Sailing Monarchs

Good morning everyone. We enjoyed a terrific overnight passage last
night. The full moon was brilliant as it stood overhead during my
0000-0400 watch. The shadows of the rig and sails were as clear as
if it were daytime. We were thankful for the helping hand from Mr.
Moon as we threaded our way through numerous oil and natural gas
platforms, mostly lit with a dozen or so exceptions. Dark in the
shadows of the waves one could occasionally glimpse out of the corner
of ones eye the faint image of an unlit platform. My advice to my
watch mates... look with the sides of your pupils as well as the
centers. I call this the intuitive eye. You swear you saw something
but when you look straight at it, there it is, gone. For those of
you who really want to read into that one, life lesson #237, trust
that what it may, take energy to see what really is there. It takes work
and your life may depend on it!

The other great thing we have seen off shore in the Gulf of Mexico
are monarchs....everywhere by the thousands. Monarch
butterflies...gotta go, gotta go, gotta go to Mexico (I stole that
from a favorite childrens book). I swear I saw many of these
butterflies just up in Maine while we were sailing about a month
ago. How cool is that! We were also visited by a winter wren that
flitted between our feet searching for crumbs on deck and a few tiny
insects. I am not sure where the wren is headed but it hitch hiked
150 miles with us. It did not sing its song, one of my favorites and
the longest of any bird I know of lasting a full 30 seconds or more
on a single lung full of air. So I will have to be patient and wait
until next windjammer season when the monarchs and wrens return to
Maine.

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.

Comments

Hail Mary

My heart is heavy with sadness as I write this particular blog. Since the beginning of August our dear friend and cook for the last 12 years, Mary Barney, had been struggling with cancer. I have intentionally respected Mary’s privacy and I apologize to you for not sharing any news about Mary’s health sooner. On Monday afternoon Mary passed away very peacefully at home, surrounded by friends and “family”. Her departure was as graceful as the rest of her life. Many people, including Jen, have been doing heroic work to support Mary these last few weeks. Oddly enough Mary was never very excited about transitions though this was about the fastest transition she ever made. And as I struggle to let go of Mary I realize I am terrible with transitions as well. We used to joke about how we liked things just the way they are, thank you very much, so why change what is working already even if it might be less labor intensive. Hard works is its own reward. I used to joke about getting Mary a Cui

Fall Maintenance

Good morning everyone. The sun has been kind to us these past few days and the crew has been spending much time aloft prepping and painting the mast heads and tarring the rig as part of our annual fall maintenance schedule. They were a little silly on tar fumes by the end of the day hence the rat board dance moves. Am I the only one who is reminded of Willy Wonka's little friends at the sight of the crew in their tyvek suits? Schoona-loompas? The smell of tar, after all, is what we sailors live for. Extracted from the stumps and roots of pine trees through dry distillation pine tar will cure what ails you especially some skin conditions and any emotional maladies from being too long away from the sea. All we know for sure is that Mary Day’s rigging is kept hail and hearty by coats of tar mixed with boiled linseed oil. Notice that I specified boiled linseed oil and not raw linseed oil. Tar mix with raw linseed oil will not “kick”. Don’t ask me how I know this… just take my wo

Oh Captain, Oh Captain, Please Don't Rumba!

Good morning everyone. Another 6” of snow fell this weekend and we took a few hours to enjoy the wonders of winter here in New England skiing in the woods. The full Wolf Moon on Saturday causing astronomical high tides plus a 1’ tidal surge brought by the low pressure system meant we had tides over the bulkhead in Camden. At low tide just the opposite happens and the tides dip well below normal. I was able to step to the docks from the beach and get aboard the schooner on Friday after work and all was well. I had an interesting email this morning from a wonderful gentleman looking for a vacation to replace a now defunct “windjammer” sailing experience that formerly sailed in the Caribbean. He sent us a very humorous swashbuckling note, complete with colorful pirate party images, wondering if we might be able to fill the void, complete with canons and limbo parties and would the captain be leading the rumba line? I regretted to tell him that we probably did not offer the booty he was

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