Days Forty-Seven and Forty-Eight

There are only so many photographs one can take of the ocean before they all look the same.

Day Forty-Seven. More ocean.

Day Forty-Eight. More water.

And so the ocean went on for two more days with no end in sight. Then, in the middle of the forty-eighth night, something miraculous happened. I stumbled out of my mind-numbed haze of just holding down 'w' as I realised why the stars were disappearing from the horizon: because there was a wall of land before me.

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I tried not to get too excited. It could just be a glitched-out island. But I sailed north and south and the wall continued for as far as I could see in the darkness. See, over night, Minecraft had been updated to version 1.0. Was this another slab of new land with the updated version? Was this the end of my purgatory at sea? I dared not risk going aground at night to find out. Instead, I impatiently sat in my boat and watched the moon crawl painstakingly slow towards the western horizon.

And then:

A mountain!

 A mountain! Now I was certain. I had found the new continent. My week at sea was over. Once the sun rose and burnt off the zombies I would go aground and continue my trek in earnest.

Days Forty-Five and Forty-Six

I continued my trip across The Vastest Ocean Of All Time Ever throughout the night. As the sun rose on Day Forty-Five, no land was to be seen.

Nothing to the east.

Nothing to the south.

Nothing to the north.

Onwards, then.

 I spied a small island early in the morning and pulled over to place my sign.

.

The morning continued as the last three days had continued: with ocean and the occasional island giving me hope of a new continent then taking it away. At least things couldn't get any worse, right?

-_-

The storm came out of nowhere, drenching me and blotting out the sun. As I sailed on, I had to be careful to maintain my eastward path without any landmarks or celestial spheres to guide me.

After a while I came across an island with a couple of trees. My wood supply was still low, so I went aground to stock up.

.

Oh. Hello there.

.

Fortunately, the hissing of the rain hitting the lava alerted me of its presence early. I was not expecting it and could have quite easily stumbled into it otherwise. With my fresh supply of wood (and new saplings planted in place of the old trees, of course) I continued on through the storm, keeping my focus on the clouds and the horizon as to not stray from my course.

.

.

Closest I got to capturing the awesome lighting on the horizon.

After a while, I turned and looked back to the west in time to see the orange mist that suggested that somewhere behind the clouds, the sun was setting.

.

Meanwhile, the largest landmass I'd seen all day was coming up in the west. As usual, I was finding land at exactly the time of day I didn't need to find land.

Land ahead.

Maneuvering through the islands in the dark.

Looking back as the sun sets.

.

Darkest night ever. Which way was east again?

I sailed on through the night. I tried my hardest to stay on course, but with no moon, stars, clouds, or land to sail by, who could know for sure how far I drifted north or south? I stuck by the repeated texture of the ocean as best I could. I spied little land throughout the night, though I did get close  to one island and was unaware of it until I heard the twangs of skeleton archers.

Whoops. A bit too close.

Finally, an orange haze split the horizon. Day Forty-Six began, yet the rain showed no sign of relenting.

.

.

All you need to know about that morning. But then...

It's clearing up!

Never been so happy to see the open ocean beneath a blue sky.

Seem to be still on course.

And, truly, there is nothing else to say of Day Forty-Six. No islands of interest. No underwater formations of interest. No weather of interest. Just the ocean under the sun. Though, after twenty-four hours of rain, that was okay.

Five days I had spent on this ocean now. Whatever land is out there, at least it is five days closer.

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Days Forty-Two to Forty-Four

Sunrise. Finally.

It was the longest night ever, but the sun was finally rising. A new sunrise of a shade the nomad had never seen before.

.

 Looking east, I remembered where I had fallen asleep: on the edge of a continent, looking across east to the southern point of another island, and what seemed like a vast ocean to the south of that.

.

.

The island ahead looked mountainous and rocky. I decided to take a boat and circumnavigate around its southern coast. That way, if the island ended, I could just keep my boat.

.

Looking north as I pass the island.

The island indeed did not continue eastwards for very long. Though, it did not quite stop for the natural reasons I expected.

The edge of the old world.

I had expected this. Having not played since before the 1.8 update, it was bound to happen eventually. Though, I thought it would take a bit longer, first. Even the ocean itself was a whole block lower, causing the ocean of the old world to cascade down into the new.

Going over the edge.

Looking north back at the old world.

.

I turned back to the east, saying goodbye to the old lands. Exciting new 1.8 worlds lay ahead. Well. Supposedly.

Water.

More water.

Oh wait. Land!

No. More water.

The ocean went on and on and on. Occasionally a pillar of land would jut out of the abyss, but water was everywhere. I started to get concerned. What if something had glitched? What if there was nothing but ocean from here to the edge of the world?

I kept sailing regardless. At least, it seemed that I did not get hungry while sailing, at least. I guess sitting is not very tiring work. Late in the morning, I had to maneuver around a small cluster of islands. It was the most land I had seen since dawn.

Islands ahead.

Might actually have to turn.

And back to the open ocean.

The rest of the day consisted of much of the same: open ocean with the occasional jut of land or cluster of islands. On one hand, it was incredibly monotonous and drab, but on the other hand, I was making good speed. Late in the afternoon, though, my path was nearly blocked by an island that forced me to slow down dramatically.

First tree I've seen for a while.

.

Easy does it...

Beyond the channel, the ocean just kept going. Behind me, the sun was beginning to sink.

.

Back ahead of me, the most promising landmass thus far was just coming into view. Figures, that I would find land just as the night sets in--precisely when I don't want to be near land.

Land ahead!

...just in time for the mobs.

As promising as the land looked, I didn't want to go aground just yet. If it were, in fact, a new land, going to ground would mean facing the mobs. Instead, I followed the ocean around to the south. Sure enough, the island was merely a slither.  Like a prop of an island off a movie set.

Looking north at the back of the 'island'.

Ahead was another small island silhouetted by the rising moon. I didn't want to be near land during the night, where zombies could swim out to meet me, so I took my boat as close to the middle of the ocean between the islands and stopped for the night.

The sun setting back beyond the island slither.

And the moon rising ahead.

 Day Forty-Three


Over night, shadowy figures blotted out the stars above the two islands as zombies, skeletons, and spiders moved around. As the sky brightened with the morning, I risked a creep towards the next island. Strangely, no mobs awaited me when I got there.

.

An island worthy of my sign.

When I jumped out of my boat (for my first time since yesterday morning!) I accidentally pushed it forward and i t crashed against the land. I picked up the scraps and thought little of it while I crafted my sign and placed it in the ground.

.

I used my workbench to craft a new boat and finally realised how close to disaster I had come. After crafting my new boat, I had only two blocks of wood left. On all the islands, I had only seen a single tree. If I were to crash this boat, that would be it. No more wood. I would be stranded on one of these islands forever. I took to the ocean a little slower with this thought weighing me down.

Heading around the island (note the underwater arch).

My wet adventure did not look like it would be ending any time soon. As the sun rose, the ocean stretched on in every direction with only the occasional family of squids breaking up the monotone.

.

After a while, I came across another long island. This one, though, had a tree on it. A tree! Never had I been so relieved to see a tree. Paranoid about crashing my boat, I jumped out quite a distance from shore and swam onto land.

Tree ahoy!

And more trees ahead. And more ocean.

I returned to my boat and sailed on. And, really, that is all I have to report for Day Forty-Three. The ocean went on and on. Sometimes an island would pop out of the horizon and I would hold my breath, praying that more land would then pop up behind it. Maybe a mountain. Maybe a plain. Anything. Anything but more ocean. But it never did. The land always stopped and the ocean always continued.

.

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The only friends I have left.

As the sun set, I was no closer to finding land. None at all.

Looking back west.

And forwards to the east.

...

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I was over it. I'd had enough. I was sick of the ocean. Sick of the boat. Sick of the squid. Sure as hell sick of the islands, teasing me with land then taking it away. I sailed on through the night, desperate to leave this ocean behind me. I wanted to step on solid land again. I wanted to climb a mountain. To see pigs and cows and chicken/ducks. I sailed on, squinting at my screen in the moonlight and looking out for islands or jutting blocks that could destroy my ship.

An island of zombies.

An island of creepers.

Okay. Maybe went a little too close.

And then, dawn.

And more ocean.

Day Forty-Four

And so began day Forty-Four, my third day at sea. Early in the morning, while the horizon was still tinted yellow, I sailed by the most promising landmass thus far.

Could this be it?!

...maybe?

...no.

sigh.

 Things were beginning to look hopeless. Would I be trapped in this ocean forever? Still, I couldn't deny that the islands were getting bigger. It wasn't like the game was glitching: there was land--just not enough land worth walking on. I continued on. At the next island, I went to ground just long enough to place my sign.

.

A while later, I cam across another promising landmass, but I kept my expectations at bay.

Maybe this time?

If only there were more land stretching beyond that hill.

Please please please please please...

-______-

I walked back down the slope to where I had left my boat and sailed it around the southern side of the island and continued on through the ocean. I continued throughout the afternoon and came across another island as the moon crested.

.

And this was where I stopped for the night. As the moon rose, I had some heavy thinking to do. Three full days and nights I had spent atop this ocean, and there was still no end in sight. What do I do now? Do I carry on in the hope that there is still land out there? Do I change directions? Do I turn around and go back? Do I just pull up on an island and make it my home? Do I--dare I even consider it--jump into the water and end it all here? This was meant to be a return to the adventure, a new beginning. Instead, it looks like it may be the ultimate end. But stranded at sea was not how I envisioned this ending. Surely, surely, there is more land out there somewhere.

I guess we will see what morning brings.