Lively passage – susan

Brendan, our autopilot named after Saint Brendan the Navigator, died. There was no indication that he was even ailing. I have always been appreciative of his part in our cruising and when folks have said – just the two of you sailing offshore all that way…. I would always say, yes, with the assistance of Brendan. He’s like having another crew member! Most sailors will appreciate our loss but for you non sailors I am not sure if you can imagine the implications – the boat needs to be “driven” at all times and in 4 straight days of cooking, eating, sleeping, adjusting the sails, navigating, even toileting, without Brendan, one of us needs to helm the vessel! And probably even more significant to the need it created, I have rarely been at the helm. I am the eager “crew” who cranks the winches and drops the anchor but intentionally I have avoided the wheel. Gypsy is by far the largest vessel I have sailed and when you turn the wheel right she does not respond like a car! It was in the early afternoon of our second day out when Brendan was no more. We had had a leisurely sail out of Exuma Park and we reached New Providence Island in the evening. The distant diffused light that illuminated the sky along with the many stars made a magical feeling and we both were invigorated. There was a vibrant fireworks display in the distance and although I was the first one to attempt to sleep, the many sites of the night keep us talking. I made popcorn and we sat in the cockpit munching and speculating what was going on in the distance. Neither of us slept very much. By the time Brendan stopped working we may not have had a total of much more than 6 hours of sleep between the two of us! To add to the intensity of the reduction of our crew, there was no wind! The calm was so silent. We whispered through the water and the clarity and shallow depth allowed us the advantage of snorkeling without ever entering the water. After an hour or more the wind picked up significantly; very irregularly at first; changing direction at random. It was dark and I was at the helm when we jibbed several times without forewarning; I could not see the sails. My knuckles were blanched from their grip on the wheel and I frequently needed to remind myself to breathe. Dan woke to take his watch and the wind velocity started reaching the high 20s; then the squalls began. We made our way over the Outer Banks in the shroud of the building weather: howling winds, irregular spits of rain and tossing seas. Dan could not do it alone and Brendan was not functional; I needed to drive the boat! And I did, intermittently, for hours, and I am grateful for the opportunity. Mastery is a development stage and many times in my life I have felt the exhilaration of accomplishment. This was one of them!

There were many memory “keepers” on this trip. Dolphins swimming around our boat was one of them. Dan spotted them first and went to the bow to get a closer look. Five dolphins were playing with us! I was excited beyond words. Their powerful bodies cutting through the water, surfacing when needed, keeping pace with our speed. I nearly laid down on the bow to speak to them, praising their beauty, rejoicing in their trust. Looking into the eye of one in particular I found myself mumbling apologies for the injustices we humans have rendered to their species either directly or indirectly. We are ruining the ocean with our greed. I wanted to touch their sleek bodies, give them a token to carry along with them – perhaps one of my earrings or a shell I collected on the beach… when this irrational thought process ceased I mused that they undoubtedly have seen more beautiful shells that I’ve ever encountered and, besides, where would a dolphin hang an earring on those super sleek bodies of theirs? For hours after their departure I scanned the water’s surface for any hint that they were still about.

Portuguese Man-O’-War is new to me. Dan pointed out the first one he saw and I struggled to see what he was referring to. Sliding up one side of the wave and surfing down the other these 4-6 inch long “sailors” had their “sail” up and until they were side swiped by another wave or were knocked down by too heavy of a breeze, they silently drifted with the wind. Under the “sail” there appears to be a turquoise, turnover-sized pocket of “body” filled with air. What I could not see were the cascading poisonous tendrils that anchored this creature in the water. Hundreds of these creatures passed us over the course of one afternoon. The grace of their procession flirted with my imagination, making me rethink the “war” they may be waging. Perhaps they are organizing to make a visible statement about our environment!

Dan was at the helm when he suggested I prepare for a Coast Guard visit! A quick scan of the horizon did not reveal a Coast Guard boat so I questioned why he would say that! The AIS monitor showed a Coast Guard vessel leaving the coast of Florida headed straight for us. Within 30 minutes they were in our immediate waters, hailing S/V Gypsy on the VHF radio. Captain Dan provided them with all the information they requested; they directed us to hold our course until they got back to us. They stood off but continued to follow close-by for at least an hour until they came back on the radio and told us to proceed and to have a safe trip! We had been told by other cruisers that it is not unusual to be boarded. Due to the very deep sea swells we imagine they forfeited that experience! We have nothing to hide and yet it does amaze me the effect the authorities can have on our innocence!

Weather forecasts had been telling us of the unusually cold weather in the southern U.S. – even snow in New Orleans! We were not ready to give up shorts for ski hats but luckily we had layers with us.

Somehow arriving back in the USA feels like the end of a chapter. Under Dan’s careful planning and knowledge we set out to explore our world, both the physical world and our own internal worlds. The respect I have for the power of nature is only magnified since living as closely as I have been living for the past 4 months. My internal world has been tampered with: my coping mechanisms, my perceptions of my own strength, my value as a person, even my reason for living. I have taken time to explore the depths of my joy and of my fears. Onward to Chapter II.

The long way to Key West - dan

To say that we took the road less traveled to Key West is an understatement. We haven’t met anyone who has returned to the states the way we did. That’s nothing new for us. We were the only ones we know who traveled to the Bahamas via Bermuda and the Dominican Republic. Most people heading for the Bahamas from New England, do so by coastal hopping or taking the intercostal waterway, all the way to Florida and then making the 60-mile hop to the Bahamas. That route usually involves a lot of motoring and being sailors, who love to sail, motoring is something we like to avoid. The method to our madness is trade wind sailing; taking advantage of prevailing winds rather than straight-line travel to reach one’s destination.

Our route to Key West took us north from Warderick Wells, skimming the southwest coast of New Providence, then just south of the Berry Islands, over the top of Andros Island then south (staying just below the Gulf Steam) to a position southwest of Water Cay, just off the coast of Cuba where we encountered a Coast Guard Cutter, then we turned north, headed for Key West and crossed the Gulf Stream. It took us four days to travel 380 miles. One good day of sailing, two hard days and one of the most amazing and enchanting days I’ve ever spent on the water. But I’m ahead of my tale, let me back up and give a more thorough account of our trip.

At Warderick Wells we said our good-byes to Darcie the wonderful fulltime volunteer that serves as mission-control for the park and to Andrew the head warden. Darcie joked that they were about to put our boat name on our mooring ball, we’d been there so long. And Andrew, the spinner of tails and doer of things told one last story before we left. Andrew is an amazing guy who somehow manages to make sure that everything that needs to get done is done and he does it all humbly, with a beautiful smile on his face. Park patrols are made, power is generated, fresh water produced, trails cleared, poachers caught, supplies ordered, scientists accommodated and VIPs catered to, all in a days work. One day we watched as he dawned scuba gear and inspected all of the moorings in our harbor. Another day he led us in repairing the parks rain catchment system. And always with an interesting story or antidote. He told us tales of drug busts in the park, Haitian refugees washed ashore, poachers and rich island owners (some of the islands in the park are privately owned).

The last story Andrew told us was how the park happened to get the only toothless Sperm Whale display in existence. It was an antidote explaining how things got done in the Bahamas. It seems that the unfortunate whale in question washed up in the park and started to rot. One of the wardens came upon a boater with a chain saw who was in the process of removing the jaws from the rest of the mess when he was interrupted. The warden told the boater that he couldn’t take the jaws containing the coveted teeth as everything in the park was protected. The boater complained that the whale was already dead so what did it matter? The warden explained that everything in the park was protected, living and dead. The only problem was the warden didn’t have his own chain saw so he made the boater a deal; you can keep half the teeth if you’ll cut them all out and give me the rest.

The next day we left that enchanted park. Usually we leave port at first light but we waited a bit to leave Warderick Wells in order to have a high tide and enough light to see our way past the shallows. You see, Warderick Wells is what is quaintly referred to as a “sung harbor”. The reality is that one would do well to grease your hull before entering, as it’s a tight-arce place with zero room for piloting error. It has a very high “pucker factor” for the helmsman. We watched two boats run aground while we were there and heard gripping radio traffic as other boaters rallied to heave another unfortunate boat off a nearby reef.

The weather forecast wasn’t the best we could have wished for but it was doable and since we had well overstayed our planned visit we were ready to move on. Our first day was comprised of beautiful light air sailing in 6-10 nmp of wind. Conditions that Gypsy does well in. The wind was out of the north but backed around throughout the day to allow us to make our course without tacking. Sweet! Later that day we were joined by two dolphins who brought us joy by riding our bow wave. They were the first dolphins we had seen since George Town. The skies also continued to provide us with hours of entertainment as they spread their cloud poetry across the heavens.

At dusk we discovered that our masthead tricolor light was out so we then tried our deck level navigation lights, no go either. Bummer, double bummer as we were headed for the busy shipping lanes into and out of Nassau harbor without any navigation lights. We turned on our anchor light and I began trouble shooting the system. Turned out that the breaker for the masthead light had gone bad so I just switched it with the anchor light breaker and we were back in business.

It was the first night of our passage and neither Susan nor I felt like sleeping so we stayed up keeping each other company through most of the evening. As we passed the coast of New Providence we could see a huge fire shining through the darkness. Later we were treated with a terrific fireworks display. Lots of shipping traffic passed close-by. Finally, well past midnight, we settled into our normal watch-keeping schedule.

The next dawn found us gliding northwards in light winds. We had just passed Chub Cay and had started our transit of the Great Bahama Bank when we saw a familiar looking catamaran. A hail on the VHF radio confirmed it was Amazing Grace, a dock mate of ours from Mystic. She’s a charter boat and we hadn’t seen her or her captain Craig since Bermuda. In the meantime they had traveled to the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Florida. On the way he had damaged and replaced his rudders, got engaged and almost bought a house in Rhode Island. Busy guy and talk about a small world.

We sailed onward in 4-5 nmp of wind until we lost even that. Once the wind dropped below 2 nmp we started the motor and began one of the most ethereally beautiful days I’ve ever enjoyed on the water. We were crossing 60 nm of the Great Bahama Bank. Gliding along in crystal clear, dead-calm water that was only 10’ to 15’ deep. From Gypsy’s deck we could clearly see starfish and even sand dollars on the bottom. It was amazing.

We were also mesmerized as the turquoise ocean glassed over and melded with the light blue of the sky. We know the ocean to so be full of energy and usually in what seems like a state of perpetual motion. So seeing it dead calm for miles around was astonishing to behold. All this tranquility was apparently too much for our autopilot who after thousand of miles and several strong storms decided to pack it in. Susan took the helm and I started to trouble shoot the system but was unable to determine the problem. So began our long arduous task of hand steering, 24-7, for the remainder of the trip. Things were starting to feel a little glum aboard Gypsy then the dolphins arrived and raised our spirits back up to the heavens.

First one zipped by and took up station on our bow. Soon he was joined by a second, a third, a fourth and finally we had five dolphins playing on our bow wave. What Joy! Dolphins are like those charismatic people whose presence liven up even the dullest day.

By the end of the day we were headed into the sunset when the wind started to gradually pickup. We passed a lot of helium balloons floating in the water. Perhaps it was because of the calm conditions that we noticed so many. We saw one that was probably a birthday balloon; it was all black and had a large number 21 on it. Is 21 the new 40 of grim birthdays?

We saw a total of seven balloons floating in the water that day. After seeing the skeleton of the poor whale who ingested too much plastic I’d be happy if they banned all such things, as they are almost guaranteed to become airborne litter that can be so lethal to marine wildlife.

By dusk we were cracking along with a reefed main in 20 nmh of wind. Conditions started to get rough and we had a long night of hand steering. Around midnight we left the Bank just south of Riding Rocks. It was a relief to be past the rocks, reefs and shoals into deeper water. We were intentionally running south of the Gulf Stream to a point just north of Cuba where the Stream was forecast to be at its weakest. Strong wind against the Gulf Stream is a proven recipe for trouble so our plan was to continue to travel west until the wind either died down or came from a favorable direction. The wind and waves continued to build thoughout the night until it was blowing in the low thirties.

The wind was still strong the next morning when a Coast Guard Cutter paid us a visit. We were about thirty miles north of Cuba when our AIS reported that the 150’ long Coast Guard Cutter Vigilant was 14 miles away, headed directly towards us at a speed of 14 nmh. An hour later they were a couple hundred yards away when we were hailed on the radio and told to go to Ch 12. I expected us to be boarded but also knew that would be a tricky thing to do in these conditions. The cutter asked us the usual questions; What country were we from? (I guess they couldn’t make out the large US flag on our stern or read their own AIS data about us.) Who was the greatest batter of all time? What is the capital of Nebraska? Who was the 23 president? And then they asked us what I was sure was a trick question, the answer of which would determine whether we were going to be boarded, or not; Why were we stopping at Key West? My mind raced. Should I be honest and tell them we were just looking for a good time? No, no that answer was sure to guarantee a boarding and a thorough search. What to say, what to say? How does one explain why you’d want to visit Key West to the government? My mind cleared and one word popped into my head that might just work: provisions. So I told them we were stopping to re-provision at Key West. They told me to stand by and they would get back to us. I figured that they were doing some kind of background check; boat records, criminal background check and such. After a half-hour of standing by I figured they must be checking our college transcripts. After another half-hour I figured they much be into our grammar school and possibly kindergarten records when I got a call releasing us from suspension. We were free to go but not completely. They would call us on Ch 16 if they wanted to contact us again.

While we were waiting for the Coast Guard to release us an F22 Raptor fighter jet screamed by. Just past us it climbed straight up, executing an unbelievably tight turn and wiggled it wings (probably at the cutter). It was a thrilling and awesome sight to see. Although I had worked on the development of those engines, I’d never seen the plane fly. It made me proud and also reminded me of all my friends back at Pratt & Whitney who are working on the engines for the next fighter, the JSF F35 Lightning II.

As the day wore on the wind lightened and backed to the east. When it came down to the 12-14 nmh range we figured conditions were good enough to start our transit of the Gulf Stream so we changed course and headed NW to Key West. Seven miles out I contacted Key West municipal marina to arrange for a mooring. John the harbormaster was friendly and accommodating but we had one last obstacle to overcome before our passage was through. Five miles from Key West we came across a Navy research vessel that was circling ahead of us. As we got close the ship started to turn to starboard so we turned to port intending to pass them with good margin. They soon cut back to port so we turned hard to starboard. Next the bridge officer radioed us and advised that he had a “vehicle” in the water and that we could pass him on either side but to keep an eye out for their “vehicle”? That sounded odd but I thanked him and started our pass. As soon as we passed the ship we could see what appeared to be an unmanned, submersed vessel. There wasn’t much but a small stack and some short bulbous things sticking out of the water. It appeared to be just floating there but as soon we passed it started to pick up speed and headed directly at us. Strange. Fortunately that game didn’t last long and we quickly made our way through the reef and into the channel to Key West, our mooring, our new short-term home, the end of our passage, the beginning of our first long hot shower in months and rendezvous with my older brother and his family.

the weather window - susan

The wind blew up to 35 knots; the seas churned as it funneled around these tiny cays and the air temperature dropped. And now it is colder but calm. The wind is not most favorable for our northwestern departure, but at least there are no storms in the forecast and depart we shall! We have tarried in this enchanted park longer that we had intended and those precious extra days have been a gift to us. We plan on making our way to Key West and to a long anticipated rendezvous with Dan’s older brother. If the wind favors it we’ll stop in the Berry Islands on our way. At this point our lives are very much informed and influenced by the wind.

Time and tide… susan

...waits for no man” or woman but it does change us all. It is surely acting upon me, in what ways I cannot predict or fully control. Having the space to listen to my inner workings I have been more in touch with how I am feeling. It has been hard for me to adjust to this leisurely lifestyle. Not to try to get psychological, it’s not that I feel unworthy of happiness, but what do I need to try to accomplish before I leave this earth? And is the time running out?

I have been asking myself these questions all my life, however I have not fully been listening if the answers have been coming. I have been running around taking up my simple causes, working full time, raising two kids and trying to educate myself about how to live a socially conscious life. In the year prior to leaving the States we were caught up in the preparations. And then, came the calm. We were underway and it was glorious…

Nature was all around us. On our long passage to the Dominican Republic I came to allow my imagination to float up into the clouds that provided vibrant images surrounding our tiny vessel. Rainbows seemed like smiles from above. In the hours of darkness standing alone on watch, the rhythmic motion of Gypsy was a reminder of my mother’s gentle caress, a safe place. When that quiet descended around and in me, I expected answers to all my questions. They have not come yet. Do I need to have answers?

We are here in a beautiful paradise. Waiting for a weather window has forced me to s l o w down. There are no roads or markets. The wind is howling, reminding us of its immense power. I have looked at the larder and fabricated meals with our remaining food – there are no provisions here. And it is a beautiful thing. Our bookshelves hold tales of adventure and self-awareness and we have delved into the words. Reading aloud gives us both the information and then we discuss the ideas; Spanish vocabulary words are taped about the boat and we quiz each other as we pass. And it is beautiful. The wisps of clouds have increased the drama of the sunsets. Walks along the beaches allow us to peer down into the habitat of the protected creatures that surround us. And it is beautiful.

By no means have I adjusted entirely to the inactivity that at times encroaches on my life. I tell myself to relax, to breath, to accept and to just “be”. The tides rise and the tides recede; I have no control of this natural rhythm, but I can control my thoughts.

Hanging in the park – dan

We had strong winds and rainsqualls the other day. The above picture is what “bad” weather looks like in paradise, still beautiful in my eyes. The rain gave us a rare chance to replenish our fresh water, we haven’t had much rain sine the D.R. Provisions are starting to run a bit thin too. We’ve been living on “ships stores” since we left Black Point. In spite of that Susan has done a wonderful job of feeding us. Some how she manages to whip up something creative for every meal from our stock of canned and dry food plus the last of our fresh vegetables. She’s also been baking some great breads. Last night I made sushi with reheated rice, a bit of lettuce, some carrot strips and sunflower seeds wrapped in nori. We loved it! You know you’ve been “out” a long time when lettuce sushi tastes good.

It looks like we going to end up spending a bit longer at Exuma Park that we had planned; fortunately it’s not a bad place to linger. There are a couple of cold fronts rolling in from the north in the forecast, not good passage weather for us but this is a safe place to hang. Meanwhile a school of young Yellow Fin tuna has taken up residence under Gypsy, we continue to regularly see turtles around the boat and an Eagle Ray jumped three feet out of the water just behind Gypsy, which was thrilling to see.

We did some more volunteer work at the park. This time we worked together in emptying and cleaning a thousand gallon rain cistern. Once empty we moved the tank, excavated the old platform that had rotted and built a new one out of pressure treated 6x6”s. Water is as precious to the park staff as it is to us on Gypsy and it gave us a feeling on kinship to help them out with their rain catchment efforts.

We also continu to explore Warderick Wells by land. We took a long hike down the wild windward side of the island yesterday and were rewarded with many breathtaking vistas.

We been reading a lot and some evenings we watch DVDs on our computer. One of the recent ones that we’ve enjoyed was the drama “The Weight of Water”. A lot of that movie takes place on a sailboat. It was an uncanny feeling to be watching the sailboat scenes while on a gently rocking boat, it added another dimension to the movie experience.

One good aspect of the weather systems that have been moving through lately is the dramatic sky and sunsets it produces. Nature continues to envelope and enthrall us.

Happily singing the blues - dan

We’re still hanging out in this azure wilderness, blessed out on blue. Every day brings another pallet of amazing color so beautiful that it almost hurts the mind.

We took the dinghy and explored the nearby cays the other day. Rugged, ragged, uninhabited islands except for birds, land crabs and lizards. We stopped at one cay, hiked across the island and walked the beach.

On the way back we decided to snorkel instead of riding in the dink. We dawned our gear and towed the dink behind us as we swam away from the beach into deeper water. I didn’t expect to see much over the shallow sand flats and conch grass; was swimming more for the exercise than the view.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. It was beautiful! Perhaps even more so given its simple clarity, subtle hues, complex light patterns and reflections. We usually only snorkel around reefs and coral heads in order to enjoy the wildlife. What a delightful surprise to see how the bright sandy bottom is reflected off the under-surface of the water and how the electric-blue band in the middle depths seems to stretch off into infinity.

A special group of islands - susan

These islands are much loved and lightly touched by the hand of man. They are islands that comprise the Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park. The park is made up of dozens of cays along a 22-mile stretch of the northern Exumas that is just over 8 miles wide. It’s a no-take zone (both land & sea) - nothing living or dead is allowed to be taken from the park.

The park was founded in 1958 and continues to thrive today with the support of Bahamas National Trust, Bahamas Defense Force, numerous volunteers and benefactors. There are few amenities; no food or water is available to visitors and one must carry out their own garbage. The park does offer moorings for visiting boats (to protect the reefs) and amazingly it provides WiFi for a reasonable fee.

It was low tide when we entered Warderick Wells, the principle Cay in the Sea Park. It was unnerving to motor up the narrow inlet to our assigned mooring. The water was transparent which made the bottom clearly visible and close – very close! I asked Dan “Are we in the channel, it’s getting quite shallow?” He double-checked the chart and the fathometer verified we were ok. We passed by other vessels tied up to their moorings in the thin strip of darker water that comprised the channel.

Encouraged be their apparent buoyancy we edged along to mooring #16. Once secured, we had a chance to take in the surroundings. We had just entered another paradise.

We made our way to the office where we secured sketch maps and other necessary info and that’s where we met “the birds” – colorful Bananaquits. The drill is: open the designated container, spread sugar in your hand, extend, and voila! You have become St Francis! These delicate birds scoop the sugar from your hand by turning their heads sideways as they corner the sugar crystals into their long beaks. They’re light, weighing less than an ounce but when you get up to a dozen of them on your hand at once, it adds up!

They made this place just for us! Folks are encouraged to volunteer; one day of work is payment for one night’s mooring. Without hesitating Dan and I decided we would volunteer the next day, while we got the lay of the land so to speak. At 9 AM the next morning we were on the dock awaiting our assignment. Dan and another cruiser were assigned to plumbing detail. I was appointed to do landscaping!

So, for the next 6 hours, I, with the company of curly tailed reptiles and large hermit crabs, crawled through the bushes cutting back the overgrowth and hauled dead fronds and other invasive vegetation to the compost pile. I was thrilled! Not quite getting my hands in the dirt but as close as is possible right now.

The atmosphere of this spot is relaxed and casual. The only organized activity that we became aware of was the bonfire happy hour on Saturday evening. It gave us a chance to hear plans of other cruisers and collectively to marvel at our lives!

The hikes are self-guided; very well marked and informative. We saw mangroves in the making and several varieties of palms. One endangered species that has left droppings all around this cay is the hutia –the rat. When I first heard about the local hutia I was disgusted because one of the staff showed me the destruction these rats have done to the resident’s attempt at gardening; that project has now been abandoned. Being nocturnal we didn’t see one until we attended a bonfire on the beach. My feelings toward this creature softened somewhat as it looks more like a chubby bunny than a rat!

We took a long hike to the far end of this island. Our visit coincided with the Spring tide (full moon high tide) and some of the walkways were well under water. On our return trip the same paths were significantly above water.

We were rewarded with incredible vistas as well as many insect bites. For some unknown reason the no-see-ums just love me. They don’t seem to bother Dan. He says they’re not interested in his tough hide.

Many years ago there was a shipwreck on the reefs; not a survivor was recovered. Boo Boo hill is a designated spot to honor this occurrence and for visiting crews to leave mementoes.

One of the items we had hoped to bring with us, but didn’t have room for, were kayaks. Warderick Wells took care of that for us! Three sea kayaks are available for visitors to use for free and one morning we hopped in a couple of them and paddled around. We’ve crossed vast patches of the ocean in Gypsy but there is something special and more intimate about being in a kayak. It was nice to get reconnected with the little boats.

Our mooring was right next to a terrific snorkeling sight. We were able to visit the sight right from Gypsy and when we weren’t in the water we often could hear the exclamations of other snorkelers near us. We could hear oohs, ahhs and oh-my-god expressed in several languages, distorted even more through breathing tubes. Even though neither of us “speken ze Deutch” we clearly understood it when a German snorkeler spotted a shark.

We swam with colorful live fish… And we gazed into the water from the deck of Gypsy at the nurse shark that appeared to be hunting for her dinner. Needless to say the yellow tailed tuna and the grouper that we had been watching were no longer in site. Dan is especially good at spotting activity in the water and we were excited to see the heads popping up for air of two young sea turtles.

There is a huge whale skeleton on display on one of the beaches- a grim reminder of the tragic effects of plastic left floating in the sea. When the animal was found a necropsy determined it had died from ingesting plastic.

Life is fragile out here; reef, fish & mammal populations are all held within a delicate balance. We, too, are in a vulnerable situation with only each other to provide and sustain our life balance. We are friend, companion, crew and lover to each other, 24/7 with little contact with outsiders. It’s teaching us to be careful with each other while giving us the gift of each other’s love and support.

At the same time there is an ease of life in the Sea Park that makes it simple to fall in step with the rhythm of nature. We have our overall itinerary and we have been on target so far. There are these special places that make it natural to linger.