One of my homework assignments for the forest therapy course is to find a “sitspot”, a place to sit with the natural world and allow nature to work its way in. My sitspot on the ship is in the bow of the U deck. When the crew is working on the deck, it can be quite noisy and some parts of the engine are noisy too. I am glad to have my fancy musician’s earplugs. They allow me to hear everything (even small details) but they lower the decibel level to protect hearing. I use these when I need to. But at the bow, there is a miraculous quiet, and I listen to the waves against the ship, watching the birds and the changing sky. On the starboard side in the early afternoon, or the portside in the morning, I find the most exquisite variations in blue. Perhaps I’ll see a greenish blue--let’s call it aqua, or a light greyish blue or on cloudy days a darker grey like a blackboard. I love to see the particular blue that falls somewhere between denim and royal blue with...