Antigua

A week of sailing around the island of Antigua has done the body and mind good! There was a mix of sun, rain, clouds, and wind. The truly best part was simply being disconnected from the world for seven whole days. No television, no internet, no cell phone, no radio (well, the Captain used the radio).

There were 8 others aboard the vessel. Captain Dax (a South African who has been sailing his entire life) and wife (aka Chef) Kristen. Jim & Lenore--an older couple who met in Southeast Asia when he was a fighter pilot for the US Airforce and she was working for the Red Cross. Chris and MaryBeth from upstate New York. He owns a contracting company, she her own occupational therapy practice. And Emily and Rafa. He's a spine surgeon (his back up career) and she, a recent retiree at the ripe old age of 35.

My favorite memories:

• Watching pelicans dine for breakfast. There is nothing that makes you feel more lazy than having someone else cook for you all week while watching another organism hunt for food.


• Sailing during high winds and desperately wishing that I can keep my food down. (I did, by the way)


• Solitary walks along the beach


• Discovering a 10-foot wall of shells built over time, exposing colors and textures galore (pictured)


• Acting a chef for lunch while Kristen went to have a tooth extracted


• Noodle bar


• Azure blue waters filled with spawning jelly fish. (FYI, moon jellies feel like what I image silicon implants would feel like).


• Dinghie Slinging. Far too complicated to explain here. Let's just say it didn't make its way into the brochure, as I'm sure we would all be required to sign additional waivers.


• Discover SCUBA (see post below)


• "noodle, noodle please"


• My gins and tonics


• Dax's pina colada, best I've ever had!


• Blaring Eric Clapton's greatest hits below Eric Clapton's house, as if we were part of a scene from Say Anything


• Humpback whales breaching


• Measuring the weight you've gained by the number of noodles used (at one time) at week's end

The Gods Have a Sense of Humor

I've come to the conclusion that the Gods--or whatever Supreme Power you answer to--chuckle daily, if not hourly, at us homosapiens. We, the mammals gifted with speech, thumbs, and logical-thinking brains are truly oblivious to the wonders of planet Earth.

We're all aware the planet we inhabit is three quarters covered with water. What we don't realize is that under the surface lives an entire society, a community, filled with unbelievable beauty. I'd like to believe I've been exposed to this world, even though I've only scratched the surface (please pardon the pun).

I SCUBA'd down to the depth of 33 feet in Falmouth Harbour Antigua. Again, sounds rather unspectacular, but considering the atmospheric pressure is double than that at sea level, I believe I've done something that earns me a merit badge. (I earned a secondary badge for staying down for 63 minutes--something even experienced divers don't do at that depth!)

We've all seen video and photography that clearly illustrates a foreign world filled with fins, gills, brilliant colors, reef, sea anemones, etc. I always thought these captured images were somehow enhanced via modern-day technicolor in order to further capture the imagination and wonderment of the human brain. Please believe when I say simply...it is not. If anything, the real thing is better than the paltry snapshot that is accompanied by an anthropomorphic voice over. The colors are more vivid, the communities of organisms busier than expected. Beyond that, there is simply no substitute for immersing yourself (again, forgive the pun) in this world. In fact, I wouldn't mind if I started to grow gills just so I could be a permanent member of Community Ocean.

Less about my inclinations and back to the wonders of the ocean....

The reason why it is better than video, photography, or even snorkeling is simple--you are literally surrounded by this new world. No IMAX could ever compare. The perspective of being a part of the oceanic community is beyond words--despite the wonderful complexity and diversity of the English language. To swim eye to eye with a Queen Triggerfish, a Spotted Drum, and a Squirrelfish; to awe at the colors and textures of a Parrot Fish; to uncover a group of spiny lobster hiding beneath a rock; to gasp in wonder at the pod of jellyfish ABOVE you in the azure blue waters; to watch as a Nassau Grouper darts back into his grouper-man-cave, to wonder at the colors, shapes, and sizes of everything! The images keep swirling in my human brain.

So, to Poseidon, thank you for allowing me to visit your world. May you welcome me back with open arms. To the School of Darwin--please consider this my official petition to stand further left on the evolutionary chart. To Jacque Cousteau, we humans owe you so much for introducing us to this world. To the remainder of the Supreme Powers...please don't laugh at us humans. We are slow to discover all of your wonders, but are efforting to do so. Please be patient.

Progress

Foot peaks above my head during Standing Bow. Both sides.

Namaste

Kona, Hawai'i

Earlier this year, I was scheduled to be in Poland for my birthday...and who wouldn't want to spend their 33rd birthday in Warsaw? Sadly, this project was cancelled. So, with great reluctance, I booked another trip to Hawai'i, purposely planned around my birthday.

For those who don't know...Hawai'i is my home. No, I've never lived there (YET!), and I have no family on the islands, but it is where my soul lives. The Big Island frequently calls my name, beckoning me to return to refresh my spirit.

Every trip brings something new, something different. This year, I hands loads of energy (a bit of paradox considering most people take vacation to relax, to sleep, to recharge). I spend 10 of 11 days in the ocean, swimming with dolphins or practicing my surfing. The 11th day was spent driving and climbing the the North Kohala coast, breathing the fresh air with the Jeep top down, listening to opera music--allowing the music to become the soundtrack of the landscape.

Here are some other highlights:

• Feeling my first drop


• Spiny sea urchin stuck in foot (ouch!)


• Rising moon greeting me during a 9PM drive my final evening on the island


• Full moon on my birthday


• Thousands of stars--the eyes of angels--looking down on me each night


• A Hawaiian prayer and conch shell whistle at sundown on my birthday


• Dolphins...lots of Dolphins including babies. Getting hit in head by dolphin tail due to my close proximity to baby.


• Debs


• Bite Me Fish Market


• Triangle of green energy given to me by Debs at the Kona Brewing Company


• Perfect waves at Honokohau


• Surfing with a honu

Overheard Conversation

Location: Kona, Hawai'i

Time: 9 AM Local Time

Date: Early November

Context: A couple from Colorado is taking their first surfing lesson. The gentlemen's mother is sitting on shore, proudly watching her son and daughter-in-law as they learn to master the waves. The husband catches his first wave.

After paddling back out to the pit, he enthusiastically declares to his wife "Honey, I think we need a beach house." Wife, dead-pannedly, replies "ask your mother."

Progress

Proud Pigeon, Tibetan Camel, and Reclining Hero in a single day...after 11 other attempts.

San Jose, Costa Rica

I always forget how wonderfully serene this country is until I step off the plane. Taxis meander their way to the customer’s destination. Bromeliads line the sides of the streets. Fields of lush green grass as far as the imagination can ponder. Natives are genuinely interested in your business.

My hotel is fashioned after a Spanish Hacienda. It’s in the middle of no-where and that’s exactly why I love it. That….and the toilets with the perfect curvature to fit your bum…..and the red geraniums that line each buttermilk-coloured window box…and the brass fixtures found throughout….and Isabella—the Spanish tapas restaurant that makes your mouth water come dinner time.

The morning is my favourite time at the hotel. Not because the sun is up at 6AM or the howling monkeys often beat the sun. No, it’s the fresh brewed coffee and warm winter breeze (yes, it’s still considered winter here) on the Antigua terrace that makes for the perfect moment. I start with an appetizer of mango, followed by an entrée of watermelon, concluding with desert of pineapple. Meanwhile, the local squirrels conduct their dance…trying to sneak crumbs from the visitors while the wait staff delicately attempts to shoo them away without disrupting the breakfast of the guests. It’s a beautiful tango…a passionate relationship that often results in pushing and pulling and giving and taking.

It’s still the rainy season…so it rains EVERY day. And I mean buckets. The entire country is a tropical rainforest. The rain starts around 3 in the afternoon and is preceded by thunder equivalent to the synchronous rumblings of 1 million hungry stomachs. It’s unnerving yet welcomed in the same breath.

The country’s GDP is greatly dependent on the amount of rain received. This year has been light on rainfall and the rainy season will soon end in November. Small crop shares and hence trade opportunities for a country in which the average annual income is slightly less than 3,000 USD can prove devastating.

It's the peaceful quiet moments filled with the sounds of nature--criquets chirping, birds welcoming the warm rays of morning sunlight, and monkeys frantically calling--that make this country wonderful.