May 27, 2009

Charleston Maritime Center Marina

Sometimes when I look back at the previous blog in order to begin the next entry, I find myself laughing aloud. I seem to have a predilection for prediction. I envisage such events as we are leaving next week, or we are making a stack pack for the mainsail, and we are headed to this or that location. And here, now, I again find liberation in the realization that life and plan are a dance choreographed to constantly changing rhythms. Better to go with the flow than resist the greater energies at play. So, we are remaining in Charleston yet one more week. We are having a great time here. We are also awaiting a new pump for the autopilot and a new credit card since the other was compromised. We shall see what rhythms await the dancers this week.

I told Chris yesterday that I believe we must have needed a good dose of terra firma when we arrived in Charleston. Life at the dock is like having a condo on the water. If we stay here much longer we will be as mangroves floating above the water on a flood of bent, leggy roots.

The weather in Charleston has added excitement and variety to an otherwise stationary experience on Namaste. This morning it is calm and cloudy. The water across the harbor looks like a wet, gray slicker. Two nights ago we had a torrent of rain and thunderstorms. Last week it blew 30 to 35 knots consistently for 6 days. At one point we saw 41 knots here at the dock. The water in this modest marina was roiling and Namaste was bucking and rocking with the incoming waves. Hence we did not remove the mainsail to get started on the stack pack. We did take some time yesterday to give Namaste a good rub down.

We have been enjoying the annual Charleston arts festival, Piccolo-Spoleto. Marion Park is filled with painters exhibiting their work for the next 10 days. Wragg Park contains craft artists and daily demonstrations in everything from ceramics and basketry to woodcarving. Local businesses have opened their doors to become temporary galleries for these talented South Carolina artists. This week we hope to catch some of the performance art, perhaps a good comedy or a tango production. A walk to Waterside Park to hear a jazz band is not to be missed.

As you can imagine Charleston Harbor is a hub of shipping and boating activity. Across the bay we view a sailboat regatta every weekend. Powerboats zip up and down the channel. Shrimp and fishing boats come and go on their seasonal pursuits. Just south of the marina is a dock for cruise ships and car carriers. To the north lies a dock for container ships. Both the car carriers and the container ships require tugboats to help them turn and negotiate the channel. The tugboats circle the ships in the harbor just outside the marina. We always enjoy watching these small, powerful tugs push the megaton ships through a 180-degree arc and then escort them out the channel or rest them gently aside the dock.

While we have enjoyed being in Charleston we are also beginning to yearn for a good sail and a quiet, pastoral anchorage. One of the things I most love about living on the boat is the ability to move our home from one place to another as we choose. This month we enjoy the life of the city, next week a more pastoral setting. And so it goes until we return to Charlottesville in the fall.

Peace and Love

May 18, 2009

Ahoy from Namaste in Charleston,

Yes, we are still here in Charleston and plan to be here for another week. I probably would not write, except for a friends urging, as there is not much news. I think we must just be catching up with ourselves. So here we be.

We rested the first few days. We are enjoying Chappell and Betsy’s company. We ordered the new fluxgate compass, sent the 2 autopilot hydraulic pumps off to be rebuilt and found a new WiFi system that is compatible with my Macbook. I am able to walk to the art store, and there found some new brushes and white gouache. I also found some great books on watercolor. Generally speaking, we are back in the world of availability.

My senses are electrified with so much stimulation. There are the many sights of city life on the water: the store fronts, restaurants, streets, cars, bikes, horse and carriage, electric lines, container ships, tugboats, docks, throngs of people. A constant cacophony of horns, sirens, marina partying in the form of music and laughter, the Carolina Belle’s engine, folks coming to fill their tanks with diesel, a multitude of birds, high winds, waves lapping at the dock fills the air. The fragrance of Carolina jasmine and privet permeates my every breath.

It did not take long to return to a nature infused state of being when I arrived in the Bahamas. With one long exhale I was able to let go of the vast array of human made stimuli in return for a breath of simplicity. I am really glad to be closer to family and friends and the conveniences offered here. I am also acutely aware of the challenge presented to the senses through constant stimulation. I must continue to seek stillness through other paths.

I found a great book called the Tao of Watercolor by Jeanne Carbonetti. She incorporates her practice of Tai Chi and her understanding of The Tao-te Ching into her practice of painting. Using the principles of beginner’s mind, centering, balance, deliberateness, playfulness, flow and effortlessness she introduces the practitioner to the work that is play of watercolor. I am having fun! I am reminded of the Montessori guiding principle that through the play of the child is found the work of the child. I am in my element.

Chris and I have taken time to walk the beautiful and historic streets of downtown Charleston. We have visited many of the local art galleries and the vibrant city market. Chappell, Chris and I drove out to see Angel Oak, a 1500-year-old live oak tree just outside of Charleston. It is reportedly the oldest thing, living or man-made, east of the Rockies. It is 65 feet tall and has an overall diameter of 160 feet. It was an honor to stand before this bearded giant.

We continue to love being here at the Charleston Maritime Center Marina. We have a beautiful view of the Charleston Harbor and all the coming and goings of cruise ships, container ships and the huge car carriers. I love watching as the tugboats guide these behemoths to and from port. The Carolina Belle takes parties of people on harbor tours, the Spirit of Charleston introduces students to the experience of sailing. We are meeting many folks who are also just returning from the Bahamas and heading north for the summer.

We still hope to make our stack pack for the mainsail this week. We are not sure whether we will take the waterway up the coast or go “outside”. Outside is our preference at this time so we will be watching for a weather window early next week. We have also not decided whether we will get to New York via The Bay or on the outside. We shall see.

Until later

Peace and Love

Nassau to Charleston

May 6, 2009

Ahoy from Charleston!

How is everyone? Hope you are all well.

In one breath we let go of the vision, though not the memory, of the clear blue and green seascape that filled our days and dreams in the Bahamas. In the next breath we take in the sweetness of spring blossoming and the sonorous bird song that greets us this balmy morning in Charleston.

We left Nassau Saturday morning and sailed up the Northwest Providence Channel, out into the Atlantic, entering the Gulf Stream just east of Palm Beach. We had a south, southwest wind the whole way up the coast and the seas were behind us. We had our best sail day on Monday while riding the Gulf Stream and we made good speed all the way. There were times when the rocking motion of Namaste became tiresome as we quartered the swells. We were somewhat concerned with the noise that revealed air in the hydraulic system for the steering. All in all the entire trip was smooth and we arrived here in Charleston tired and in good spirits.

The highlight of our trip from Nassau was a joyous performance by two bottlenose dolphins that joined us Tuesday morning. For easily 45 minutes they performed acrobatic feats in the waves around us. This couple swam in serpentine unison before the bow. They leapt, performed a half twist and slapped their fins, before diving back into the water. They swam out and rode the following waves, darting from one wave to next catching more lift. They leapt clear out of the water and showed us their beautiful pink bellies. Every so often they would swim on their sides and look up at us; it seemed they wanted to make sure we were still watching, although I believe this was an exercise in pure play. At one point two more dolphins joined them and together they continued this spontaneous burst of energy. We learned to tell them apart, the smaller one, the one with the darker skin, more speckles, and the one with the tag-like thing on its fin. We were held mesmerized and delighted by this dazzling display. And then they were gone, first one, and then after a last burst of activity the other dolphin disappeared back into the vast, blue ocean before us. What a treat! What a gift! We felt like we had briefly connected with these amazing, intelligent mammals of the sea. These are the events that make up the memories.

Living in the Exumas over the last several months without the distractions, habits and strictures of our lives in Charlottesville has given us both much time to travel inward. I am not sure that I can put into words yet the ways in which I see my perceptions, actions and beliefs changing as this journey is still in motion. I do know that I have learned that I am braver than I believed. I am becoming more flexible, more agile in my thinking, and my responses to events. I am practicing bringing my awareness and attention to the only moment with true meaning, the one that is now. As I reread this paragraph I am drawn to the words “still in motion”. I am learning to find the stillness that is at the center of all the motion and commotion I perceive and create around me. This continues to be my central endeavor on this journey. I often view my life as a work in progress and this year continues to bring unexpected and abundant gifts.

And now here we are in Charleston. Do I feel culture shock after 4 months on mostly uninhabited Islands in the Bahamas? Yes, to some extent this is true. But this is my culture and I am glad to be back in the fold of the familiar. I can’t help having this thought though: I want all this to stick, this wild, wide open, rocky, blue- green, resilient, sunny, warm, peaceful, fluid experience. I want to be sure that this experience has united with my being. I think I have been able to drink deeply enough of this experience to have made it part of my being. I hope so.

I did not take pictures of the amazing performance by the two dolphins. That experience is committed to memory. I am including pictures of a group of dolphins that joined us on Monday for a while. It is always a treat to see a group of dolphins change course and approach Namaste. The other pictures are taken as we were leaving Nassau and then underway up the coast.

Peace and Love

April 31, 2009

Hey, how are you all?

Well, I wrote just 10 days ago that we were on our way to Eleuthera and then to the Abacos. I love to have a plan! And, yet, I do not mind a course change when wind and sea combine their forces in opposition to our plans. We spent 9 beautiful and very windy days in Warderick Wells. Only the most hardy sailed in the Exumas over the last week or so, perhaps the foolhardy. The winds were a steady 25 to 30 knots and the seas in the sound were 10 to 12 feet.

While enjoying refuge on Warderick we immersed ourselves in the beauty of the land and sea park. Though it was quite windy, there were abundant sheltered spaces to swim, snorkel and hike. Warderick Wells continues to be one of my favorite islands in the Exumas.

Tomorrow Namaste will spread her luminous, white wings and join the collective migration of cruisers heading north. We have learned to alter our course with the ease and grace of dancers stepping from a meringue to a rumba. We realized that we would enjoy little time in the Abacos during May as the long-range weather forecast is predicting strong winds and squalls for the second two weeks of the month. A timely weather window has granted us the opportunity to sail with fair winds and following seas all the way to Charleston from Nassau.

We are both excited about traveling north to Charleston. Using the strong current in the Gulf Stream to provide additional momentum to our sail, we believe Namaste will arrive in Charleston on Tuesday evening after 4 days at sea. We look forward to a week at the Charleston Maritime Center Marina in the heart of the city. And, of course we can’t wait to see family.
We spent last night at Highborne Cay and tonight we are in Nassau refueling and provisioning for our journey to Charleston. I have butterflies, hundreds of butterflies, creating a stir of excitement and anticipation regarding our trip up the Gulf Stream. This kind of rousing has been good for me. I am glad to have this opportunity to stretch and to challenge my perceptions. Only 5 months ago I would have identified more with trepidation than this swarm of animated eagerness fluttering in my core.

Chris and I have both loved our voyage to the Bahamas. We have only begun to explore these beautiful islands. I don’t believe I will see water reflecting these clear blues and greens, aqua’s and azures until we return some day to continue our adventure into the northern and southern Bahamas. These islands are truly the sparkling jewels of the Atlantic and they will beckon to us yet again. The Bahamians have welcomed us at every turn and we are grateful for our glittering and spectacular experience here.

I will write next from Charleston.

Peace and Love