Cowbright: We're in the doldrums!

These last 2 days we have been sailing the Indian Ocean due north on our way to Oman. I have never seen the sea so still! The sea can be different on different days, or even at different times of the day. And of course during sunrise or sunset, the sky can change in minutes if not seconds! I confess that hardly a day goes by that I don't snap a few photos off of our veranda because the view is just SO beautiful! As far as the ocean, on normal sea days we're used to seeing small white caps out on the open water (see first photo below).


taken recently - notice the small white caps in the water

But yesterday and today there were no white caps and the ocean was strangely smooth on top! In fact, it was so unusual that I kept snapping photos because it was so unbelievably still and calm.

Always we admire the huge, white and fluffy clouds that hang above the water. Occasionally we might see darker ones heavy with rain or perhaps even a beautiful rainbow. As far as the eye can see in any direction - we only see water and clouds!

But yesterday and today the sea has been noticeably different. Every little bit, it seemed I was commenting on how still the ocean was and snapping more pictures. It actually seemed strange because we have been on the ship 3+ months now and the water has not been this still before. This morning Ronnie remarked to someone at breakfast about how glassy the sea looks and he was told that the unusual stillness we're experiencing is because we are in the doldrums.

Ronnie came back to the room and googled "doldrums" to discover the following. I'll copy and paste the short version here. And by the way, we crossed the equator for the third time during the night as we slept.

Known to sailors around the world as the doldrums, the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ, pronounced and sometimes referred to as the “itch”), is a belt around the Earth extending approximately five degrees north and south of the equator. Here, the prevailing trade winds of the northern hemisphere blow to the southwest and collide with the southern hemisphere’s driving northwest trade winds.

Due to intense solar heating near the equator, the warm, moist air is forced up into the atmosphere like a hot air balloon. As the air rises, it cools, causing persistent bands of showers and storms around the Earth’s midsection. The rising air mass finally subsides in what is known as the horse latitudes, where the air moves downward toward Earth’s surface.

Because the air circulates in an upward direction, there is often little surface wind in the ITCZ. That is why sailors well know that the area can be calm sailing ships for weeks. And that’s why they call it the doldrums.

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/doldrums.html

So that's why the sea has looked almost as smooth as glass these last two days! The ocean is so smooth, it barely feels like the ship is moving at all.

In photography, one "rule" of composition is not to divide a photograph in half. In other words, place the horizon above or below the mid line (avoid giving equal space to top and bottom). So sometimes when I'm framing a shot, I ask myself "which is the most interesting part of this photo - the sky or the sea?" If the clouds are reflected in the water, I may want the lower half of the photo (water) to be emphasized. Or if the sky is incredibly spectacular, I may want to direct the eye upward. But in the case of the sky being amazing and the water being equally amazing, I sometimes let myself break the "rule" and allow the horizon to practically cut the picture in half - because both the sky and the sea deserve equal attention! :)

With my heavy trigger finger, it's been impossible not to take too many photos. And with my lack of decisiveness, it's hard to choose my favorites. So please indulge me if I'm posting too many! And remember that all of these were taken today or yesterday, with exception of first one (the one with white caps that represents what the ocean normally looks like).