Passage Notes – Georgia to ?

Second night out, my watch.

In this no-moon darkness, Jupiter is my new bestie. Her light shines so boldly it feels like an old friend winking from the horizon. Saturn is nearby, and I wish we could see her rings.

We just read “Project Hail Mary” (HIGHLY recommend!!) and I find myself wondering if a rocket ship to Saturn would feel like a sailboat on a moonless night in any way…

This has not been an easy trip so far.

Sailing is the highest highs and the lowest lows, and we have had a healthy dose of both in only two days!

The lows… started with the pouring rain we woke up to Thursday morning. A less stubborn human being might have taken it as a cue to drink more coffee and stow more crap, but you know how that goes… so off we went, stopping to fill jerry cans and pump out one last time in the absolute downpouring rain.

From there it was mostly just more weather stuff. Easterlies that were not supposed to be there — “according to ALL of the forecasts!”

But forecasts be damned, we beat into head seas, fighting wind over tide out the inlet, CERTAIN it would improve any minute, heartbroken as we watched Zephyr get seasick, looking at us with those big trusting eyes and questioning why we were doing this to him.

Sick myself, my iron stomach given to the pregnancy gods who decided that this post-baby body would not handle motion as well as it used to.

Aghast as the anchor broke free in the bashing seas, letting out 50’ of chain in the 40’ channel, shaking us out of our “did we remember everything on the departure list” stupor (secure anchor: not yet!), requiring Jon to disappear in the seas breaking over the bow as he struggled to heave the anchor back into place (install windlass: not yet!)

The pile of sopping wet clothes on this boat is something else, let me tell you.

And then heartsick again, as the engine cut out and Jon stood on his head to change the filter — not once, but twice, because anything hard to do at sea is worth doing twice.

We reached the “Colorado sounds nice” point very early in the day.

But then — as we KNEW it would — it got better. The winds went south, the rain cleared, Jupiter rose, and Zephyr went to bed 🙂

Today could not have been more different.
The sun shone. The ocean sparkled.

“Mommy it’s so BEAUTIFUL!!” Zephyr exclaimed, when he saw the deep cerulean blue that has replaced the muddy rivers we’ve been frequenting lately.

And then the dolphins came, leaping and splashing and delighting Zephyr who is convinced they’re playing a giant game of ocean tag with Brio II and Enya came on and yes, we felt alive and like all was right in the world.

Jon and ate ice cream after Zephyr fell asleep, reveling in the miracle of a freezer powered by the sun. It might not seem like a big deal, but that was the first bowl of ice cream either of us has ever had on a passage!

I’d be a liar if I said that rationalizing these two extremes is easy. It’s a lot, and when you’re actively CHOOSING to live this way, it’s a constant conversation too.

And so, as I wrap up this very lengthy, text-only, self-indulgent, midnight post, watching the phosphorescence dancing in the breaking waves beside us as the boys sleep peacefully inside… I’ll share that a cockroach literally just ran over my foot and I crushed it with my water bottle.

The yin and the yang people. That seems to be what all this rambling is about 😉

Leah


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