amazing sights

[Tony Wilding]

My first was watching a Volcano erupt off the Coast of Southern Italy, second was in a Hurricane off Cuba to see the surface whipped into flying spray , and the strange colours of the sky, thirdly the size of Western Ocean waves in a Storm Force Ten.

[EIFION]

I will not add to your list Tony , only to say how lucky we all were to have seen and experienced all we did. ours was no ordinary job be it deck , engineroom or catering

[Chris Allman]

Water spouts off Rio - the Amazon jungle - Table Mountain from the sea.

[John Callon]

Going through the Magellan Straits, first time I ever saw Manhattan and walking down Sunset Strip in the 1960's.
Rgds
John

[John Pruden]

the first sight of flying fish we thought it was a wind up!!!! going through panama canal!!! porpoise clearing our path!!! stars in the southern oceans!!! blue whales breaching hearing the whale songs through the hull on a lazy quiet night!!! watching shooting stars when on lookout!!! things people would never see in ten lifetimes yes we were lucky. i always wanted to see the ice flows but never did but what times they were. its not till a crowd like on this site that gets the memory banks of our past that makes the sights that we thought were long forgotten that things come back as if it were yesterday we were all young fit and fearless of anything life would throw at us and we thank each other for the memories??jp

[Doc Vernon]

I have said this before but long ago,so will repeat here!
The Doldrums of the Atlantic Ocean at certain places and times,it is a most amazing sight to see such great spans of Sea just sitting without a ripple,and like a pane of massive Glass,not a thing moving! Just great!

Walking out of a Cinema in the Orange Free State in the late 70's with my then Girlfriend,to be greeted by one of the most awesome sights!
As we exited the Cinema,it was then (4.30pm) and still supposed to be Sunny and light,well we were greeted with this Eirie dark sort of Reddish/Brownish Colour ,it was rather scary,and all the Patrons just stood and looked in awe!
The entire Sky was this colour,we later found out that there had been a severe Sandstorm,and on futher investigation we found that most everything was just covered in this Reddish Brown Dust! What a sight!

And yes i also agree with the first sighting of Table Mountain,when i arrived back in Cape Town after my first trip!
A grand site!
Cheers

[Tony Wilding]

Had almost forgotten about seeng Whales, San Antonio Chile, yes First Panama Canal transit was great, going up the River to Buenaventura in Colombia was Rainforest as far as you could see, Flying Fish i did not believe untill i saw them, also those tiny birds that landed on deck during a storm, and the massive Albatross gliding on air currants going down to Capetown, never did see a waterspout, my Brothers Ship was hit by Tsunami Wave in mid Pacific.

[John Pruden]

mount Fuji snow on the peak a the blossom at the base and yes you brought another memory of the coast of west Africa a sand storm left the well deck piled up with red fine sand even though we were over 150 miles of the coast we thought the boson was taking the p... till we were shoveling? as one story comes out another memory come forward the sun rises sunsets the size of the moon the star filled heavens that you can't see for artificial light on land yes wonderous times? look at the way of life now narrow alleyway between boxes you can't even see the bow or even to the other side of the ship no shore leave just a job now?JP

[Tony Wilding]

Used to be great on the 4/8 morning watch,come up wth the ER gash to chuck over the stern, just befor sun up, sit on a bollard have a smoke and watch, especially on the Equator, Sun looks bigger there, rises so quickly, never got tired of watching that, as you say not much to encourage a life at sea now,

[Peter F Chard]

1) Sailing over an erupting underwater volcano east of Bali -- it was as light as day although 2 am because of the phosphorescence. Our report was comfirmed by an Indonesian fishing boat in the area. We actually got a mention in the Notices to Mariners !
2) Watching the Bosun and some of his AB's trying to catch an albatross which had landed on our deck for a rest but found it did not have enough runway length to get airborne under its own steam, hence the efforts by the crew. All had to go to the sick bay for treatment from the battering received from the bird.
3)Sailing through a swarm of locusts -- we actually had to stop the engines because the air filters on the Engine Room FD fans had choked up with these critters. About ten days later we engineers noticed baby locusts hatching inside the ER floodlights - these lamps are supposed to have a perfect vacuum to stop the filaments burning out ! True, I swear it. The Lascar crew swept the insects up by the sackful, dried them, ground them up and used the resulting powder as a condiment for their curries.
Regards Peter in NZ.