Friday, April 15, 2011

How passagemaking is like pregnancy

It's been so exciting to see friends we made cruising in the US and Mexico get ready for their own departures for the Pacific islands. Most have now departed, and we're reliving the passage vicariously as by following along a number of blogs.

I traded email with our friends on Ceilydh today. They're five days in from their departure from La Cruz, Mexico. Thinking about where they are in the journey, I couldn't help reliving the experiences from ours from last year. I remember this part of the passage really well...and it makes me smile!

This is going to sound nuts to some, but the phases of a big passage like this- about three weeks- is kind of like the major phases of pregnancy. Ceilydh is in the second trimester now. During the first trimester, you often feel a little icky, and you're settling- physically and emotionally- into a whole new life. By the third trimester, you're a little over the experience and kinda ready to be done. But the second trimester? It's spectacular. You're embracing the adventure, immersed in a whole new life. You're feeling good, and excited about every new thing that happens. It's truly like one natural high after another.

I generally loved being pregnant, but I never felt better (at ANY time in life, not just my pregnancies) than during the second trimester. And in the same crazy way, I deeply loved the middle chunk of the big passage... embraced it 150%, and wanted it to go on forever.

Here's a short list of some of friends who are blogging updates on their passage: check the rolls on their blogs, too, for even more of the 2011 fleet.

Ceilydh
Moondance
Evergreen
Whatcha Gonna Do
Don Quixote

amazing clouds near the equator
Gorgeous rainbow, somewhere during our Pacific passage- April 2010