Day Twenty-Four

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The torches did not seem to work as well as the previous night. I heard no zombies, skeletons, or creepers (no one ever hears the creepers), but the spiders were deafening. Occasionally one would scamper past the glass, but I could hear others overhead. I broke the glass, ran outside, and turned.

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The spiders jumped down off the hill and gave chase... for about two seconds. Then they just stopped and loomed around my camp, losing all interest in me. No creepers tried to ambush me, either. Perhaps the torches did work.

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The ground rose as the day progressed, occasionally dropping off into canyons to the south. The ocean was visible in the distance from time to time.

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Canyon to the south.

Atop a mountain.

Ocean off to the south.

South-east. Ocean to the south, woods to the east.

Passing through the woods, I came to the edge of the continent and a rather fruitful seaside cavern.

Through the woods.

One lone pig.

(looking south) I see iron...

And even more iron!

I worked my way down into the cavern, slowly and carefully. It was still early and there could be mobs lurking in the shadows. My fears were unfounded, though, and I managed to obtain more iron in this one cavern than the past few nights mining.

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Floating sand!

With nine iron ore in my inventory, I left the cave and walked onto the coast. Beyond a few slithers of sand, I could just make out some land far to the south-east. I crafted my boat and headed east.

Land to the south east.

Same land from my boat. Looks like some tall mountains.

Heading east. I decided to sail around the peninsula and keep my boat for a while longer...

...but that didn't work out so well.

The thinnest bank of sand was separating me from the rest of the ocean. I didn't want to waste the wood on a second boat, nor did I want to waste the time sailing further north, so I pulled out my spade.

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Success!

I could see pockets of land in the mist, but nothing worth landing on for some time.

Land to the north.

After a few minutes of sailing, land came into sight to the south. As I came closer, it grew into a rather impressive mountain of spikes and arches, like some kind of natural castle half turned to rubble.

Southern mountain

A closer look.

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Land closed in from the north, too, and I was funneled into a cavern with high cliffs on either side.

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Looking north and- oh! More iron!

Never thought I would be mining from a boat.

As I collected the ore, I could hear zombies moaning. Lots of zombies. There had to be a dungeon just through the wall. I did not dig deeper to find out for sure.

To the south.

The wide canyon continued for some time. The ground on each side leveled out, but I decided I would keep my boat and make good distance while I could. I was slowly leaning to the north, I was aware, but I could make up for that later.

Following the river. Mostly east but a bit north.

Stopped to grab some coal.

Sun getting low.

I had been in this boat since midday. Perhaps I was missing some crazy stuff on the land, but the sights from the water was worth it. It was a really nice change of pace to just sit in my boat and watch the land drift by. That said, I did not want to be stuck out in my boat after dark again. The land drew back behind a beach to the south so I pulled up and made camp.

Land to the south. Gonna camp on the beach.

This should do.

Not a moment too soon.

Do your thing, torches.

Ocean views.

As the stars came out, I considered my options for the next day. I could head back south and inland, or I could keep my boat for a while longer and see where the water takes me. I'm thinking I'll keep my boat, if I can. What do you think? Let's take a vote. Boat or land?

Day Twenty-Three.

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The night passed silently. Perhaps setting up the perimeter of torches around my camp actually worked. Again my mining proved entirely fruitless. While I waited for the sun to rise, I packed away my workbench. I made sure I removed my coal from the furnace before I packed it up also, this time. But then I remembered I was yet to smelt the four iron cubes I had found during the day yesterday so I put the coal back in to smelt them... and then I packed up the furnace without removing the coal. Again. Whoops. Another thirty coal wasted. 

Time to get going.

Although I had not heard a sound all night bar the mooing of cows and the clucking of birds (perhaps they were attracted by the light?), I was still wary. I broke the glass, dashed out, and spun around. A lone skeleton was burning on a distant mountain.

Skeleton burning, top left.

An early start.

You know you have been traveling for a while when you have to use two lines of the sign.

Climbing onto the grass, I noticed several creepers were lurking among the animals. Two left me alone, but one decided to block my path.

Creepers back towards camp.

Creeper in my path, pretending to be a tree.

The ocean followed me east. After a few hills, the land dipped down into several sandy ditches before the ocean finally caught up to me.

Hills!

Mushrooms!

Sand!

Ocean!

I seemed to be standing on the edge of a bay. The land stretched around to the north, and I could just see more hazy land on the horizon on the far side. I decided I would walk around instead of crafting a boat.

Looking north east.

At the northern tip of the bay, the water was doing something strange.

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I imagine there was a cave under the sand that all the water was flowing into. It was bizarre, as though the ocean had ceased to exist one cube too early. Moving on, the land was flat for a time, although the coast was never too far off.

Looking south-east, beyond the bay.

Large inland lake to the south. Perhaps an old volcano?

Continuing east.

I guess I'm not out of the woods yet, ho ho ho!

...I guess I am now.

This tree on the coast was rather crazy, by the way.

It was time to finally hit the water.

Land off to the south.

Absolutely nothing to the north.

Sandbanks to the east.

I maneuvered through the sandbanks and continued on until the southern land wrapped around east in front of me. I came ashore right before an interesting cave.

This was even eerier as earlier today I first heard of Herobrine.

Inside the cave. Time to replenish my coal. Again.

A nearby deep cavern.

And on we go!

This island seemed no less forested than the last. Occasionally, though, random slabs of stone and gravel popped up among the trees.

Pig'n'bird meeting.

Random stone slab.

And another one, a bit further on.

More forest.

Atop the next hill, I looked down into a cave network of various entrances.

Looking south...

...and east from the same vantage.

And back south, also.

Pyramid hill.

Beyond the pyramid, the land was relatively treeless.Several bodies of water were scattered across an otherwise flat plain. 

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Sun getting low.

As the sky began to darken,  I climbed over a small hill. I decided I would try the perimeter of torches again as it worked so well the last night. 

Perhaps got a little carried away.

Moonrise.

And that was day twenty-three. I had covered quite a lot of ground yet again, but had failed to see anything to exciting. But I doubt that will last for long. It never does. Who knows? The next lavafall may be just over the next hill...