A New Way of Looking at Things

I think if I had to find a quote describing what it's like living and traveling on a sailboat, Henry Miller's quote would certainly apply. I remember visiting Key West for the first time by car and not enjoying it very much. We'd flown into Miami, rented a car, got stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic for hours along Route 1 South and then had to deal with shoulder-to-shoulder tourists in the Conch Republic aka Key West. It was neither fun nor enjoyable and I had no intentions of returning. My mind was made up. Then we sailed into Key West aboard Nine of Cups and I saw the port and the town and the getting there in a whole new light. I absolutely adored it.

And so it is with many things in life. You hear about places. You read about things. You watch videos. You form an opinion … and then you go there yourself. As with my first visit to Key West, it seems the way you arrive and the process of getting there, colors your first impressions. If you're only there for a short time, it's hard to get a true feel for what you're looking at. You can't get rid of your preconceived notions and first impressions. You have no time to poke into the alleys and corners to discover what's really there.

The sailing/cruising experience does more than get you from one place to another. It allows you to immerse yourself in a new town … or a new country or a new culture. It allows you to appreciate the sameness in people and celebrate the differences. It allows you to look at people and places and things in a whole new light. It's not just the destination that becomes important … it's what you experience along the way and while you're there. It's how you grow.

What's more, when you return to a place you've seen a thousand times before, it lets you look at it differently because of what you've experienced. That's what travel does for you. It opens up your mind. It lets you soak up experiences and feelings you'd never truly considered. It teaches you tolerance and understanding and patience and self-reliance. It lets you expand and learn till you think you've seen it all and then you look … and it's all changed and you're looking at it for the first time again.

There's so much world out there and so little time. And you sometimes ask why we live this lifestyle? That's why.

Too much to do? Prioritize!

It happens every time we leave Nine of Cups for a few months and then return. We are overwhelmed with projects, repairs and maintenance. “Just put it on the list” is the Captain's usual response to any problem we discover that requires attention. It's just that the list grows and grows until we feel it is untenable … then what? Well, then we revert to our standing philosophy of life aboard … just a little further. Don't worry about the whole list; just worry about getting one thing checked off and moving on to the next. When you look at the whole picture, it's overwhelming, but looking at parts of the whole is much easier to handle. It's really about dividing big plans, projects or tasks into smaller tasks that are doable and that you can check off after reasonable effort. It's about lists and prioritizing what we really need (or want) before we're ready to head back to sea. Engine, sails, safety equipment all in good order? All those are necessary for prudent sailing. Varnish, microwave kaput, stainless polishing, even refrigeration are not reasons to delay a departure, unless we choose to.

So, as the list has grown, we've started our A, B and C task lists. Some items are receiving priority attention. We had contracted with a local fellow to repaint the topsides. He did as instructed and completed all but the navy shear stripe. Much to our pleasant surprise, he did a terrific job, and I might add, on time. “On time” is not usually part of the West Indies vocabulary. David has work to do on the cap rails and as soon as he completes his part, Rawle can finish painting the shear stripe.

We brought back a new cutlass bearing and shaft seal … priority items. They've currently taken up residence on the nav station midst a jungle of other parts, patiently waiting for David's attention. He figures when the pile disappears, he's finished up using all the parts and it'll be time to go, although he hasn't purchased the engine room through hull valve yet and that's an A-list item. We also need to anti-foul the bottom … currently an issue since bottom paint at the chandlery is back-ordered four weeks. Really? We've got it on order … any color will do ... as long as it's black.

The fridge is another issue. We haven't figured out what to do about it yet. Currently, there are three options available to us, including living without refrigeration which many cruisers do. We'll figure out our best solution soon. Evenings are spent discussing and figuring out options while drinking slightly warm wine or tepid beer. We always seem to come up with better solutions when a little alcohol is involved.

Midst the prioritizing and actual work, Marcie's sister, Lin, is coming for a visit. She doesn't care for boats much … the seasick thing. Being on the hard will alleviate the seasickness issue, but living on the hard will not be all that pleasant for her. That said, we plan to spend some time touring the island providing time off the boat, some good sister-on-vacation time, and good blog material. The last two times we visited Trinidad, we did mostly boat work and not much land touring.

So we've set a goal. We'd like to have all of our boat work done and splash by the third week in April. With that schedule, we should have enough time to get to the Chesapeake before hurricane season begins, ~2,000nm away. It will not be a leisurely up-island cruise as we originally planned. Instead, a rather direct trip is more likely in the cards, with a few planned ports of call along the way . But you know what? If it doesn't work out, there's always Plan B. We're working on that, too.

Stuff your eyes with wonder!

Ray Bradbury, sci-fi and fantasy writer extraordinaire, really had the right idea. For more than seven decades, he inspired his readers to think outside the box, color outside the lines, run with scissors … dream, think and create. He published a book of essays entitled “Bradbury Speaks”and wrote “In my later years I have looked in the mirror each day and found a happy person staring back. Occasionally I wonder why I can be so happy. The answer is that every day of my life I've worked only for myself and for the joy that comes from writing and creating. The image in my mirror is not optimistic, but the result of optimal behavior.”

What he was saying was “Don't delay. Throw off the lines and leave the dock!”. Despite his vivid imagination and prolific creative writing, he still understood that reading and fantasizing about the world never takes the place of actually experiencing it firsthand. We are the sum of our experiences. He encouraged us to explore. There's so much world to see, so much to do and so little time, grab every second. Live and explore. Don't sit and knit mittens or whittle wood in your rocking chair. Don't sleep away your life … there's plenty of time for that later.

Walk on the edge of a volcano and feel the earth tremble beneath your feet. Stretch yourself. Get scared a little. Walk midst the ferns of New Zealand. Feel warm rain on your face. Watch sunsets and sunrises. Swim with penguins and dolphins. Climb mountains. Take long walks. Bask in the history of those that traveled the same path before you and left their mark. It's all out there just waiting to be discovered … all over again for the first time. Wake up in the morning, look in the mirror and say “I'm happy because I've lived my life to the fullest.” That's our plan!