1 WEEK at SEA!
Lessons learned:
- Our boat and our Skipper totally rock.
- It's really freakin' bumpy out here.
- Don't expect your favorite ceramic Mexican coffee mug to make it to French Polynesia.
- Kids are happy wherever they are, as long as there is love and you laugh with them.
The illusion is that having 11,987 feet of water under us means we're living on the edge; that at any moment, something could go awry and we would be powerless to control our future. Here's the bunny in the hat, though: Everyone sitting at home reading this is in the same situation.
The difference is, I can look six inches to my left and see my mortality flowing by at 7 knots...
and at home, it hides behind the door. We feel safe at home because we wear a lifejacket of familiar comforts and they give us the illusion that we are in control. Out here, we wear the life jackets and harnesses but the reality is, we KNOW we have to just hang on like you mean it and not be too stupid and the rest you kiss up to the universe. Whatever is gonna get you -you probably won't see coming. And the lifejackets won't make any difference.
We are always at the mercy of fate.
So go ahead, be brave and have some fun.
Back in the day -- Like, Hemingway's day -- the stories in the paper were about explorers and radicals, free thinkers and adventurers. Young men and women raced out to all corners of the globe to look fate in the eye and shake its hand. Overcoming fear of the unknown is a great and healthy thing for people to do.
Depressed?
Go camping for the weekend.
Learn to snowboard.
Try the water slide at the public pool...
Whatever, just let go of the reins, jump in, carpe diem, take the trip, climb the mountain, buy the goat farm, move to Hawaii, fall in love...
Adventure removes the glasses, cuts off the Soma dose, makes you bite the apple and discover you are always falling down a rabbit hole -- even if you don't know it.
This is really what we have learned in week one.
...That and pressure cookers are a godsend and canning your own food is delicious and totally worth the effort.
KAI:
Albatross live at sea. They only go to shore to lay their eggs. Albatross are gorgeous, they look like really cool seagulls, only much bigger and more serious.
Hunter:
My favorite part of the first week was having the Boobie birds hitch a ride with us. We also found a baby squid on the deck one morning while daddy was doing his morning boat inspection.I took some pictures that I can post when we get to the Marquesas.
Captain's corner:
.. And then there are the other unknowns, like why is the bilge pump going off, why won't the hydro-generator put out more than 3 amps, what happened to the radar to make it suddenly stop working, how come things break faster than you can fix them out here and how is it possible for waves to come from EVERY direction??? Ahhh well, the bilge is sorted out, the Hydro-gen just looks at me and laughs and luckily my new BFF is an ex Navy S.E.A.L and can help me trouble shoot things like faulty radars over the HAM radio frequencies in the morning (thanks Terry, it WAS the corroded fuse). As for the whims of the waves... who cares, I love 'em anyway. This is the most fantastic experience imaginable and I'm getting to do it with three of the most fabulous people on the planet. I just hope we don't run out of coffee mugs.
If you have not yet seen this video of Sylvia Earle, do watch it now!
With sloping masts and dipping prow,
ReplyDeleteAs who pursued with yell and blow
Still treads the shadow of his foe,
And forward bends his head,
The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast,
And southward aye we fled.
The Norns spin the threads of fate at the foot of Yggdrasil, the tree of the world. But then so do the Thorns, the Lornes, the Sor'ns and the long too long in coming Morns. As for the Morons, Borons, Pour-ons and Swore-ons they can be safely ignored as long as you don't run out of coffee. Old shoes could, at a pinch, be substituted for mugs. The fact that the Cap'n found a moment for five sentences means things must be looking up! There's a great albatross colony in New Zealand, Kai. And Hunter, my favorite bird of all has always been the Booby! You are loved from afar.
ReplyDeleteTheir name was possibly based on the Spanish slang term bobo, meaning "stupid", as these tame birds had a habit of landing on board sailing ships, where they were easily captured and eaten. Owing to this, boobies are often mentioned as having been caught and eaten by shipwrecked sailors, notably William Bligh of the Bounty and his adherents, during their famous voyage after being set adrift by Fletcher Christian and his followers. I always thought there were 'greater' and 'lesser' boobies but apparently that only applies to frigate-birds. Do you know if yours was a Brown, Blue-Footed, Red-Footed, Nazca, Masked or Peruvian or none of the above. Perhaps just a Super-Pooper?
ReplyDelete