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April 06, 2006
Adrift
It’s 7pm. Chis and I are in George Town, Great Exuma Island, sitting in the cockpit of Kilkea II (formerly Platina) enjoying cool drinks, blazing hot sunshine, beautiful reflections on the water, and our books. Despite SPF 30, we are sunburned. It still feels strangely like our boat.
We can tell we are getting closer to living on land, because we have been running like fiends. We run 5-6 days a week now, at least 5 miles each day. We are svelt. Pumped. Slim, trimmed and ready for the summer BBQ.
Chis is reading Elizabeth George’s latest book “A Traitor to Memory”. He says Inspector Lynley is a lively character (but really likes the Barbara Avers character). I have been reading “Adrift” by Tristan Jones.
“Adrift” is one of many books written by one of the world’s great solo circumnavigating sailors, as he becomes adrift on land trying to find work to get his sailboat Sea Dart out of British customs. He is penniless, jobless, and trying to make enough money to go back to sea. He discovers that he must contrive his stories to sell his books.
Perhaps I should start writing my own “Adrift”.
David and Marian (Happy Buyer People) have gone to walk the beach. Off they went in the dinghy, and we smiled, feeling proud that we have been training them well.
Today was a watershed day. This was it. The end of the chapter. We booked our flights from George Town to Guadalajara, Mexico. (We should arrive before the end of the month.) I sat in the cool air-conditioned travel agent office on the second floor of a hurricane pummeled cinder-block building in the centre of town. It used to be pink, but with its new roof, they painted it beige. Too bad. It was the only way we knew how to find the dinghy dock. She asked me if I wanted to book the tickets. I said yes, then became crazed with details. Perhaps living at sea had made my brain mush. Maybe I wasn’t ready to commit to our departure. I hummed, hawed. The terribly relaxed Bahamian woman waited patiently for my decision. What she didn’t realize is that I didn’t want to leave. She had no idea of my anguish.
I became a New Yorker. My inside head said “Dave, make a decision”. Chis was down the road at the internet shack (grocery store), wedged between the fridge and a box of packaged flour. Do I need to consult him, or just book it? I took the plunge. I booked it. I wept.
We will spend a week with Chis’ parents in their new home in Ajijic, Mexico. Then off to Playa del Carmen, where they kill Canadian tourists, and wed our friends www.mattandali.com. On April 22nd, we will fly to Toronto briefly, then on to New York City for the next chapter of our lives. I am sooooo excited about living in one of the greatest cities of the world.
We will be landlubbers again. I might get nauseous.
We will step off Platina for the last time on Monday, April 10th, and I know already that I will shed several tears. I will cry, proud of what we have accomplished, the things we have learned about ourselves, the courage we have found. I will cry with fear and excitement for David and Marian – fear for their journey, and excitement for the things they will discover about themselves.
Neil Young:
“I could live inside a teepee,
I could die in penthouse 35
You could lose me on the freeway
I would still make it back alive
As long as we can sail away
As long as we can sail away”
Posted by dave at April 6, 2006 12:03 PM