Bon Voyage

l to r: Helio (golden fur), Lauren, Michael (holding Athena, with the golden heart), George, Celeste, Brian, Cyd

Hudson Point Cafe at Pt. Hudson

The time to launch has finally come ... Nereid's scheduled to come out of the water Wednesday for a pressure washing, scraping, sanding, painting and replacing of the sacrificial metals (zinc) on her bottom. Then, it's only the weather between us and the ocean. We're both doing final research and shopping. The salon looks like a college dorm, complete with our "to do" list hung along the wall.

Between finishing up work and preparing, there's hardly a moment to digest the sense that we are approaching a threshold which, upon crossing, will define a moment in which we have been forever changed. I can't do justice to the moment, so I will turn to Alfred Lord Tennyson, who so well conveys the connection between the oceans and our spirit of adventure. This is from his poem Ulysses:

The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks:
The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep
Moans round with many voices. Come, my friends,
'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars, until I die.
It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

Of course we will have many years' adventure and, as Lauren said, return by air if not by boat to visit family and friends. We hope, of course, that friends will visit us in ports o' call. Our third crew member, Tor, comes up Tuesday or Wednesday. We'll all post more later ...