Over the last 2 years there has been a new river running through my veins. It started like a trickling stream, grew from a canoe-able river to a white-water-rapid, and now it has unleashed itself into a sea. It has consumed me, it is my source of life and freedom, it is my existence in the world. This stream, turned river, and now sea I call “community”. The culture of “I” has been replaced by the tsunami wave of “We”. As a “We” the possibilities are endless! And, as the ocean connects us all, I have once again been reminded of the boundless beauty and power of “We”, of “Community”, during my time aboard Sea Dragon with the eXXpedition girls.
I moved onto Mi Corazon, a 28 ft sail boat docked in San Diego, 6 years ago to learn how to be alone, how to be at peace with myself in the silence, how to not need others and to be free from dependency. Now I find myself in a new place in life, on a new boat (Sea Dragon) with a crew of 12 women, and not ever alone. We cook, sail, sleep, learn, conduct science, get sea sick, eat together and even bath together in the sea. The eXXpedition girls come from all different cultures, religions, backgrounds, educations, occupations, life styles, ages, goals, and levels of dependencies on caffeine…more things different than similar it may seem. But we are blind to all these differences when on the sea together. The Sea is the blanket that comforts us all, that humbles us all, that inspires us all. It is our universal language of love.
Our time together is only 10 days at sea, but over these 10 days at sea each of our individual life journeys have intersected, and because of these 10 days at sea our understanding of self in the world has expanded, and after these 10 days at sea we are no longer alone on our journey, we are a community of women united in our mission to share what we love….to let the unseen be seen!
And today we shared what we love; We embraced our inner mermaid-child as we jumped into the deep aqua blue sea to rinse off the sun, wind, and sargassum (which I think should be called sarcasm) from the last 2 days of conducting science while sailing the High Caribbean seas.
by Natalie Small