Saga - Day 5-Sapphires

A friend of mine used to work in a national park in the Caribbean. Among other things, she was charged with making sure people didn't remove things from the park as souvenirs. No taking shells or coral home with you. So, when she saw a tourist with a bunch of specimen bottles, she let her know that she couldn't take anything with her from the park. She was then informed that the bottles were for the water. The tourist wanted to save a little bottle of all the different blues to bring home with her. I laughed when I heard the story, but I totally get it. Today, the ocean is a brilliant sapphire blue. The water seems to glow from within, with no real change in color between the crests and troughs of the waves. That uniformity of color is unusual and mesmerizing to watch. I wish I could. read more...

Saga - Day 4 - Getting Our Sea Legs

Getting your sea legs truly is a real thing. Today is day 4 of our voyage and we finally all have our sea legs. I have always heard that the first three days of a passage are the worst, and it played out that way this time.Our first 2 days were pretty rough. The weather was predicting some high winds and rough seas for the first couple of days, but if we waited, the wind was predicted to almost completely disappear. We had to choose between going in rough weather and having a tough first couple of days, or waiting and then having to motor instead of sail. We were all pretty anxious to get going, so we decided to go for it. We had sailed in worse conditions and we knew our boat could take it.Those first 2 days are a complete blur for me. I slept and slept and slept and slept. I woke up. read more...