Quiet, please

by Margaret Moss

Departure in February 2024

Two unique special occasions. On separate zodiac trips in bays of the Peninsula on windless still ice-covered waters. The outboard engines were switched off. Everyone was asked to keep quiet and listen to the silence. These precious moments I will never forget. For the most part, people are not used to silence. After a few moments, people need to fidget. We are strangely perturbed by a lack of noise, perhaps made nervous by the extraordinary power silence has, being that it is perfectly comfortable in its own company. Humans, on the other hand, are such noisy creatures - velcro, zippers, sniffles, arranging gloves or beanies, cameras clicking. Then, when the silence is deemed to have been sufficient, we return to the world we make more noisy, zooming away to the chug of outboard engines and the human chatter that seeks to dominate.Text

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