Today is November 11th. It's a down day because of two things. The weather has changed yet again and we did not get to the fuel dock before it closed. While we could probably have found fuel elsewhere which would have allowed us to continue it would also have meant getting into choppy seas around midnight. So we opted to wait out this latest weather pattern anchored near the place I originally met Dana on his boat when he had lost a prop back in July. 

The weather was gorgeous and the water very flat. Dana piloted virtually the entire way so I had a relatively easy day. However, I set myself to chores. Dana had asked me to repair the ships ethernet network. It allowed me to get behind panels and under benches to see how things are wired and where other systems and emergency shut offs are located.

 Unfortunately, there is some problem and I don't have the tools I need here, so I was unsuccessful in fixing it. It's not critical so he told me to let it go. I patched everything up and put everything back where it belongs. There's a lot of that here. While it's a very big boat it's still filled with supplies and whatnot to support the eventual charter business, so the room for our own stuff is pretty limited. It's amazing how quickly things can get cluttered, so there's an almost constant effort to put things away where they belong. So far I have managed to keep my cabin in pretty good order and I try to help to keep the common area orderly, but Peter usually beats me to it.

The next chore was to program the AIS Personal Locator Beacons and correctly attach them to the life vests. When I was at West Marine prepping for this trip, the sales person strongly suggested that I have some beacon on the life vest. There are two kinds. The first kind, which has been around forever, is just called a Personal Locator Beacon and if you fall overboard, it starts sending a distress call via satellite to the Coast Guard or whoever. You might be floating in the waves for a day or two by the time someone can make it out to you depending on how far off shore you are.

The second kind does the same kind of thing but is limited to just sending an alarm back to your boat. It has limited range but the idea is that if you are not alone, it's better to alert your crew mates that you've gone overboard. It generates an alarm and for a period of 24 hours before the battery expires, it'll broadcast your position to any nearby boats where it will be shown prominently on their chart plotters. Like the other kind, it auto deploys as soon as your life vest inflates. But you have the program the thing for the boat and then carefully attach it to the auto-inflating life vest in such a way that it does not prevent the life vest from inflating. 

I had originally just bought one for myself. Then Dana told me a story of a captain who was just lost a couple of weeks ago. The crew was down below while he was at the helm and when a crew member went back up to check on him, he was gone. They found the body a few days later.

That prompted me to pull the trigger and buy two more so everyone one the boat would have one on the life vest. They are expensive but given what we are doing, I felt it would be irresponsible not to have this technology on board. This is one of my gifts to the boat.

 

Since if this is used it means someone's life hangs in the balance, it was not exactly unstressful. I've been wickedly error prone of late so I quintuple checked it. Then took a break. Then I came back to it. I wanted to make absolutely sure to the best of my ability that I had these things installed correctly, that they were tested, and that everyone knew how to deploy them manually if need be. By the time I had convinced myself I understood how they were supposed to work, tested and installed them, several hours had passed. It was strangely tiring.

 

After that there wasn't much to do. I walked around on deck. I hung out below. I worked on photos and videos a bit. At one point I took a break from the computer and walked up on deck to the seat at the very bow on the port side. There's something mesmerizing to watching a catamaran hull cut through calm water. I just sat there entranced by it for a while.

At one point Dana called out, "It looks like there's a whale or maybe a dolphin off the port bow."

Soon a group of what we perceived to be dolphins were swimming not far from the boat. I would later learn that there were, in fact, harbor porpoises. We would occasionally see some in the distance pop up and then disappear. As we were getting closer to Norfolk, I was standing on the bow of the port hull, when I heard some splash and then suddenly there was a porpoise just swimming along between the hulls.

I have seen video of things like this happening, but I have never been this close to one of these creatures. People tell me this is a good omen. We would see several dozen more during the evening while we were motoring our way slowly past the shipyard and onto the anchorage where we would spend the night.

It was yet another amazing picture perfect sunset on the water. 

We slowly made our way past the huge Navy yard in Norfolk. We counted four aircraft carriers in dock. 

We made our way to the anchorage and within short while we were solidly anchored and getting ready to go to shore for dinner.

I've been thinking how impressive it is that the three of us are working so well together. I mentioned to Dana today that in my entire lifetime I have probably never spent this much time in this close proximity to other human beings. But it's been effortless. Despite our incredibly disparate backgrounds, we are on the same page on so many things. Doing this I've come to understand just how incredibly important cooperation and mutual respect is in an endeavor like this, even more so than a long motorcycle ride. Motorcycle travel is largely a solitary thing even when riding with others, but here on this boat, despite its size, things are still quite cramped at times especially when we're trying to work in the same space. But we've fallen into a routine incredibly quickly and we're already making mention of the next time. Sometimes pushing a comfort zone leads one to new insights. There have been many on this trip so far. If only I could capture them as they occurred. But I confess, writing here is challenging. "Subject to the requirements of the service." to quote that great movie Master and Commander.

"You never know how people are going to work out, but I had a feeling this was going to be ok." Dana said.

I remember when I heard that none of Dana's very experienced sailing friends were going to be able to join us and that instead two strangers without much sailing experience would be members of the crew, I was quite apprehensive. One sailor and three non-sailing crew? And doing something of this magnitude with complete strangers? I didn't understand how Dana could entertain something like that, but he has a really good feel for people and is a soul who makes friends everywhere he goes. He takes some risks I would never think of taking, but that's more a reflection of my risk aversion than his riskiness. When it is something important, especially on subjects of safety, he and I are absolutely on the same page. However, when it comes to people he is absolutely fearless. Sure, let's invite essentially strangers on the boat for a multi week challenging adventure and rely on them for our survival. 

Not me. "Me, I might join someone for a cup of coffee after a few years." I joked. Risk averse.

But there's a feeling to this, assembling a crew. How I described it to my friends was, "This feels like some 1800's expedition where random people answer the call to go to the point of no return. Assemble a crew and get underway." 

But I was apprehensive. I have had very bad experiences. 

As I was telling Peter earlier today, I've spent much of my life being randomly hated by people for reasons I never could understand. It happens less now that I'm older but it still happens from time to time. The fact that I am somewhat of an outlier quickly becomes apparent and I am often criticized harshly for it, mostly by guys, rarely by women. Too polite. Too respectful. Too thoughtful. Too analytical. Far too serious. Too quiet. Too awkward. Too caring. Too different. Too deferential. Too weak. 

I don't fit into the banter.

Peter wasn't feeling well today. "Are you feeling ok, Peter?" I asked him at brunch.

"Normally when some guy asks me that, they're about to pull my chain." he said, clearly not knowing quite what to do with genuine concern from someone who wasn't going to bust his chops for not feeling well. So he busted his own chops and Dana joined in and we all laughed. "I'm ok with us going back to the boat at any time if you're not feeling ok." I said finishing the thought.

I know illness and not feeling well, so I have a lot of compassion for it.

"Yea, you're different." Peter had said earlier, "But we get along all the same. Someone doesn't need to be like me for me to get along with them. Actually, you remind me a of a guy I know back home. Probably a few people."

And he went on to say something that hit me kind of hard, "Honestly, I kind of wish I were more like you, someone who thinks things through before he does them. I would have saved myself a lot of trouble if I were more like you." 

I replied, "And here I am wishing I were more like you."

Peter manages a marina in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia where Dana got fuel at some point and they quickly became friends. Watching the two of them interact, you would never imagine that they've only known each other for a few months. They are often hilariously funny causing me to come close to pulling gut muscles as I've rarely laughed so hard. It's "guy" humor, sometimes in the extreme, and sometimes I feel a bit guilty for laughing that hard because much of it is just not ok. The majority of the days interactions are some kind of humor or comedy. I am definitely the odd man out with my overly serious and cautious bearing, but they seem to not detest having me around as far as I can tell.

But around these two you have to be careful. Stepping on to the dinghy when Peter makes some off handed simply hilarious comment can be a life threatening safety issue. "It's going to happen. You're going to go into the drink at some point." Dana said. At least, I'll die laughing. 

The fourth member bailed at the last moment out of fear. (It's ok to be afraid. This isn't exactly not dangerous and is definitely not for everyone.) But ever since, Peter has been hearing from him as he did just now. Apparently he regrets his decision not to joint us on this "vacation".  Peter said he keeps asking why we're stopping in all these places he would like to see.

"It's just that we are having very fortunate misfortune allowing us to see all these places." I said.  

"It's a work trip." Peter replied, "not a vacation" And he is right. My suspicion is that since this is "work" it's what's enabled me to wrap my head around being here. I am help. A Service Yermo has to serve. Maybe it's just another example of me trying to get the universe to forgive my existence by being useful. 

The skyline here at night is lit up with all kinds of lights. 

As they do, Dana and Peter retreated to their cabins early and I stayed up until around 11 at which point I crashed. 

It has been years since I have slept as well as I did last night. I woke up at 6 AM for no reason at all and decided at 6:19 to get up. I was sitting on the port side settee when Dana opened his cabin door and nearly had a heart attack. A sight like this has, I don't think, ever been seen by any member of his family. My ability to sleep past noon is nothing short of infamous. 

In the morning we had another one of those conversations over coffee I wish I could have recorded. We talked about loss, about how short life is, about obligations, work, family, girlfriends, and other reasons never to go on a crazy adventure like this Far and Away(tm) from everything and everyone. Peter and Dana told stories of friends who worked for "someday" for so long that when finally "someday" arrived and they were able to go and finally pursue the Big Dream(tm) they did it for a couple of months and then the cancer diagnosis came in and shortly thereafter life was over. 

We have all experienced too much loss. Her name is mentioned by me most often here but not always. Brooklyn. Dana, her uncle, has lost so many. It's overwhelming. The last year and a half has hurt many. 

"Honestly, I probably wouldn't be doing this now if it wasn't for the last year and a half." Dana said, "How many good years do we have left? It's difficult to be away, but If not now, then when?"

Peter has a girlfriend who misses him intensely who he mentions very often. He's been away longer than anticipated. Dana's wife, also named Rebecca, is at home taking care of life.

And here we are Away(tm). 

But if not now then when? 

We spent the day at the USS Wisconsin Battleship museum. Sadly they had decorated the entire thing in literally hundreds of thousands of gaudy Christmas lights and Christmas music was blaring everywhere on Veterans Day. 

It felt deeply disrespectful, but he ship was incredibly interesting. 

Tomorrow, if the weather reports does not change dramatically, we are going to start our crossing. "It's just a little Ocean." Dana said. The plan, a four letter word, I know, is to head down the coast for about 100 miles and then turn roughly South East to head towards a point a couple hundred miles South of Bermuda and then sail due South. 

It's only about 5000 meters deep there. 

So for the next 7 to 9 days or so, if things to to Plan(tm), we'll be sailing or motoring 24 hours a day for the duration. There will be no stopping so we'll be taking turns taking the watch over night, 3 hours at a stretch. This is going to be quite a challenge for me as I don't do well with lack of sleep.

"I'm not afraid." I think, then Yoda says, "You will be."