Relationships

Day 117 - 125 (Wed,  March 7 –  Thurs, March 15, 2012): Several days have passed since my last post. Good news is that I have been back in the WATER! We departed Georgetown on Sat. Chris was correct on his weather forecast. Perfect day. We said our goodbys and promised to write. Then, headed out early with “Living Well,” “Gratitude” and “Double Diamond.” What a nice sail. We decided part way through the day to go on to Dotham Cut. We made good time and the currents were perfect to go a bit further (slack tide when we would arrive). Sweet sail. We anchored at Black Point Settlement. First night we went ashore for a bit to eat at a small restaurant on the island. We met a grad student from Harvard working on his final project in Architecture/City Development. He was working on a community sustainment project. Second night we hunkered down for some weather and went to Gratitude for dinner. What a meal. I brought Maria Elena’s plantains and sweet potatoes for the appetizer. Loren made mahi mahi and rice and MaryAnn’s made cranberry pie. It was one of the best meals of the season. The wind picked up and mid way through the evening, Steve and I jumped into the Kraken and headed to our boats to close the hatches. It was blowing 30kts before the storm hit. Bumpy dinghy ride. Only casualty was Steve’s sunglasses. My bad.

The next day we headed out to Sampson (one of my favorite spots). And we did an all girl crew on Gaia. I was a bit nervous. This was not still pond but I knew I could handle it. Getting the anchor up was the only tricky part given our winlass issues. I managed to get the anchor up and we were underway. Judy launched the sails and we were off. It was about a 2hr trip up to Sampson. Gaia snorted and threw her tail up over her back and we were off. Actually, difficult to slow her down a bit. It was a nice sail. Patrick was on Double Diamond with Andy. His first sail on a catamaran. When we approached Sampson, I had difficulty bringing the genoa in. The line had wrapped around the roller firling. Uggghhh, I hate when that happens. I didn’t even notice it when we put the gene out. I had to go up front and pull the line up to unwrap it. Not an emergency but just irritating that our “all girl” trip was tarnished. Judy did a nice job keeping Gaia into the wind while I freed the line. All was well when we anchored in front of Sampson Cay resort. Super nice day. We managed to do a quick dive off the point with Andy and Judy. Saw a few nice coral heads and on the way back, Patrick pulled me (powered snorkeling). Just as I was ready to motion that I was going to get back in the boat, I saw 2 sharks taking a nap (nurse variety), a stingray and school of rainbow runners. Remarkable last 2 minutes. Never cut your dives short. That night I made the lamb shank we had bought in Georgetown and had a very nice dinner on Gaia with Andy and Judy. We watched Captain Ron again. Fun every time we watch that flick.

The next day was “back in the water” day. Yea!!!!!  We headed out to Pipe Creek with Judy and Andy. Nice dive, nothing out of the ordinary but totally beautiful. We had dinner at the Sampson Cay restaurant. Grouper, potatoes, veggies and cheese cake. Yummmm.

Thurs was dedicated to doing some needed work. I tackled laundry and Patrick improved the stripper on the winlass. Try 3 – will see if this version of repairs works better. He really did a nice job fabricating a much sturdier stripper (no laughing).

I love the relationships and friendships we make while out here. They come out of nowhere and are more times than not, unexpected. But they are all so special. I feel a sense of loss when folks move on but that is part of the journey. Keeping in touch will be important. Reflection on what draws us to certain people is my brain task for the day. Do we look for friends that compliment, are similar, stimulate us to be better in some way or ???  Not sure at this point but it is part of what I want to better understand. I need to surrounding myself with folks that do all of the above and definitely push me to be a better person.