it’s going to be difficult to get ourselves moving faster without making any significant changes to our current course. The wind is blowing against us, and we’re already traveling pretty fast.”
So now I have no idea what to do.
“All right,” I respond with a heavy sigh. “If that’s the case, we might as well just stay here until they get closer.”
Captain Boudreaux nods.
That is not what I want to hear.
“Do you have any suggestions for how to catch up to them then, Captain?” I ask.
He thinks for a moment and replies, “I suppose you could try to tack.”
Tacking means changing directions, which is basically what we’re trying to do right now. Tackling also has some connotations associated with it.
What does that have to do with our ship? I have no clue.
***
I go over the plan for tackling with Captain Boudreaux. It’s not going to be easy, but at least it’s a way to make some progress toward our goal. As we discuss this option, we notice the wind is picking up, so now our main problem will be the waves. It becomes harder to keep the ship straight on the water as it grows choppier and colder outside.
I am nervous about this maneuver, but I know it’s our only shot at getting somewhere in the race, especially if we want to beat these guys. Captain Boudreaux is hesitant to do anything too drastic considering that there could be unforeseen consequences from this move.
In the end, he agrees to tackle, but only with a reduced crew of three. I volunteer to go out and try to steer our boat while the others take on extra duties on the ship. It will help if I can use both hands when steering and also be able to work on some of the smaller repairs.
I don’t mind doing this because I’m confident that I can make enough improvements on the ship to help her finish this race on time.
As soon as we finish discussing this plan with Captain Boudreaux, we begin to prepare for tackling. We put on our warmest clothes to prevent ourselves from losing body heat in the frigid cold air that is surrounding us.
Everyone is nervous and scared, knowing that this plan may or may not work out for us. In order to tackle this, we must turn the ship to face forward instead of back, which means putting our lives into the hands of someone else.
When everyone is ready, I lead a group of people to the deck. They carry a rope in their hands that has been tied around the mast. When we are done tying the line onto our ship, Captain Boudreaux tells everyone to step away from the boat so they can tie it down properly.
It takes a few minutes for them to finish securing our rope because each knot they tie is very important and must be made securely. Once I see the rope is secure and that everyone has taken off running to help Captain Boudreaux with whatever jobs he needs help with, I jump over the side of the ship and into the icy cold ocean waters.
My feet hit the freezing ocean floor, and I instantly lose feeling in my toes. I quickly pull myself along the surface of the water using my arms for support as I wade toward our ship. I’m not wearing boots because I don’t need them; my boots were left on the ship to help with some additional weight, and I’ve been barefoot for the past week.
After wading through the water for what feels like forever, I finally reach our boat and grab hold of our mast.
After securing myself to our boat, I swim underwater and untie one of the lines hanging from the mooring point. It is secured to a small hook, and once it’s undone, I push the anchor overboard with a rock attached to it. Now, when the tide goes out, this anchor will stay sunken in the bottom of the water, preventing our boat from drifting away from its mooring.
With this task complete, I return to the deck and climb back over the railings.
Captain Boudreaux comes over to me, and I notice he has his shirt on now because he got wet during tackling. He looks at me and asks, “What took you so long?”
I chuckle and say, “You know me; I’m always late.”
He laughs and says, “Well, it seems to have worked out for us. We just caught up with them!”
At first I thought it was a joke, but after looking out across the sea, I can see why the captain would be excited to find that out. The two ships appear much farther away than they did before, and that’s only because of our new speed!
“How long do you think we have now?” I ask.
“Not sure exactly,” he answers. “It depends on how hard we can sail in this wind.”
I nod and say, “Good luck then! Let’s hope it helps us win the race!”
We look back toward where the other ship is heading to find they haven’t moved in quite some time. Our captain and a few of the other men rush to get ready to tack. Before they do that though, I notice a small island off the port side of our boat. As we sail closer, we realize that this isn’t a normal island; rather, it is a large mountain covered in ice and snow.
The island is tall enough to be seen above the clouds, and it appears that most of it is covered by ice except for one section of land that is visible because of the thin layer of snow that covers it. I wonder why it didn’t freeze over completely during the cold winters we’ve had. Maybe the sun warms it up more often than in any other part of the world.
After seeing this strange island, my captain announces to everyone on our ship that we are going to head over there. He tells the others to get the sail lowered and to let out all of the water from our keel. Once those orders are given, we slowly move forward until the boat is almost stopped completely.
We wait for a bit longer before raising the sail again so the wind catches it and pushes us forward. I notice that Captain Boudreaux has been watching me and says, “What is it? Is something bothering you?”
I glance out across the water and say, “That island looks like the one where we found the dragon egg.”
“What about it?” he questions. “Does it look familiar to you?”
I nod and tell him, “Yes. It does look very similar, doesn’t it?”
Before answering, he turns to the rest of his men and instructs them to begin tacking. This means they will turn this big ship in a large circle, and it’ll take some time since they’ll have to use both sails to make it happen.
Once the men get to work, my captain asks me, “So what do you remember about that place?”
I shake my head and reply, “Nothing really. I mean I remember what it looked like from outside when we landed, and I remember that dragon egg was hidden inside one of the caves near the top of the mountain. However, nothing else stands out to me. Why?”
As I speak, I can see a small smile form on my captain’s lips. “Well, if we go over there, we could possibly find that same cave and maybe even the dragon itself. Do you think it’d be possible?”
I give his question some thought. “Maybe. There were a lot of mountains around that area. It might just be somewhere else, or who knows? Maybe it never existed at all.”
My captain grins and replies, “Well, that would be interesting, wouldn’t it?”
A little while later, after sailing past the island and into open waters, I hear a shout from behind me. Looking to my right, I see my captain has a look of shock on his face and is pointing straight ahead of us.
When I turn to follow his finger, I see two ships coming toward us at an incredible speed. As they come closer, I realize these aren’t ordinary ships. They are larger than any other ship I’ve ever seen. In fact, they seem to be made out of pure gold!
I also see that there are several people standing on the deck of each ship waving their arms frantically. I watch as they keep moving closer and closer until they pass directly beneath us. When they do, the people on the deck of one of the ships yell, “Hurry! Hurry! You must help us! Our home is being destroyed by a storm!”
Captain Boudreaux turns to me with a serious expression and says, “Are you familiar with those islands over there? We need to figure out which ones they’re talking about because it sounds like there is a huge storm brewing in the sea.”
I look at where he points and try to picture in my mind what each of the islands looks like. There’s no way to know without getting closer. “No, I don’t recognize either of them from memory, but I do know there are several islands that look similar from far away. That should help us narrow it down a bit. Do you think we can get there quickly enough before the storm hits?”
He nods his head and says, “Yeah, I think we can.”
As we sail toward one of the islands that appears to be much bigger than the others, my thoughts turn back to the dragon egg. What if the dragon is still alive somewhere? Could it be hiding under this island? If so, how will we find it?
We continue sailing until we finally reach the island and begin heading toward it. As I walk along, staring at its golden walls, I can see that there are several small buildings built around a central courtyard. The buildings appear to be made of stone and are surrounded by a high wall topped with sharp rocks.
As we get closer, I can see that the courtyard contains several large pools of water with a fountain in the middle of each pool. The people in front of the fountain all have their hands up toward the sky and are looking up with terror on their faces.
“What is going on?” I ask Captain Boudreaux as he walks beside me.
The captain looks at me with a confused expression and replies, “I haven’t a clue. It seems like something happened to one of the people here; that’s why everyone is yelling for help.” He then continues walking forward until he gets to one of the doors leading into the building in front of him.
After a quick knock, he opens the door and goes inside, motioning for me to join him.
“Come on,” he says, “this way.”
I hurry to catch up and follow him into the house. As soon as we enter, Captain Boudreaux motions for me to stay right by the entrance and heads off in one direction while turning to another man. A few seconds later, he comes back out with a group of his crew. The moment I see them, I instantly know they are pirates.
Their skin is tanned, and they each wear a white shirt and dark pants with matching black boots. Each pirate wears a small dagger on his belt, and many carry long swords as well.
As I stand there watching them, I notice several of the men point their weapons at me. The leader approaches me and says, “Where did you come from, stranger?”
Before I answer, I look at Captain Boudreaux who gives me a nod indicating I should tell them everything. I say, “My name is William, and I’m from the United States of America. We’re trying to find an island with dragons on it.”
They all look at each other with puzzled expressions and shake their heads before the leader asks, “Why would you want to find a dragon?”
“Because…well…” I begin hesitantly, not really sure how to explain our reason to them.
One of the men near the back of the group speaks up, saying, “Do you mean the dragons that live on this island?”
Before I can answer, Captain Boudreaux clears his throat and says, “Well, that’s exactly what this guy means.”
The man turns back to me and says, “I see. And what are you doing on our island?”
I look over at Captain Boudreaux and reply, “We were told we needed to go to one of these islands in order to stop a huge storm from destroying our homeland.”
The man looks over at Captain Boudreaux and says, “And you just now thought to bring us this information?”
“No,” Captain Boudreaux replies, “we had hoped to meet you all before the storm came.”
“Hmmm,” says the man. “How big is this storm, if I may ask?”
“Big,” answers Captain Boudreaux.
All the men look over at each other and shrug before he says, “Very well, let us show you where to find the dragons.”
Once inside, the man points us in another direction and begins walking. We follow him down a hallway until we reach a room filled with bookshelves. In the center of the room is a circular table with four chairs around it. On the far side of the table sits a man wearing a dark green military uniform.
As I walk toward him, he stands up and walks across the room to greet me. I am surprised by how young he looks. He has long brown hair and piercing blue eyes.
“William!” he says in a cheerful voice as he shakes my hand.
I look down at myself and reply, “It’s nice to finally meet you, Mr. President.”
He laughs and replies, “Don’t make me call you Willy or Billy.” His smile fades though, as he takes a step back and looks me over. “You don’t seem to fit the description I was given of your nationality.”
I look at Captain Boudreaux and reply, “I’m sorry, but neither of us is Americans.”
“But what country are you from?” he presses, ignoring my comment.
“I’m from England,” I say.
Mr. Kennedy smiles and nods before asking, “Can you tell me about your ship?”
Captain Boudreaux tells him, “A storm blew us off course, so we decided to take refuge on an island with some large birds that live there. One of the creatures was actually a dragon.”
Mr. Kennedy’s face suddenly falls, and he looks at Captain Boudreaux with a worried expression. “Are you telling me that this island has a dragon as well? How big is it?”
“As tall as the palm trees on this island,” Captain Boudreaux responds.
“That could be bad,” the president comments, “for us and the people in our nation.”
Before I can even say anything, Captain Boudreaux steps forward and says, “Mr. President, we need to go find this dragon before it destroys the U.S.”
Mr. Kennedy looks confused for a second and says, “What do you mean to destroy?”
“It can’t attack us here because it doesn’t have any water nearby,” Captain Boudreaux explains. “If we don’t stop it soon, though, it’ll be able to fly to our country and cause serious damage to everything in its path.”
The president looks at Captain Boudreaux skeptically before turning to me and saying, “I don’t believe you.”
I say nothing in response and just give the president a blank stare.
Mr. Kennedy sighs loudly, and Captain Boudreaux says, “Sir, we know it’s crazy, but that’s why we need to find this dragon.”
“Look,” Mr. Kennedy begins angrily, “why did you bring these two people to the island in the first place?”
Captain Boudreaux looks at me again and replies, “We thought that since the two of them are the only ones who have ever seen a dragon before, maybe they could convince you of the truth.”
Mr. Kennedy stares at me for several seconds before saying, “Fine, you have my attention. What proof do you have that there is a dragon on this island?”
“I can tell you about it, if that would help,” I reply.
“Yes,” he says excitedly. “Show me whatever you wish.”
Captain Boudreaux walks over to a cabinet along the wall and opens a drawer full of folders. He pulls out the file marked, ‘Dragons’, and hands it to Mr. Kennedy. “I found this in the files of a book I found at the library.”
“A book?” he asks, looking down at the folder. “Why didn’t you show me this before?”
“I couldn’t read the words,” I explain, “but now I can.”
He looks through the file quickly and then looks up at me with a curious expression.
“There are pictures of dragons in here, along with descriptions of what the creatures look like,” he says as he flips pages. “This one says that these dragons are very intelligent.”
“They can speak English?” I ask in disbelief.
Mr. Kennedy stops flipping pages and looks back up at me with a questioning expression. “Why do you ask that?”
“Because that’s not possible,” I answer matter-of-factly. “They can’t speak English. They’re too small to understand the language.”
Mr. Kennedy looks at Captain Boudreaux as if he wants to argue with me, but I cut him off.
“No, I’m right, okay?” I say emphatically, holding his gaze.
He gives me another skeptical look and says, “Well, maybe you’ve been wrong about something else as well.”
I feel myself grow angry at that and say, “No, that’s definitely not true.”
Captain Boudreaux puts a hand on my shoulder and says, “Maybe you should hear what the man has to say before jumping to conclusions, sir.”
I glare at the captain for a few moments but then reluctantly agree to listen.
“All right,” I say in a huff while staring down at the folder in front of me. “What does it say?”
“These dragons appear to be very clever,” Mr. Kennedy reads from the page. “It mentions that they’re known to use tools and that they’ve even written books. It also said that they have built many things such as cities, roads, and dams.”
“But how would these dragons be able to read or write?” I question. “Do they have opposable thumbs?”
“Well, it goes on to describe how the dragons are able to build buildings by using a process called ‘geometric construction’. This is what enables them to make buildings that humans would consider impossible.”
“Oh, well that makes sense,” I say sarcastically. “So all you have to do is think about your idea, and then it’s magically real.”
The president laughs at that and says, “You must be joking, son.”
Captain Boudreaux turns towards me and says, “I assure you, there is a dragon on this island, and I will prove it to you.”
At that moment, someone starts pounding on the door. We turn to see three men standing outside the entrance with their guns pointed at us. The president gets behind the desk and motions for everyone to be still. One of the men knocks once more. Then, after a few seconds of silence, he says, “Who is it?”
“Mr. President? We have visitors.”
The door creaks open slightly, and a tall man with black hair walks in. His eyes widen when he sees me sitting in the chair across from the president.
The End