A Quiet Inlet

We won’t live on a sailboat forever. Oh, there are many folks who continue to live on their sailboats that are much older than we are. But 4 ½ years ago when we moved aboard, we said that it would be for 2 to 10 years, “as long as we’re enjoying it."

Well, it is beginning to feel like we are on the backside of that mountain with regard to our live-aboard years. We talk about living on land again from time to time. We try to figure out what we will do next. How fortunate we are to have the luxury of thinking about it for a while.

Today we are alone, resting in the Winyah Bay, just off the Atlantic. We’ve seen a few fishing boats across the inlet, but other than that, it’s very quiet here. Just nature and us. Earlier today, we watched a pod of dolphins, through our binoculars, as they were some distance away.  


There were at least 6 of them that we could see based upon the number of fins that broke the surface in various locations. They were swimming slowly round and round in a long loop. Gathering their dinner we figured. Occasionally, we saw one big splash and sometimes a small bit of some thing come flying out of the water and land back in again.  Part of a fish, no doubt. The rest of the fish would have been in a dolphin’s mouth, I’m sure.

It made me wonder about the things that I might miss the most when we no longer live on the water. I think it will be things like those dolphins over there, catching their dinner. They weren’t put there for our entertainment. We didn’t pay anything to see them. The dolphins couldn't care less that there were two people watching them. There are lots of other things just like that, too, that I think I will miss the most.

It probably won’t be the many islands we’ve visited or the U.S. cities we’ve visited, like St. Augustine, Florida and Savannah, Georgia or Charleston, South Carolina. It won’t be sailing through New York City, although that was very cool. I don’t think it’ll be going to Plymouth, Massachusetts or Newport, Rhode Island or Bar Harbor, Maine.  

I guess the reason that I think it won’t be those things is that a person could get on an airplane, or drive a car to go see those places.  When we arrived there, we and every other tourist was interested in seeing the same things—historical sites and local foods and art. And we enjoyed them thoroughly.

But the part that only we will see, we and about a few thousand other cruisers that travel by boat, is all the wonderful stuff that wasn’t planned or expected.  After we live on land again, we will most likely never see dolphins in a quiet inlet, corralling their dinner together. Why? Because at this time, we are living on a boat at anchor in that inlet and we have all day to sit here for whatever happens next.

We will never have the good fortune to be escorted across the Bahama Bank by a group of dolphins that take turns at our bow. When the lead dolphin peels off another immediately takes his place as the lead. As if they are playing with us and saying, “come this way.” Oh, and the hundreds of dolphins that we met one day, all day on the Atlantic—we were sailing south off the New Jersey coast and the dolphins were all headed north to the fall hunting grounds.

There are incredibly beautiful places along the waterways: the rivers and ICW, bays, and oceans, as well as in natural harbors that only people on boats will ever see. We will likely never see these kinds of places again.  When we live on land, we will never see phosphorescence on the ocean in the night. Thousands of little sparkles on the water alongside the hull as it moves through the water.  Fireflies of the ocean. Carl has explained to me that they are actually plankton emitting light when the water is disturbed. An amazing phenomenon, I think.

We will never hear snapping shrimp on the other side of the hull, sounding for all the world like popcorn popping. We will probably never go out in a dinghy in the nighttime and see little flying fish jump out of the water across our path by the light of our headlamps.  

I am quite certain we will never again be surrounded by thousands and thousands of flying fish all going in the same direction that we were, off the island of St. Lucia.  Northern Star flying along under full sail, and the flying fish flying with us, probably being hunted by bigger fish.

We will never again watch a circus while sitting in our dinghy being performed across a stage of three connected sailboats, using the rigging for aerial acrobatics, as we did on the island of Martinique. Never again be rocked asleep to the sound of island music in the distance.  Nor are we likely to ever wander over to an uninhabited island and go exploring by ourselves.

It is unlikely that we will spend days and evenings anchored in quiet places like this one, miles from any other person, surrounded by marshland, open water and birds of all kinds. Terns that dive headfirst into the water from great heights. 

Pelicans who do the same, but without as much grace. Herons and egrets that can stand in the marsh and yet still be above it on their pencil-thin legs.  Flamingoes that look like pink flying sticks. Sea birds that fly in synchronous patterns evenly spaced—when their backs are to us, they make a herringbone pattern; when as one, they turn their chests to us, the pattern is like black and white lace.  

And of course, the Magnificent Frigate birds whose mating ritual is a soaring and swooping dance so beautiful that it took my breath away.  Oh, to see love expressed in such elegance! Or lust. It’s possible to see Frigate Birds on land, too but rather unlikely to see the dance in the sky.

And oh my, I have fallen in love with snorkeling. I guess I could go on snorkeling vacations again when I live on land, but it won’t be anything like jumping off the back of the boat and seeing incredible creatures right there, beside our home.  There are so many things that live in the water that I had no idea existed.

Seventy one percent of the earth is covered with water, and we have seen only a tiny bit of it.  I guess it will have to do, won’t it.

Inauguration Day 2017

So tomorrow is the 20th of January, 2017, otherwise known as Inauguration Day.  Would that I were in a celebratory mood; alas that is not the case. 

Chicago

I am not a young woman anymore.  I spend little time thinking about career, now that it is almost certainly in my past, and much more time thinking about what the world will look like for my children and theirs. Over the past several years I have grown to have hope that we are figuring out how to take care of our land and our people.  I have witnessed many things of which I can be proud.  

Central Park, NYC

I have found reason to believe that there is a place for everyone in this country; that the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness really DOES belong to all of us, that no one of us is more important than the others, and that regard for the life of all people is important.  To that end, all of us must have access to health care as a basic human right.  

Duluth, MN

I have gained hope that wars will never again be launched without earnest consideration and input of the wisest among us. I reason that since I knew instinctively that war with Iraq would not produce the desired result, surely those among us who are better educated than I foresaw the debacle of the past 16 years.  I have trusted that those people have been consulted regularly over the past eight years to maneuver the intricacy of foreign relationships, and to avoid unnecessary wars

FDR's words on war

I have seen refugees of war-torn and destitute countries find homes within our borders. I have seen evidence that people of diverse religions can support one another and bond together in communities.  

Visitors to NYC

I have seen girls and young women seeking out the education and positions that best suit their interests, talents and drives.  I have seen proof that we are coming to believe that two people who care deeply for one another deserve the sanction of their relationship in our society, regardless of their genders.

Research in the Arctic

I have been relieved to see science resume the position of relevance that it must have, for our future on this planet; that countries around the world have begun to pull together to do what we can to slow the effects of our industrialization and population growth.  I have begun to hope that we would not lose our coastal cities to rising waters.  

Picnic in Maine

We need to figure out how to continue to feed us all without depleting everything around us in the process. I want Americans to continue to preserve natural beauty on this continent for our descendants.

Columbia River Valley, Oregon

But….I’ve also seen many things that as an American, do not make me proud.  As my husband and I travel around the country, I have seen evidence of unbelievable wealth.  

Newport, RI

With all the wealth of our nation, I just can’t help but ask why still so many of us struggle to survive here?  Why do we continue to build single homes that could house multiple families and that use the energy of a dozen smaller homes?  

Graffiti NYC

Why is it that the privileged and wealthy are exempted from many of the struggles that the rest of us share;  exempted from worry about affording health care, affording education, affording housing and safe neighborhoods, “exempted” from criminal prosecution sometimes.  

Wisdom of FDR:  No country however rich can afford the waste of its human resources.

Sadly, I have witnessed a decline in relationships between those that we ought to be able to trust to protect us, and those who most need that protection.  I have witnessed increased fear of those in positions of authority.  And fear of random armed people among us.  Guns in the hands of people who are not hunters—at least not hunters of animals.  

Site of John Lennon's murder

I have seen that those who are perceived as “different” by those in power, too often have little or no voice. Racial slurs and words of hatred spewed toward others have been resurrected from dark places within us that I had thought were withering away from the bright light of justice and common decency.  I had thought that the past decade saw us moving together as a people. I was wrong.

FDR Memorial.  "The test of our progress is.....whether we provide enough for those who have too little."

Tomorrow Americans shall inaugurate a new president; a president who has not shown a genuine interest in the welfare of this country’s people, nor even a serious interest in shouldering the responsibility of the presidency.  

Trump event during election 

We have found a president who may just be the best example that we could have conjured, to exemplify the drive for personal wealth and power above all other considerations—above honesty, respect, certainly above community and country.  A person who even before inauguration has led the charge to keep racism, xenophobia, arrogance, blatant hatred and fear alive and well within our land.  

A Connecticut superfund site

My fear is that within the next four years, this “leader” and his ill-chosen wealthy cronies will have gutted the functions of the very institutions and agencies which have been established for our people’s protections: Health & Human Services, Education, Justice, Environmental Protection, and on and on.  

"We must scrupulously guard the civil rights.....of all citizens.....oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization."  FDR 

I hope my fear is unwarranted.  I hope that our nation will not have slipped back 50 years in four years’ time. My fear is that a careless comment or intentional insult from the man we will be obligated to refer to as “president” will launch us into an even more dangerous place than where we’ve been.  

FDR warning to be aware of government by a handful of rulers.

I left the country today, not to avoid the inauguration, but I would not have watched it anyway.  I WOULD however, have liked to participate in the March on Washington on the 21st.  If my readers would be so kind, would you do me the honor of posting how you spend your Inauguration Day 2017 and the day after?  I’ll be thinking of all of us tomorrow. 

From the Little Bahama Bank of the Abacos, I am—

a Sad but Determined American.  

New York! New York!

Times Square at noon

New York is energy.  And requires energy to take it in. It has been 35 years since I was in New York City—back in the days when I was in graduate school at Rutgers in New Brunswick, New Jersey.  Back in the days when I was a bit more energetic than I am now.  And if I recall correctly, I never went to New York at the height of the summer heat.  I had the inherent good sense to go in the spring, winter and fall.  Perfect times of year to visit the Big Apple.  

Street vendors of all sorts.  

I was eager to show Manhattan to my husband.  It is like no other city in the U.S.  Grand and bombastic, loud and pushy, flashing lights and neck-craning heights, street hawkers, hot pretzels with mustard and iced drinks on the carts.  

Characters that hang out around Times Square

One does not want to drive in NYC.  Neither does one especially want to be driven between the hours of 3:00 and 7:00, when the traffic jams seem to be the worst.  Those are the hours to skip the buses and go below to the subways where traffic is moving. 

When cars don't move, pedestrians take over the streets.

Unlike the subway system in Washington D.C. which I would have to describe as bright and majestic in its’ design and care; the NYC subway is gritty and purely utilitarian.  It’s just as well lit as it needs to be—no more.  It’s reasonably clean; I didn’t see any rats.

Going down to Penn Station

Jax going to shore in Port Washington, Long Island

Our boat was on a mooring ball in Port Washington Harbor, on Long Island—a beautiful spot with hundreds of boats at anchor, mooring or at the docks.  The first 48 hours on the mooring were free!  A water taxi would pick us up from our boat and deposit us as close as possible to the start of our little trek up the hill to the Port Washington train station.  

The Bull of Wall Street

For two consecutive days, we took the 40 minute train ride by Long Island Railroad into Manhattan, to Penn Station which is below Madison Square Garden.  Our plan for the first day was to walk around, catch a bus if we felt the need and just get our bearings in Manhattan.  Noble plan, but not executed.  

Freedom Tower is 8 sided and a few stories shorter than the Twin Towers were.

Within the first couple of blocks we were hailed by numerous hawkers for the bus tour companies.  We ignored the first ones, “saving” ourselves for the one we could not refuse.  She was bubbly and cheerful and extremely persuasive.  Best decision of our day!

Roast Duck in Chinatown.

We rode the NY City tour bus the rest of the day, hopping off for lunch in Chinatown, and enjoyed the tour guides’ knowledge and wit.  Obviously we would have seen very little by comparison, if we had continued walking.  

9/11 Memorial

Atop the double-decker buses, we saw the heart of Manhattan from a higher vantage point.  I became snap-happy as I am wont to do when presented with novel subjects to shoot.  

You can never chain your bike TOO well.

I tried to catch a few shots of ordinary New Yorkers going about their day which was somewhat of a challenge in that it seemed as though 90% of the people we saw were undoubtedly tourists, like us.  It’s not too hard to tell a tourist in NY.  They have that “look” about them, somewhat like a deer in headlights, or the look of giddy children.  You can’t miss it.

The best New York City tour guide atop the double-decker bus.

Besides sharing some of our photos with the reader, I thought that the most useful thing that I could impart would be the sound advice offered to us by our last tour guide atop the double-decker tour bus.  

Front entrance of Macy's, now the world's second largest department store.

He told us, “New Yorkers don’t come to Manhattan, except to bring our mothers when they visit.  We don’t shop in Manhattan.  We go to Queens or the Bronx where things are less expensive.  Retailers in Manhattan pay exorbitant prices for their real estate and pass that cost on to you.”  

Singers in Central Park.  Great acoustics in this tunnel.

He said that he lived in Queens and could be at work here in Manhattan in 10 minutes by subway—two minutes of that was walking to the station.  He told us, “Maybe you’re staying in a hotel here on Times Square.  Why do you want to pay $400 and more for a place just to sleep? The hotels are just as nice across the East River.”  

Central Park boaters.  We chose not to ride a boat.  No surprise there.

He polled the tourists on the bus—all but one other person and myself were visiting Manhattan for the first time. He told us, “I rarely have someone on my tour who is a return visitor to Manhattan.  This is what you do on your first trip to NYC.  You will never do it again."  

Site of John Lennon's murder in Central Park, in front of his apt bldg.

He went on, "Manhattan is YOUR town.  It is filled with tourists like you.  I love NY.  I think it is the greatest city in the world, but Manhattan is not for ordinary New Yorkers.  All these people out here that you see crowding the streets—they are tourists too.  Oh, there’s a few people visiting town on business, but most of them are like you—first timers.  Sure, see Manhattan first, and then visit the rest of New York City.”   

Undoubtedly the best way to see Central Park.

Day two in Manhattan was spent in Central Park, walking, sitting, people-watching, eating and walking some more. 

Self portrait, Vincent Van Gogh

We concluded our day in Manhattan by a much too short visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the largest art museum in the U.S.  Spectacular!  I could spend the entire day within those walls!  Another time, perhaps.