Day 6 out here and the voices have already started. This is a weird thing about being at sea that many sailors write about, the hearing of voices, even music. This passage I have also added ghostly hands knocking on our hull, as though someone wants to come in. I mean, who could possibly be knock knock knocking on the hull out here besides either a ghost or some other undead creature. Could be an alien, I guess. Whales don’t have hands. And besides we haven’t seen any.

Ordinarily hearing voices is considered in the realm of the insane or the terribly psychic, which are not mutually exclusive terms. The key here is whether the voices come from inside your head or outside. These voices are definitely outside my head, so that means I am probably sane, no matter what some people say.

I hear them often. I will be reading a book and suddenly I think people are talking in the back cabin. Or it will sound like someone is up in the cockpit talking but when I check, Mike is in the forward head. This happens for Mike, too, so that proves it’s not just me. On our last passage we both heard the same ‘people on the radio’ at the exact same time. I don’t know if that proves anything but it probably should. If only they would communicate more clearly!

Many of the sailors who have recorded these metaphysical experiences have been single handing and are seriously sleep deprived, making their reports slightly suspect. They have also been isolated from other people for long periods of time. None of those conditions apply here. We have been getting plenty of rest and we talk to each other a lot. A week at sea isn’t long enough to become psychotic when you get the level of napping we have reached.

People have theorized that these sounds, like the orchestra music that somehow is broadcast from the starboard hull (so pretty) are just your brain trying to fill in the gaps, like it’s making it’s own noise or trying to make sense of noises already there. I have two things to say to those kinds of people. First, are you out of your mind? Have you ever born witness to the amount of noise already on a small boat plying the waves? It’s already very noisy below, thank you. I don’t need to make more noise to fill in any gaps. And I already know where most of thr noises are coming from. They make complete sense to me. Wind, rattles, squeaks, thumps from waves, no problem understanding that.

Secondly, shut up. When I am busy listening to what amounts to the music of the spheres out here, or ghostly conversations (even if I can’t understand what they are saying), your efforts to explain a legit mystery of life by getting all sciencey on me are not welcome. I mean, let’s just enjoy the mystery, no? It’s like letting your spouse watch you apply makeup or see all the things you do in the bathroom. Some mysteries are better left unsolved, just enjoyed for their own sake. Seriously as much as I love and depend on science, just leave this alone because you are totally spoiling the fun. Go ask your teacher if she forgot to collect the homework or something.

I will let you know if the albatross that’s been following us starts a conversation. If he does, I hope he speaks English.

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