May 2020:
Out to Sea, On Dry Land

By Corey Sandler

I am on dry land, but feeling so very much out to sea.

We are now—all of us—strangers in a strange land. An invisible enemy has invaded our world and changed just about everything.

Some among us have been truly heroic, including most medical and health professionals and the essential workers who supply us with food and shelter.

For the past 12 years or so, my wife and I have spent about six months of the year traveling aboard luxurious cruise ships in nearly every part of the world.

We have been to iconic and well-visited places like London and Athens and Barcelona and Lisbon and St. Peterburg and Stockholm and Rio de Janeiro and Valparaiso and Montreal and New York and everywhere in between.

And we have come to port in less-visited but always fascinating places like Reykjavik, Narsarsuak, Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Les Îles des Saintes, Devil’s Island, the Falkland Islands, Dakar, Tunis, Bejaia, Monemvasia, and so many more.

There’s an expression that exists in many countries, many languages, and many cultures. One version: “Man Plans and God Laughs.”

It’s not a funny matter, but here we are with lots of plans—most of them canceled and others wobbly at best.

We were supposed to be in South America in February and March, and beginning to pack soon for an extended cruise from Iceland to the United Kingdom and on to the Baltic. Oh, and Greece and Israel and Italy in the fall. And next year’s schedule was equally exciting.

But, as I said, here we are on dry land. I can see the Atlantic Ocean from my office window. There are no cruise ships in sight and the skies above are eerily devoid of almost all jet contrails.

Someday we shall resume our explorations. The new normal will be, I am certain, quite different from what we have all become used to.

In the meantime, take care of each other and hold the politicians and the profiteers and dishonest conspiratorialists accountable for the damage they have wrought.

This shall, we hope, someday pass. We look forward to better times.

FROM THE ARCHIVES

In my unexpectedly expansive free time, I have been revisiting my files of hundreds of thousands of photos. Here are some newly rediscovered delights.

Jour de l’Action de grâce. Thanksgiving in Quebec City. Photo by Corey Sandler
Dancin’. Santiago-de-Compostela, Spain. Photo by Corey Sandler
Watching, waiting. Batumi, Republic of Georgia. Photo by Corey Sandler
Tulips of a Sort. Amsterdam. Photo by Corey Sandler
Frozen. Riga, Latvia. Photo by Corey Sandler
More Umbrellas. Cartagena, Colombia. Photo by Corey Sandler
Lookout. Macchu Picchu, Peru. Photo by Corey Sandler
Sky and Ice. Tromso, Norway. Photo by Corey Sandler
Days of Black and White. Photo by Corey Sandler

All photos Copyright 2020 by Corey Sandler, All Rights Reserved. Contact me if you would like to purchase an image for personal or commercial use.