Tonight we are sailing the Pacific Ocean about sixty miles northwest of Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Bright white stars fill a jet black sky, so much so that Orion is not a hollow outline but has a body made of tiny white lights. The almost-full moon has not risen yet and we are under sail, no engine, just the wind in three sails moving us forward about 5 knots, a gentle swell nudging us from behind. Warm air caresses us in our summer clothes, no jackets or blankets needed. Looking into the blackness of the night sea, Richard and I notice bright green phosphorescence stirred up by the wake our hull makes as she slices through these tiny creatures' massive watery world. Richard wants to take a photo but when he realizes it's too dark, he gets pencil and paper and begins drawing. Carmen curls up in her sleeping bag in the cockpit with her book and Tiger. It is silent but for the swooshing of water moving past our hull, the click of the steering wheel chain as the autopilot does her job steering us on course, the scratching of Richard's pencil and the tap tap of this iphone keypad. Bruce went forward to lay on deck below the jib and mainsail and rest before his night shift. I write in the ship's log and then here, trying to preserve this memory. And now I must stop so I can watch another natural wonder - a dark orange globe rising in the East, the moon painting a glistening yellow road on the ocean in front of us.
I can feel it, Jen - you've warmed me up, and let my brain feel like its back on the boat with you.... as I sit looking out at the dark 8:30 am morning here in Girdwood!
ReplyDeleteJen, So good meeting you Bruce Richard and Carmen, we just arrived back home today to the Columbia River Gorge to sunshine and 40 degrees, quite a change from Zihua and 85 degrees. I loved sailing with you and yor family in Zihua, my first sailing experience, it was the highlight of my trip! We will soon be processing some of the photos we took of that day and would like to send some of them to you. I'm not sure exactly how to post them to you. I have been exploring you blog and can relate to some of you adventures with traveling with a young family. I did that in the early 70's with my infant son and then husband in a home built house-truck and tipi, memories that will last a lifetime and lessons that will last as long too. What ever your doubts you have about what you are doing they are most likely well founded, but, one must step outside the box to experience life, and you are doing it while you are young and your children will look back on their experience with rich fond memories. It is the school of life, how ever bittersweet the children are learning so much more about life than from a school room. I wish I could have had an experience like that when I was a child. I feel we have met somewhere before, I felt a connection with you and your lovely family and hope to connect some time in the future perhaps through Hooper and Amy. Let me know how we can send the photos to you, I think we have a few good ones. Fair winds and good sailing my friends. Christine Bluestone
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