The wonders of this expedition add on, with each passing day and it becomes increasingly difficult for me to do a rating from 1-10. The star-canopied sky brings immense pleasure on Night Watch. Yesterday, Shanley, Ally and I spoke about the constellations. I tell them how my father taught my siblings and me, to identify the Great Bear, with its shape like a question mark. In India, we also call it the “Saptarishi,” or the Seven Sages with the little star, next to them, symbolic of the steadfast wife of one of them, Arundhati. At Hindu weddings, whatever the time of the day, the groom takes his bride out and points out to that star.
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Writing at Sea – Impressions of Sailing and being on Sea
The proximity of close confines can bring with it bonding (as the days, move on) or it could work the other way. So far, it has been a good journey with each one displaying a keenness for peaceful co-existence in the time that Chance or Providence has brought us together. The shared laughter, the pulling together and the learning will stay with me for the rest of my years.
Read MoreWriting at Sea – Vacuum Cleaner
It’s a good end to a long day – we set sail from Great Inagua yesterday morning and have had a beautiful passage, champagne sailing in flat water with beautiful wind under the hot tropical skies, then worked our way in over some shallow sandbars to find anchorage here on the northern edge of the Georgetown harbor. Elizabeth and the crew headed straight to the windward beach on stocking island to do some cleaning and look for inspiration in the rack line, then we settled into a fantastic barbecue at “The Flip Flop Shop,” a collection of crude benches and palm frond canopies near a firepit on the beach – open to all, as long as you only “take what you brought with you.”
Read MoreWriting at Sea – Sailing North Northwest through the Bahamas
At tonight’s workshop Elizabeth read a eulogy to the Caribbean monk seal, then tore the pages from her notebook, folded them and tossed them to the sea.
As night falls and the moon rises we are at sea in good hands. Elizabeth made a wonderful dinner, and we are all looking toward continued fair winds.
Writing at Sea – Salt, Flamingos, and Haikus
But the best part? The flamingos. We saw several flocks standing in the salt ponds, probably eating the shrimp that gave them their pink color. Colin stopped the truck several yards away so Stephen and I could see the birds without spooking them. But eventually the flamingos did take off, and I marveled at the way their long necks stretched into the wind like awkward ballerinas.
Read MoreWriting at Sea – Days 1 & 2: Bahamas and Nonsense
What does one write about when there’s only sea and sky?
Strokes and dots of whites and greys to distinguish the horizon. Miniature crests peak and disappear just as the fleeting flying fish do, while we quietly invade their infinite schools below the surface, gliding along above and through.