A second man told me today that the walking deck, four levels up from water level, was too high to see flying fish. This was not an officer but a passenger, wheelchair bound, very thin but not old. He was at the handrail looking out at the ocean as I did my (should be) daily mile walk.
Thinking to be friendly, I stopped to ask him whether he had seen any flying fish.
"No," he answered in an accent that was maybe German, maybe Dutch. His tone was serious. "Too high here. In smaller boat, they come on deck."
He had once sailed, saw fish fly onto the deck at his feet, knew that the fish and the deck and the wind in his face and the sails overhead were an infinite distance away. And when he looked out from the lower promenade deck of the ms Amsterdam, he was not studying the waves flowing by below him looking for quick flashes.
I continued my circuit of the deck, and the next time I came by, a couple in shorts and souvenir T-shirts were helping him get his wheelchair back inside through the heavy doors against the insistent wind.
I'm glad you're meeting some interesting people, those who know stuff and are pleasant as well. He sounds like he could be a new friend, along with others you've met on board.
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