sowacs

oh yeah – started last october.

always get to this list as an afterthought.

i did this in december, 1995 – ! at the time i thought i would be back in a few years, but since it never happened, i’m glad i appreciated it fully at the time.

went with the aggressor fleet, a half dozen crew & about a dozen divers. can’t get much closer to nature than that ! well. ok, there was that time my buddy & i drifted far from the others, and there we were, floating in aquatic wilds & waves while they looked for us. i wasn’t worried, but my buddy was. i think he had the right idea ;-)

so many sharks, i often opted to spend time looking at the little things instead. then there was the dive i chased a school of hammerheads. narcosis will do that to a person ;-)

the landside tours were just as enjoyable. quite a trip; not the party-party stuff of the caribbean, but a more intense experience. bone up on darwin ahead of time.

we also had a side trip to the amazon basin for a few days, so we got to see quito, guayaquil, and the interior of ecuador as well. what a country !

quito: we walked into a bar, and monday night football was on the big screen tv. at least in the islands there were no pizza huts ;-)

i forgot to mention, i oicked up a short engagement a few months back. worth it ? oh, yes & no. but it’s not permanent, or even reliable. that’s consulting for you ;-)

i never lived by the “sea”, but i did live by the great lakes. there was a period in my life where i spent nearly every evening on the shore, until night fell, in all weather, in all seasons.

something about water i love in all its forms. streams, inland lakes, big water, oceans – hot tubs, showers, rain – with ice in tall glasses, or simply out of a bottle on a trail or out of a pump in midwinter – frozen on a hillside or mountain or under foot and ski – fog and cloud – tears and sweat…

this is more like it

or this

doing a lot of reading, but no work on the boat and no sailing. i kick myself over this, but then sometimes i realize this is all part of the processs of extricating myself from my now.

some people grow up this way

me ? i still don’t know what i want to be when i grow up. uh – my age isn’t in the profile, is it ? hope not ! ;-)

i posted an answer to a question here

no, i don’t have a good reason. it’s tomorrow. high gas prices combined with a solo road trip just makes this seem kind of pointless.

sure, there’s lots of these out on the web, something appealing about this one, though.

cross posted on live simply.

all it takes is one goal to start, like this couple did.

also cross-posted in the sail the world item.

ironically – or simply paradoxically – elimination of extraneous goals is part of this. endeavouring to fill up one’s 43 things list is counterproductive in this regard. minimize, minimalize, focus…

of course, i’m not one to talk. i feel trapped by what is really a relatively minor amount of posessions. i want to be able to pick up and go anywhere, do anything, at a moment’s notice.

unfortunately, our nows are made of thens that used to be our futures. so goals are a necessary evil, as is too the baggage of preparation in gear and mind.

um, to differentiate from those wanting to “sail the world” on a cruise ship, or wanting to get rich and buy a private yacht:

i’m talking about doing it yourself in a small boat. those other “goals” are just “make money and spend it on something”.

and then there was the person who entered the goal as “sail around the world”, then commented what she really meant was an extended vacation in the bahamas.

i’m talking lifestyle here, not hobby or trip. i’m talking about going out and embracing the natural world, not running from its tempers.

you enjoy your goal, and i’ll enjoy mine, but please – they are not the same.

.. up in tobermory. such a playground, that area.

dove the wrecks in little tub harbor, shore dive this time. great stuff!

... up in tobermory, sea kayaking, on 2005.07.02

the real thing, of course, not all those wanna-be parties in other cities.

yeah, that one, in brazil.

speaking of mt. bohemia, the keweenaw peninsula might be a good place to spend some time. jobs ? hard to find; i sometimes wish i had gotten a teachers certificate at some point, they’re always needed somewhere.

but what a place ! lake superior (sailing!), several ski areas right there, michigan tech. u. – as in, continuing ed. hmm – bartender wanted, no experience necessary. don’t find that very often, and that would be another good fall-back skill to have under one’s belt.

bunches of reasonable housing options, check the classifieds.

not to mention having isle royale in one’s backyard. hmm…. maybe i should cash in that 401k.

this is one of those places i’ve been looking for in many ways: big water, skiing, wilderness, education, small town.

and speaking of jobs – sweet !

... in marlinton west virginia. september. be there.

mt. bohemia sounds like droolworthy terrain. seems like a lot of driving for “only” 900 feet of vertical. but all blacks or better – wow ! i just need someone for a roadtrip who can appreciate intensity with me. although this pic doesn’t look so steep.

of course, this is no place to start out the season from a dead stop on the couch. off season in the andes ? and so many other great destinations. but this is the one. and then maybe mad river glen out east, and jackson hole next.

so’s i can eat it ! ;-) also, seems like a cooking-free skill (for sashimi, anyway) of preparation for supplemental off-ahore foodstuffs – how are the fishing prospects while blue-water sailing, anyway ?

a self-referential thing.