July 20, 02
Stunning Sail from Admiralty Bay, Bequia to Hillsborough, Carriacou

Had another night of deep, deep, sleep. Curt as well. Woke up forgetting entirely where I was. When I remembered we were in Bequia, it felt totally out of body- are we really living on a sailboat in the Caribbean? It was a crystal morning and most boats seemed to be taking advantage of the weather window and were leaving. A weather front was supposed to come in tonight at 8pm (but it's 8:30 as I write this and we've seen no sign of it). The skies and seas seemed to sticking their tongues out at the meteorologists. There was almost no wind on a flat ocean as we crawled along at 4-5 knots all day. Big cumulous clouds that Leonardo Da Vinci couldn't have painted any prettier floated past our mast above. As we entered the cluster of islands known as the Southern Grenadines (Mayreau, Union Island, and our destination- Carriacou), the landscape was so stunning it was nothing short of emotional. More and more I'm learning how futile it is to try to describe with words, or even a snapshot, the beauty we experience almost daily here. Every day I could try to describe something new, but in the shear multitude, the impact of each stunning image would be lost among the others. Late this afternoon, the sun starting to sink low in the sky, the ocean sparked like the frenzy of the paparazzi at the Oscars. Flashes of light were ablaze on the glassy water. The lining of the puffy clouds was so bright, they looked like they were plugged into a wall socket. Force Five skated on the water with just enough wind to keep her sails full and propel us along. I walked up and sat on the bow rail, staring at the sky and sea. Words can't explain it- you have to squint at the sparkling seas with your own eyes, smell the salt in the air and feel it on your toes... feel the wind sliding over your skin, under your shirt and back out your sleeve again. Feel the way it makes wisps of hair tickle your ears and hear it make the sails flap as it wanes. Sometimes I stare hard and long- trying to imprint the vision, the smell, the sensation, of it all in my mind. And I know I'll never be able to remember it just the way it feels at that moment.

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