Every sailor knows (at least the ones with engines in their boats) that sometimes, motoring is the way to go. Sometimes, it's just the easier way to go. I was watching these two boats, thinking about why sailors do things the way they do, that styles of sailing are as individual as the person behind the tiller or wheel and therein lies a story.
All of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea whether it is to sail or to watch it, we are going back from whence we came.
~John F. Kennedy, Newport dinner speech before America's Cup Races, Sept. 1962
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| Heading out, under sail and motor |
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| Hey, sailor! Aren't you going the wrong way now? |
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| Are you heading back? |
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| Oh! You really ARE sailing! Tack in progress. |
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| (taking shortcuts can take a lot longer) |
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| I can't say with 100% surety that this boat is aground, but...I'd guess it was. |
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| Into the channel, out and away and the motoring boat isn't really that far ahead |
I watched these boats for maybe a half an hour or so. I don't know who they were, or where they were going, but there is always that feeling for the traveler in heart and deed, when watching someone leaving, of trips taken and trips yet to come. A plane, a boat, a road following vehicle - it's that 'going away', that not knowing what lies ahead even with the best of plans, that seduces those of us with itchy feet.
The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see. ~G.K. Chesterton
People come to Culebra, via air or water, for so many reasons. While I don't have nearly the interaction I used to have with visitors, I can say the difference between travelers and tourists is apparent to just about anyone who has lived here for awhile. Be a traveler, even in your own space.
Have a wonder what Wednesday. Do something wishfully wide-awake.
Very nice.
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