It's almost two weeks past our hoped for departure date. Yet we are celebrating that we motored out of the Santa Cruz harbor this afternoon and are anchored off of New Brighton State Beach. It was too late to get to Monterey before dark, so we will continue on in the morning.
To summarize the amount of details wrestled with over the past 3 weeks is impossible. Buying food, moving furniture, sorting belongings, spending time with friends, and family, boat projects on water tanks, stowing the piles of items in nooks and crannies aboard.. the list is endless.
Through it all, God has provided stamina and help, and clarity of vision.
You might be wondering, what did the first few hours of a large trip look like?
We hugged my sister in law and nephew, and we pulled away from the dock and saw Kristin running from our dock up along the shore and out along the jetty. She was there, in position to wave us off as we past into the bay. Then, our friend, Deyess, in his little motorboat zipped out of the harbor and followed along with and in front of us for a while. Next, we saw Captain Megan pop out of the pilot house of the M/V Velocity on its way past us. She gave us a long, warm wave.
After leaving the harbor mouth, what I noticed first, was how quiet we all felt. The tiredness and hurry of the recent past ended! Brian drove, the girls quietly sat together on Eloise's bed and folded origami cranes (for decorating their berths), I looked around at the sunny flat ocean, and decided to call my sister for a leisurely conversation.
Once anchored, Eloise and I made mango salsa and guacamole which we had with chips for our dinner, followed by celebratory ice cream sandwiches.
Both girls played violin for a few minutes, Eloise unpacked a little, Brian texted with a friend, Eddie, who was out for a walk and saw us from the beach. Eila took pictures. Eloise made us all atole ( a Oaxacan hot beverage won e experienced 18 years ago in Mexico) earning herself a new nickname of "atolista" instead of a barista. Then we watched Season 4 Episode 6 of The Chosen while Brian went to bed.( he woke up at 3:30 am to finalize details on our property).
And now, bed time for the rest of us so we can get up and sail on.
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It was wonderful being able to see them off....glad I could be there, and noticing how much I'll miss them. I watched and watched until I couldn't see them anymore (almost...it's amazing how long you can see a boat on the horizon, even without glasses!)
Then my attention was drawn close to shore as a harbor seal came up and looked RIGHT at me! He briefly played in front of me, before disappearing under the next wave.
Presently came an otter! She stayed and played a very long time. Tucking up into a tight ball doing multiple somersaults, then stretching out and rolling. She floated on her back and rode some waves, then flipped and twisted again and again.
Eventually, when I looked up to see Skagua, still just visible in the distance, she had disappeared. And the seal returned and looked right at me again! I recognize that they were helping bring my attention to my home here on land, while enjoying seeing my family off on their adventure.