I have a thing for everything naval and love to use the element in my stories, even when it does not affect the plot in any direct way. Here it is a way to bring the character into the world. The second intent of the first paragraph was to hint that the sea voyage was strangely dreamlike. Then the next paragraph established the character, and the third set the place of meeting and the reason why to meet. Slightly more open ended than I prefer but as yet I know very little of what my cowriters character will be like and appear like, so it had to be this way.