2020. July 08.
The first entries from Nora Chaney's diary.
Day 1 – “I can’t believe the day is finally here!! This festival has been on my bucket list since I can remember and now that I’m finally on board this beyond luxurious ship, I’m convinced that the VIP ticket was well worth all those months of cutting back on stuff! And to think all this glamour is just the beginning… My plan for the day is to quickly unpack, take a few pictures of the harbour from my balcony and then head up to the sun deck. I’ll be the girl with the gin & tonic in one hand and a camera in the other!"
Day 2 – "We’re currently sailing in the Caribbean region, nothing but blue skies and sunshine on the horizon. I was trying to capture the light on the water all morning and I think I managed to take some pretty great pictures. I also have been drawn to photograph all these interesting characters on board, like this girl Phoenix who I met at breakfast. She’s a sound technician for the concerts on board and she has endless stories of what goes on backstage during a gig. We hung out all afternoon and she also introduced me to some of her friends and I gotta admit, it’s nice to have some company! I invited them to watch the July 4th fireworks show from my balcony and see where the night leads together. Life is good!"
Day 3 – "After the fireworks last night, we went up to the deck for the official party and ended up staying until the music died down and the well dressed crowd of passengers went back to their cabins. We talked for hours, having one of those watching-the-night-sky-while-contemplating-the-meaning-of-life types of conversations, you know, until the first raindrops of the morning chased us back to our cabins, too. I could try and do something productive, and normally I’d love to take pictures of this gloomy weather outside, but instead I decided to sleep through the day and not feel bad about it. I can also feel the ship rocking a bit more noticeable than the past few days, so it’s probably for the best to just stay in today. I hope the weather will be nicer tomorrow!"
Day 4 – "I woke up to the sound of the emergency alarm and for a moment I didn’t know where I was. Everything in my cabin was swinging around violently and the next second a sharp, crackling peal, followed by a loud crash, shook the room and my window EXPLODED. I desperately tried to remember where the closest muster station was while putting on my lifejacket, but my mind was cloudy with panic. Suddenly, my cabin door swung open and one of the crew members was screaming at me to follow him. I ran through seemingly endless corridors, blindly bumping into other passengers, catching snatches of conversations about failed navigational systems and missing crew members… I honestly don’t know how we’ll make it through the night…"
Day 5 – "The storm was monstrous. When the dark and powerful wind finally subsided, we were able to get a look at the main deck. The sunrise illuminated the absolute destruction of the ship’s luxury deck and outer gardens. Strange plants and debris littered the pools and draped across the ship’s palm trees, otherworldly elements out of place on a getaway cruise. We were instructed to gather our belongings as the ship was heading towards a newly sighted landmass in the distance. When I went back to my cabin, I salvaged some extra clothes and grabbed my camera bag, which was completely soaked, but everything in it was miraculously intact. As we steered along towards the island, I snapped some pictures of the shore. It’s strange, but I could swear some of the shapes on the beach were too colorful to be simple rocks..."
Arrival – After a terrible night that felt like an eternity, I left the doomed ship with a group of passengers. Stepping out, the blazing sun amplified the ringing in my ears and the heat left my mouth desert dry… Oh man, I would do anything for a glass of water… I started digging through my jeans pocket for some gum but all I found was my faded ticket. Welcome to Paradise… Pfft, how ironic… wait, what was that!? A screech of some sort? The strange vegetation in front of us is moving…