We’ve made it. Grenada! Bottom of the Lesser Antilles island chain and as far south as we planned to travel. This marks our first major milestone since leaving the dock in Nanny Cay back in October. To celebrate, we dropped anchor in Prickly Bay and immediately poured drinks (‘ti punch, of course). Will was all smiles. The boat had done us proud these past 4 months and the trip was turning into all that he’d dreamed it would be. I put out the cocktails and was about to make a toast when the tears started. Before I knew it, I was inconsolable.
Tim, our buddy who traveled with us from Martinique to Grenada, tried to comfort me. “The trip’s not even half over, it’s not logical to be upset now.†But what he failed to understand is that nothing about this trip is rooted in logic.
What this experience has meant to me so far is hard to put into words. It is already, without a doubt, the best thing that I have done. Sure, there are moments of frustration – the nights when the boat is rocking so violently that cooking is an impossibility; weird smells that apparently only I can detect and which have me pulling up all of the cushions and sticking my head down the bilge; every.single.time I have to use the goddamn pump to flush the head – but those frustrations are focused simply on minor creature comforts. Ones that I forget almost as soon as they happen.
In return, living on this little boat of ours has given me a glimpse of a life of supreme happiness. Outside in the warm sun all day. Spending all of my time (admittedly sometimes too much) with the person I love most. Catching and eating fresh fish. Days that are filled with constant physical activity. And to boot, I get to pretend that I am Anthony Bourdain through the videos we make – a dream job that I am sure I am not alone in fantasizing about.
The thought of turning around and going back… now? No way. No how. I’m not going. You can’t make me. Oh “please, please!” can we stay just a little longer as Jack London’s Miss Maud Brewster so often used to get her way. And that’s just it. Maybe I’ve been reading too much of the Lost Generation;Â but since we’ve been in Grenada, I feel like the frail emotional woman. Nerves on end. Tears constantly threatening at the surface. And feminism and logic be damned, sometimes a girl has just gotta cry, words will not do. It is inconceivable that we will be no longer be in the Caribbean in just a few short months. Inconceivable. And when I’m feeling extra dramatic, it feels as though my heart will break at the thought of parting from this adventure.
Last night, I made the mistake of reading this article: https://medium.com/life-tips/having-it-all-kinda-sucks-91ea302736e4#.5ispthezs. It depicts the struggles of a successful, modern working women who chooses a career and children. It’s incredibly well written, provocative, and provides a glimpse (perhaps slightly exaggerated) into the realities I have seen from some of my contemporaries. While definitely not the only path, it is a reality that could be close to mine when I go back and continue to climb the MBA corporate ladder track that I was on. Compare that to some of the families (www.windtraveler.net) that we have met down here that bring their children along on their adventures? Different world. Â
What this all means, I don’t know. But we are turning around – no plans to keep going south and see what happens. I know that the trip is not over – far from it as I keep reminding myself. We have at least 3 more months of exploring the Caribbean before we need to be in Florida and protected from hurricane season. From there, we’ll see. We are scheming for ways to keep traveling for the rest of the year – but no formal plans just yet.
Maybe when at last we do have to sell the boat and get back to the world of Mondays, student loan payments and popping out grandkids for our eager parents, the lesson in all of this will be clear. Maybe, just maybe, I will be able to take some of the simplicity and happiness of living on a boat back to the world of florescent lights and cubicles.
Or maybe Mr. Bourdain will hire me to be his trusty sidekick. That would be better.
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Pictures are more fun than musing on the future – so here are some gems from the past three weeks.
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