The sailing the last few days has been pretty straightforward. We head west, the sails stay the same, we stick our heads out to visually scan for other boats or obstructions, we check we are on course, we put our heads back into a book or on a computer.
Yesterday I was reviewing some old sailing magazines which had some articles I had read before we left to help prepare me for things like the Panama Canal, the Galapagos, and the trip to the Marquesas. Only now, I have a new perspective. I can compare these articles to my actual experience. It suddenly dawned on me. After all these years of dreaming of sailing around the world, going to the Galapagos, and making the big trip to French Polynesia – we’re finally doing it! We’re actually doing these things ourselves!
You’re probably laughing at me for being so silly that it took me so long to reach this conclusion. But, the fact is we have been really busy. While we were going through the canal, we were very concerned with the details of the canal while simultaneously worrying about the provisioning for the next several months, flying Karen home to get important parts for the boat, picking up new crew and breaking them in, etc. Then we were on passage to the Galapagos and worrying about making it through the doldrums. Then there were countless details with trying to maximize our time in the Galapagos (and a lot of fun activities!).
It’s only now that we really have some time to ourselves to sit back and reflect. Suddenly, all these experiences seem really fantastic! I can actually read these magazine stories and compare them to my own experiences. We’re actually sailing nearly 1500 miles from any land in any direction at the moment. About the furthest away from land you can be on a normal route to somewhere on the planet (my friend Andy is shuddering at that thought!). We all think it’s really cool!
Cool.
Sounds like a cool thing to realize!
I did a search in Google Earth last week for “Marquesas” to find out more about your next destination and only got hits in S. America and on the Galapagos of all places. I then turned on the ruler and looked about 3,000 miles from the Galapagos and couldn’t find anything that way either, but I did run into some cool little islands. So I had to do a Google search to see what came up and finally found where you’re heading. I was a little southeast of your destination in Google Earth when I found lots of little islands including Hikueru. Looks like a neat place to visit sometime.
We saw the movie “Oceans” last week which made me think a lot of you and your journey. I’d ask you if you might have seen it, but I suspect rather you are LIVING it right now.
Jim.