03/14/18 – Family Bonding Through a Clogged Toilet (Todd)
The truth is the foundation for our trip was begun long before 2017, long before we cast off our lines, even long before we owned a sailboat. It began with the birth of my first daughter Lauren when I was 17 years old. It began with the choice to focus my time on my life and what I wanted for my life at that time. At that time, with a newborn child. College, friends, success, freedom. Fast forward in years and while the focus has changed, what did not was my focus remained on what, “I” wanted. Financial freedom, hard work and being a provider justified working 80 hours a week and being home 5% of the time. While financial support of one’s family would rank high as a Nobel endeavor in the general society, my girls, my wife did not agree. Onward I pressed. It is what felt right to me. As a father, husband and man.
When we first set sail from Anacortes WA in August 2017, I had envisioned an entirely different adventure than we have had. Floating in the romantic vision of far off islands, ancient tribal cultures and days on end sailing through the vast open ocean, stars, sea life, the wind. Following my lifetime dream of being Jacque Cousteau. This childhood romantic vision has ultimately fallen, “short”. Two young children who we are responsible for schooling, two pets, client demands and the honest reality that life on a dock is just simple. To be clear, this dream was one of those dreams I always had, but never would have ever guessed I’d experience…especially with my family! I could not be more thankful for the opportunity!
Six months into our epic adventure as a family, I have been once again reminded that one of the oldest cliché’s in the book remains correct. It’s the journey not the destination that defines the adventure. While we have explored some amazing places, the majority of our time has been spent in the La Paz and Mazatlán Marina’s. At a dock. Connected to shore power. Restaurants and swimming pools. Far from the lone deserted islands I had dreamed of. Don’t get me wrong, these are amazing marinas and beautiful places, not better or worse, just different than I had been expecting.
What I have learned though, is the ease of marina life has afforded our family the one thing we have most needed. Time. Time to connect. Time to play games without the stresses of anchorages. Time to simply be as a family. What I am slowly starting to understand is that what is at the foundation of this trip, is simply our time together. Our hours spent each day homeschooling our girls. Experiencing the heartbreak of a daughter as she says goodbye to her first love. Experience the pain in our youngest daughter’s eyes as she desperately tries to figure out how to save every cat and dog on the streets of Mexico. The hours spent playing cards at night, laughing at each other’s idiosyncrasies we now know so well. The connections only gained when one has to navigate how to get your child’s/parent’s latest head (bathroom) visit to flush down the toilet. Ahhh the good times. It is these, to some extent dull moments, that bring the magic to the journey.
Yes, we will not always remain tied to a dock. I am confident we will continue to explore remote and interesting places. But the knowing that whether we are exploring a town, city or remote beach, we continue to grow together as a family and more than anything, that our two girls are forming perspectives on this world that they could never gain from life on the hard. While it ain’t always easy, it’s simply worth it.
03/16/18 – The Wall of Memories (Shay)
I took my mom by the hand and started to dance Salsa. My dad looked at his watch, his eyes went big, and stopped the song. “Okay guys, party’s over,” my dad said. “Oh, come on Dad! Can’t we have one more song?” I pleaded. “No,” he said firmly, “it is way past your bed time.” I sighed and said, “all right fine…” I put on my pajamas, brushed my teeth, and flopped on to the couch. “Goodnight,” I whispered, “goodnight,” my parents said.
I snuggled in deeper and shut my eyes only for me to open them again. I looked up at my wall of places. Almost everywhere I went, I bought a postcard from the place we were at, and taped it on my wall. I decided to start my wall of places in Newport Oregon. Getting in to Oregon was thrilling! It was extremely foggy, very dark and we couldn’t see the bow of our own boat! OH! And that is where we saw the full solar eclipse. That was spectacular! The second place that we visited was Monterey Bay. Monterey is the place we saw that sea otter who attacked a person to defend her pretend “pup” which was a headless duck she killed. The second place we visited, was Santa Barbara. Santa Barbara was where we saw our Grandma and Uncle. It was a lot of fun where my Grandma lived. There was a playground, flowers, and birds! It was beautiful there. Our fourth stop, was the Channel Islands. The first place we went to was the Painted Caves. The haunted bark of the hundreds of sea lions still echoed in my head. I still remember the current that pulled us further and further in. A shiver ran through my spin. The second place we went to was Smugglers Cove. That’s where we saw that fox! It was very small and cute. It came very close to us which made me a little nervous, but the fox didn’t come any closer. The third place we visited was Catalina Island. It was CRAZY! It was Buccaneer’s Day. People had 20 different pirate flags on their boats, people even dressed like pirates. Oh, and people blared music and squirted water guns at us. Then, they had a crazy party that lasted till 2:00 in the morning. Our fifth stop, was San Diego. That’s where we got to see my Grandpa and Grandma. They live on a golf course, and every time we visit them, we go out and search for bunnies. We had a lot of fun with them. We also got scuba certified, in San Diego. I still remember my first breath underwater! It was unforgettable. Our sixth stop was Cabo San Lucas. That is when we decided to say what our favorite part of the trip was. The color of the water was the most beautiful color and it was so warm. It was there where we saw our first sea turtle! The seventh stop was La Paz. It was a lot of fun in La Paz. We made a lot of new friends and snorkeled with whale sharks! They were so big, and very fast too! Their mouths would open wide hoping to catch some food. Next, we scuba dived with the sea lions! That was really cool. Eighth stop was here, Mazatlán. Here in Mazatlán, there are pools with caves you can go inside of, and the property is very beautiful. We also seen our very first iguana! And tomorrow, we are going horseback riding on the beach! That will be so much fun.
I looked up at the wall of memories and had so much appreciation for our trip. We’ve had so many phenomenal memories. I love our trip with a passion. I once again thought what it would be like to be back in Orcas Island, to be back in school! That will be very different for all of us. Then, my cat, Jinjer, realized that I was awake, so she jumped on to my “bed” and started to lick my face with her scratchy tongue. She went to my feet and curled up into a ball. I could hear her purring loudly which eased me to sleep.
The Wall: Shay’s special wall where she keeps her memories 02/05/18 – The Animal Rescuer (Shay)
“Today for school we are going to doing something different” my mom said with a big smile on her face Me and my sister, Makena, gave a quick worried glance. oh, great I thought, hopefully this “something different” isn’t going to be boring or weird. Is it going to be involved with math? I hope not. Hopefully it has something to do with animals or nature. “so, have you decided what you’re going to do shay?” my mom asked. I blanked. “Ummm what was the project again?” I said slyly. My sister laughed and said teasingly, “let me guess, Shay didn’t pay attention again!”. I laughed. “That’s not true!” I said in my defense. My mom just gave a little sigh and repeated, “today we are going to pick a cause, like help out with something. “hum… and we can do what every we want?” I said. “whatever you want” she responded.
I thought for a little while. Then an idea clicked in my head. “My cause will be, help save the stray animals on the streets!” I said proudly. My mom gave a delighted smile and said, “I thought that you would want to do that”. “And Makena? What’s your cause going to be?” She almost looked confused. “I don’t know mom. I’ll think of something though” she laughed and looked at mom for a response. My mom said, “okay, just think of one soon.” My mom and my sister started to talk, but I didn’t listen, I was on a mission. I grabbed my lap top and started to research animal shelters in La Paz that I could volunteer at.
After a long time of researching, I didn’t find any animal shelters, I did find some, but I was too young to volunteer. Then an idea came to my head. I rushed over to where my mom and dad were sitting and blurted, “can we just help a dog or cat on the streets? Like take it back to the…”. “No way in the world are we taking a rouge animal back to our boat!” My dad interrupted. My mom gave a nod of agreement and said, “and shay the dog or cat could have ticks and fleas and I don’t want the animals on our boat already to get them and the Mexi street animal might have diseases, and I just don’t want to take the risk” she said. “And we have no room on the boat” my dad peeped in. I gave a long deep sigh, “then how am I going to help?” I whimpered.
Two months later we arrived in El Sid marina, Mazatlán. “Come on Shay, we are going to miss the bus!” I sprinted towards my mom and then my dad gave a little yelp of surprise. “look! It’s an iguana!” He shouted. There in front of my eyes was a big green, orange iguana. “WOW” I gasped. The iguana had big spikes on its back with weird looking feet. Then another iguana by the looks of it looked like a female. She ran to her mate’s side. I gave a delighted chuckle and rushed to my mom. We got on the bus, and began to drive to old town. Old town had a lot of history, and we all wanted to check it out. I sat there looking out the window. We drove past vibrant colored houses. Some older than others. but I was mostly keeping an eye out for rouge animals. When I saw one, I shouted, “dad look a rouge dog! Can we help it?” he gave a sympathetic glance. “I’m sorry Shay, you just can’t help every animal here in Mexico, and plus this is their home.” I sighed and said nothing more. I could tell he was still looking at me, but I didn’t want to look into his dark brown eyes, I didn’t want to show him that I was disappointed or sad. When we got there, we sort of just wandered around. But our first stop was the plaza. It had a lot of trees and fountains with many birds with beautiful little chirps. My mom suddenly broke the silence, “can you guys stay here while I go ask about the carnival? Oh yes, the carnival, third largest carnival in the world, were thousands of people come to see every year. While she was talking to someone about the details of the carnival Makena, dad, and I were huddled around talking. “What’s taking mom so long?” I complained. “I don’t know” my dad said while looking over his shoulder where she was talking. “Can you go talk to…”. “HEY! Look a cat!” my sister blurted out. It didn’t even take a heartbeat before I screamed “WHERE!?!?!?” “over there” she pointed at a little tortoiseshell curled up in a ball. Her muzzle was tinted gray, but she had a beautiful calico coat. I immediately rushed over to help. But I slowly approached her, not wanting to scare her off. “hey little girl” I said soothingly, she slowly opened her eyes half way. They were piercing green. If she didn’t open her eyes, I would have thought she was dead. “DAD!!” I whispered trying not to disturb the sleeping she cat. My dad shook his head, “no shay we can’t rescue her”. Anger boiled inside me. “Why not” I challenged. My dad looked hurt by me snapping at him, it almost looked like he shrunk in size. “Shay… I’m sorry, I really am, but this is its home. It’s like a huge monster…”. “Are you calling me a monster?” tears welling up in my eyes, “I’m going to help this cat! And I’m not leaving until we do. “Shay…” “NO!” I hollered. I got up and ran to where my mom was talking. Mom there’s a cat and I really want to help it and dad said I can’t, but I really want to we can take it to a shelter and help it! I said lightning fast. Wait wait wait, first you interrupted, second of all you talked way too fast for me to understand. “There’s a cat and I want to help it.” I said slowly “I will come and help in a second” and turned to talk to the girl again. I rushed back to the cat. She still was in the exact spot, she still hadn’t moved a muscle. my dad still looked hurt by my rude comment. “Dad I’m sorry I yelled at you, I’m just really tired of you always saying I can’t help rescue an animal. “Thank for apologizing and I promise you will be able to help in some way. And even if you don’t, the world is very lucky to have someone like you.” He said gently. “I can’t…” I was crying to hard to speak. “Please…please” I whimpered while tears where streaming down my face. “Please…” I repeated, I looked down at the frail cat, “how can I leave you….” I whispered/sobbed to the cat. Then my mom came and said, “aww what a cute cat” I wiped the tears of my face and said, “we can bring her to a shelter or or we can bring home and take care of her for now” I looked at her with such sorrow. “no shay” hope drained from my eyes, it was almost as if a part of me cracked. I starred out into the distance, hoping to see something anything that would make me feel better. My mom walked to a guy on the streets and said, “is there any shelter…” I didn’t listen after that. I just kept on looking at the cat, she lifted her head up saliva dribbling from her chin. I just wanted to pick her up and hold her in my arms, I didn’t care if I got some crazy disease I just wanted to comfort her. Then the Mexican guy my mom was talking to walked up to me and said “you don’t need to worry about her, she gets food and water everyday” I sobbed and then tears came again he continued “I would not lye to you” still looking at the cat I said so quietly “farewell cat, I hope you have good health and a good long life ahead of you, I hope you find good owners that will take very good care of you” I had one more minuet of sadness then I slowly got up, my legs began to shake but I got up. I will get through this A few days later, I was still crushed that I had not helped the cat at old town. But I learned a valuable lesson. I imaged someone snatching me from my home, and bring me to a place that was unfamiliar, if I where a sick cat I would be frightened. I was trying very hard to convince myself that it was for the cats good. Then I heard my mom say “shay! I have exiting news to tell you!” “okay… what’s the news” I said enthusiastically. “I found a shelter here in Mazatlán called amigos de los animales! And you can volunteer! A Pure wave happiness flooded over me. “thank you! Thank you! I got up and hugged my mom” “thank you”
02/04/18 – Epic Ship
Epic Ship. While in La Paz we met an amazing couple on their journey through life. Their goal in life was to accomplish as many, “Epic Shit” experiences as they could. Sailing the world, sky diving, kite boarding, hiking the highest mountains. They were not a couple in their 20’s seeing the world for the first time. It was a mantra in their life. We fell in love with them. Their life was focused around this, which is why they named their boat “Epic Ship”.
I’ve thought of that way of life a lot since. What defines an “Epic” moment? I’ve had a few. Sailing our boat at 2:00 AM in 40 knots of wind on the nose. Running a hundred miles. Scuba diving to 120 feet of water. Climbing to the top of a 110-foot mast at thirteen years of age.
On a recent sail from La Paz to Mazatlán, watching the half moon set over the white capped horizon, alone in the cockpit at 2:00 AM, it occurred to me that Epic is not always “Epic”. It is not always hanging off the side of a cliff by a finger nail. “Epic Shit” is a personal definition and relative to each individual person. What is Epic to one, is benign to another. The point is not to compete for the “most” epic experience, but more to push our own personal comfort zones. To experience those moment’s in life we feel most alive.
Epic moments are simply defining moments in life. A memory. An impression in our lives. Epic Shit is awakening from a sleep, crawling up the companion way at 3:00 AM to find my wife who is petrified of sailing at night grinding on a winch to sheet in the Genoa as if it was standard routine. Epic Shit is watching my oldest daughter rock her 2-month old son to sleep with pure love in her eyes. Epic Shit is seeing the pain in my 11-year old daughter’s eyes as she desperately wants to rescue a stray cat wandering the streets of Mexico. Epic Shit is my almost 70-year old mom holding watch at night, 125 miles from shore, all the while being prone to sea sickness. Moment’s in my life that are burned into a clarity that lasts my lifetime.
I’ve come to realize that, “Epic Shit” moments can be simple. They do not have to cost a lot of money. They don’t have to be worthy of a You Tube viral video. They can be simple. Quit. Personal. The key to their experience is to be present to the small moments in life. To notice. To slow down long enough that they land. Most of which I’ve worked hard to avoid. I hope I can learn to slow down more in life. To have the patience to observe my own Epic Ship moments. To live a life of epic moments strung one after the other no how “big” or, “Small” seems to be an epic way to live life.
Here is to more “small” epic moments in my life moving forward and to watching my loved ones experience the same.
10/17/17 – Why Not Live Like a Kid? (Makena)
As I read my Dads latest blog on kids being kids, tears streamed down my face. At the bottom of our blog you may notice that we have a time counter that indicates how long we have been cruising. I watch as the seconds tick by. Each second I realized is one second closer to the close of our trip, and us going back to normal life. Then I thought what is normal life? Normal life is schooling, drama and tests for me, but now all has changed. I notice small things I’ve been missing. I noticed that normal life didn’t have to be that way. I made it that way. Although I realize I need some pressure, I noticed that the amount I put on myself was just torture. I would stay up all night until my 6:30 AM alarm went off studying and studying. My eyes would go blurry. I would give up, crying, telling my self I wasn’t good enough. I was going to fail.
I felt the pressure of my whole future riding on one middle school test. I started to evolve an adult like face, dark circles carved crevasses under my eyes. Then drama, that I would choose to invest upon. Why did I ever do this to myself? I realized how much this trip meant to me. I stared at the world moving around me. Everyone moving on and on, never stopping to thank that they could breathe, that they could walk. Small miracles that went unnoticed such as how our sun is so perfectly far away from earth, we can live in a perfect climate. The microscopic plankton working hard to provide almost half of the oxygen we breathe. But the world always moves sounds and lights crowd around me. Shoving me into my small box I just tried to escape from. Fears and “I can’ts and maybe one days” nailed me down. I have not yet found how to escape but have been able for what seems like for the first time since I was kid, to loosen the screws. I jolted while writing this. I still am a kid. So why not live like one before the chance is gone?
10/02/17 – The Whispering Cave (Shay)
“Hey girls!” my mother shouted. “Yeah mom?” I asked sarcastically. She came rushing towards me with a book in her hands and pointed straight at something. “What is it mom?” I responded, rolling my eyes. She looked at me with a bright smile and said excitedly, “A cave! Do you want to see a cave?” I could see in her blue gaze that she already knew the answer. “Ummm Mom, we are surrounded by caves. Can’t we just pick a cave and that’s our cave for the day?” I responded. She looked hurt, as though I slapped her in the face. In a high-pitched voice, she said, “this is not just a cave, this a special cave! It’s called the painted cave and it’s really cool!” She looked exited. She spun around and looked straight at my dad who was steering the boat and yelled to him saying, “Daddy go to the Painted Cave.” My dad gave a slight nod and turned the boat. After about 15 minutes of trying to figure out which was the Painted Cave, Dad said, “I think this is it” looking down at the picture and then back up to the cave. “YES!!!! We are here. Are we going in?!?” I asked changing my mood in a second. My dad responded, “Wait before we go in, I need to check it out. I’ve heard there are 20-foot waves in there.” His eyes clouded with worry. “Can I go with you?” I asked sweetly. “No” he said firmly. I shot an angry look at him and said, “please?” “No,” he said, without thinking about it.
Even though I wanted to argue more, my eyes were glued to the cave. I stared at it wanting to look away, but I just couldn’t. The cave swallowed all light around it. It looked spooky. Its tall entrance gave a sideways smile. In what felt like 5 minutes, my dad came back. “It’s fine.” I didn’t like that response, “it’s fine.” We climbed in the dinghy and paddled to the cave. We got closer and closer until we were in it. The stunning blue water made it beautiful. We were surrounded by magnificent algae, and colorful ferns. But there was something that wasn’t beautiful. I saw a group of sea lions starring at us with deep anger burning in their eyes. They didn’t talk, but they looked like they were going to say, “get out of here, this our turf. We are giving you one last chance. Turn around.” I shot them a challenging look. I laughed and whispered, “make us.” Then one by one they slid into the dark water their heads disappearing. I swallowed, saying under my breath, “that was not a good idea.”
I heard the creaking of our oars as we slowly moved closer to the back of the narrowing cave. I froze as I saw air bubbles slowly stalking towards our boat. I got the chills. We turned our head lamps on. The head lamps did not do anything against the dark walls of the cave. My heart stopped. Out of the darkness of the cave, beyond our sight, the echoing of thousand of sea lions emerged. They sounded like they were planning to harm someone. The darkened bark grew louder and louder making my ears ring. “Dad?” I said in such a quiet voice I didn’t think he heard me. Slowly silence crept into the cave until a loud boom broke the silence. That wave we heard sounded like a 10 foot wave. The small waves were pulling us deeper and deeper into the cave. The barking started again almost as though they were chanting our names, “Come here Makena and Shay. Let’s talk and we will we make you feel right at home.”
As we slowly drifted farther and farther the barking grew louder and louder until I had to cover my ears. “Can we please go?” I asked in a scared voice. Dad responded, “it’s just sea lions”. But I can tell these sea lions were not just “normal” sea lions. They held a secret that should never be shared. Some of them sounded as they were whimpering. “Can we go please?” I said again. I had a thought. Were they sea lions or are they spirts that came back to torment other sea lions or us? Come closer, come closer, we want to see you” “No!!” The cave got really dark and it sounded like they laughed and then said “so we can torment you” right about there I almost barfed. “DAD!!!” I said screaming this time. “Shay, relax….. its sea lions its not like they’re going to hurt us” that comment made me jump back startled. No no no no no. “Shay……Shay…..” they chanted “come here….” “PLEASE DAD” I whimpered “PLEASE!” My dad scuffed and then responded laughing “come on Shay… I thought you were tougher than that. Let’s just stay a little longer” I squinted seeing him smirk. He paddled deeper in but before he could get anywhere, I screamed “STOP!” He obeyed and we sat in silence. The lions still barking saying “come on come here, come here Shay we want to see you…” I blocked them out only hearing the pounding of my heart in my ears. “Okay we can go now” he said. I taunted him saying “Are you scared?” I smiled “No,” he puffed out his chest proudly “you guys are the only scared ones.” I coughed and thought if only you can hear what I’m hearing, you would be crying. We started paddling out of the cave. I felt a wave of relief but then my body tensed as I could hear the crying of the sea lions saying “Nooooo come back here Shay come back here” I laughed and said “No way I’m coming back there again.” I heard the growling of the sea lions then I heard a last ear-splitting bark and all went silent. But I looked back behind me and saw a sea lion charging at us at full speed. It was jumping out of the water like a dolphin playing with friends, but this sea lion was angry. I let out a scared whimper as the sea lion was about 2 feet away from me and my sister. I ducked down ready to be attacked but the sea lion was gone. I felt a drop of sweat fall down my face. I flicked it off and said, “that was scary” as light flooded back into the cave I could see 4 sea lions sleeping happily but giving us warning glares. I felt like I survived a hurricane or something, because that was very scary for my first cave experience. We were back at the boat in like 5 minutes. I could see my mom’s bright excited smile and said “how was it?” I didn’t say anything just gave her a blank expressionless stare and rushed towards my kitten, Jinjer. She purred as she saw me come in. I sat down and petted her, my heart glowed. Well that’s all I have for you….. but that I would say was is thrilling and full of untold mysteries. But there is one thing I did not tell you…..
10/07/17 – A Time to be Kids (Todd)
I sat in the cockpit of our floating home, anchored a few hundred feet off the rocky shore in a remote anchorage on Santa Cruise Island. It was sunny, 80 degrees, wind was calm and the water deep blue and clear. The only sound was that of our girls playing in the water…the constant stream of their excited reports of what they were seeing…of their happiness. That sweet sound of two sisters laughing and playing together. A symphony to my heart.
It was Monday. I was not working, nor were they in school. In the background of my mind was this nagging voice, a mosquito that just won’t leave. “They need to get a least 4-hours of schooling in today”. “I am supposed to be teaching them Math”. “They are going to get behind in school”. “We are being irresponsible”. The march of should’s.
Today was just not the day. As a professional over achiever, workaholic and believer in our life is a result of the work we put into it, it is a challenge for me to not want our girls to be the same. I often forget that they are eleven and thirteen. Kids. The span of time in our lives to be kids is so short. Our thirteen-year-old Makena is stressed about a B in Math as it will impact her ability to become a Surgeon. Her dream. The dream of achievement can rob from their innocent years of being young and carefree.
What struck me on this Monday afternoon in Little Scorpion Anchorage was the sight of our girls having the opportunity to be kids. Two sisters playing in the water with little care in the world other than the fish they were swimming with and who was going to body surf the bigger wave. A slight feeling of sadness. I wish they were still four and six. Can I have the time back with them? When I look back on my own life, my memories are not made up of the thousands of hours of work, the studying I did, test, applications, resumes. Memories are fleeting moments that land without warning and are the treasures that make up life. A life lived with the simple goal of capturing as many amazing memories as possible can only result in a fulfilling life. I wish for them that years from now, when juggling the reality of their adult lives, our girls will remember this sun filled day spent playing and snorkeling in Little Scorpion Anchorage.
While I can’t pretend that I still don’t feel the pressure to bring our girls up to be productive, hardworking contributors to this world, on this particular day, I could not think of anything more important than just listing to them laugh the hours away. A brief moment that I hope will results in a beautiful memory for a lifetime. It certainly will be for me.
09/10 –> 09/11 – San Francisco to Monterey – The Angry Storm (By:Shay Silva age 11)
I watched the flaming sun go down and night fell fast. I sat there bored and tired. Makena looked at me and then looked up at the stars that reflected in her dark brown eyes. I gave a deep sigh, then said “let’s do something.” “ Okay” Makena said. She did not look too thrilled at the idea. We joked around laughing. Then, I saw in the corner of my eye, my mom squinting. “Whats wrong?” I asked in a nervous low voice. My mom glanced at me for what felt like a second and then said, “lighting”. I felt sick to my stomach. “No no no no” I said, in a terrified voice. I saw a lot of videos of people’s boats getting struck by lightning. Makena said, in a annoyed voice, “we are fine” I tried to open my brain to the idea, but it told me I don’t believe her. Makena calmed me down by talking to me, and we sang songs together. Every time my mom saw lightning, she said, “There!!!” as the sky lit up. It was though a light turned on in a dark attic. Then, I said, “I’m going to bed.” I thought maybe that would help.
I layed in my small bed, my eyes wide open. I tried to close them but it felt as though balloons were holding my eyelids up. After while sleep took over. After about 15 minutes, I woke up and my stomach lurched as our boat flew from a large wave. Then, I heard a loud smack as we landed from that big wave. Immediately I sprang up, but only to be shoved down by my lee cloth. This time, more conscious about it, I slowly got up. I climbed the stairs which led to the cockpit. I looked at my dad as he was at the helm. He was dripping with water. I slunked up stealthily to cockpit and then my dad yowled, “SHAY GRAB ONTO SOMETHING!” I grabbed the nearest thing which was a medal bar. I grabbed the bar at the exact moment a 35 knot gust howled at our boat. Then, I smacked my chin on the cockpit seat from a large wave. I saw my dad’s eyes widen and The Answer groaned and creaked as a 10 foot wave pummeled her. The wave splashed over our boat getting me and my dad soaked. I had a large wave of love and gratitude for my dad as he got pummeled by another large wave. I heard all the pots and pans go crashing to the floor. I suppressed a shiver. I saw my sister jolt awake. I felt sorry for her, as this was her first night off shore. She got up and grabbed her water proof stuff. She tried to come up in the cockpit, but before she got up the stairs, my dad snapped at her saying, “STAY DOWN!!!!” She obeyed and stayed down. I felt a wave of happiness. I love storms. They are graceful, but angry. It is like watching a cheetah run stride by stride. I felt strength pulsing from our boat, The Answer, as she charged into the angry splashing waves. This was the best moment ever. I felt thankfulness for being on this trip and not sleeping in my warm bed at home. “Thank you,” I whispered.
09/10 –> 09/11 – San Francisco to Monterey – My First Night at Sea (Makena-age 13)
I felt my heavy eyes droop closed. The incessant thrum of the engine lured me to sleep. I awoke to a loud crash of metal. The wind howled between our taut lines. The boat lurched forward and groaned under the pressure of the harsh pitiless seas. A blinding light made me lurch back. My mom crawled out of the quarter-birth on hands and knees, her headlamp was the bright light. I struggled to pull myself out of my tight lee cloth. My sleeping bag was hot and only made me feel drearier. I attempted to stand, a very large wave threw me easily onto my bed. I heard my mom call to me and say, “Makena if you want to come up, put on your waterproof gear.” I squinted into the blackness for the small bag that held what I needed. I stood up and groped the nearest stabilizer. I bent down to retrieve the bag, the whole world spun. Sounds. Lights. Yelling. The boat tossed me this way and that. I clung to whatever I could. I felt the sour bile crawl up my throat. I grasped my foul weather gear and stood up for mere seconds before being thrown back down. I ended up messily shoving my pants on, while sitting. I felt my pants beneath my water proof ones all messed up and folded up my legs. I ignored it and focused on the situation. I was seasick. Bleh. I asked my mom if I was updated on my anti-nausea meds. She replied cautiously saying, “no, sorry Makena, I didn’t wanna wake you up.” I was so mad at her. But I decided why pout about it when you could do something to help yourself now? I yanked on my Helly Hanson jacket and grasped the stairs. Dad yelled at me over the howling wind, “NO MAKENA STAY DOWN!!! DON’T COME UP!!” I nodded slightly and just focused on the good. I was alive. The sky lit up again. Lightning. I crammed my legs into any nearby space. I laid my head on the top stair of the companionway. I spoke softly to the boat, I said, “you are ok, thank you for providing this adventure among me and my whole family.” A single tear slowly slipped down my cheek, reminiscing about all of the fond memories our trusting boat provided for us. I grew closer to my family. I watched my tear slip away and drip onto the boat. Like a rush, sounds and feelings returned to me. I climbed out onto deck my dad’s screams flying past me. I sat down and clung on for, literally, dear life. I looked out at the seemingly endless ocean flailing around in random directions. I heard my dad call almost reading my mind,“The current/swell is going against the wind.” His words were almost lost to the howling wind. I screamed back, “HOW LARGE ARE THESE WAVES DAD?” He replied saying, “10 FEET ONLY A FEW SECONDS APART, THE WIND SUSTAINED 30 KNOTS, GUSTS UP TO 38 KNOTS!” I felt our boat get tossed up, I tightly curled up waiting for the sudden drop. Our boat was thrown down on its side, my side. The wave of water soaked me. Our boat groaned and creaked. The sky became light again. I ran through the procedure of how to set up the life raft. I just braced myself and closed my eyes tightly. After a while, the Micro storm or Squall passed mostly. Pure exhaustion had me tumble nimbly down the stairs. I peeled off my wet gear and without a single care in the world tossed it to the floor. I tumbled into bed. I checked my phone, the light blinded me reading 4:06 A.M. I tossed it aside and closed my eyes, as darkness beckoned me. I felt the world drift away. Good night storm.
09/02 – Under The Golden Gate Bridge by Moonlight – (Shelby)
Heading into San Francisco was surreal! With Berkeley Marina as our destination, we followed a container ship in. Todd in full navigation focus, with crew member Scott as co-pilot on Navionics, we came into the moonlit, twinkle lit San Fran Bay, with full focus. The animals were on freak out. I had to lock kitten in the head, as she kept wanting to join us in the cockpit and, as mentioned above, with full concentration of navigating SF Bay, no one could focus on kitten. We didn’t want to perform kitten overboard drill, in such a complicated entry. Shay and I argued about who’s in charge of Snowy pup, who was being high maintenance. I’m on buoy & crab pot watch. I cannot be on Snowy watch too. It was getting darker by the minute as the Golden Gate Bridge became closer and closer. It was lit up like a warm lit fireplace. It was almost glowing. I found it hard to “be in the moment” as exactness, navigation watch was needed. I struggled with enjoying the moment and being crew. With Snowy finally in cockpit, and finally releasing a gigantic pee on her gifted grass pad from Coho rally member, she calmed enough for me to break away and go up on topside, with my camera phone. I lied on my back and documented the glory of cruising under the Golden Gate Bridge, at night, on our S/V the Answer. Epic moment! Once in a lifetime! Will never forget it! I am grateful to have taken great pics to document this amazing moment, and posted them on Facebook.
Just when I thought cruising under the GGB, at night, was unreal, cruising under it in broad daylight with a zillion expensive sail boats, all around us, was just as epic. Todd and I were in awe of these high-end sailing boats burying the rail, full sails up, in solid 20-25 knot wind. It was a sight and it was fun to be in the thick of it, sharing over crowded SF Bay, on our departure. It was nostalgic to look up, at the awesome golden bridge, and remember walking over it, just days before.
The icing on the cake was the tanker ship passing us right after we cruised under the immense bridge. It was the same tanker that appeared on our AIS all the way down South to Monterey Bay. In some strange way, it was comforting seeing the massive tanker ship in our AIS, as if we were “buddying” South together. When we got hit by the squall “microburst,” around 2am, I remember wondering if our tanker “buddy” even felt it….not fair!!!
Shelby