Adventure Philosopy

When we were packing up for the boat, I did a lot of careful thinking about reading material. I stocked some favorites to share with the kids, Narnia, Tolkien, E.B. White and some classics for Bob and me, all adventures. This included a lot of maritime-themed books. I had been slowly making my way through Captains Courageous; “slowly” not because it is boring but because I was reading Anna the Narnia series at the same time and so by the time she let me go to bed I would pretty rapidly go to sleep. I finally got to the end of Captain’s Courageous (And Narnia too) and read the scene with the Lost Fishermen’s Memorial Day where they publically read the names of all the dead that year. We were just finishing our time in Nazaré, Portugal, a famous fishing village about 75 miles north of Lisbon.  We visited the local museum and spent some time in the Town exploring the history and culture of this fishing community as I was reading of another fishing community, located just 25 miles from my childhood home; the similarities once again show us that we are not all that different from our neighbors across the sea.

The harbor where Midwatch was safely tucked was constructed in the fifties but before then, the

I want a pair of oxen!

fisherman, just hauled their boats up on the impressively large beach using multiple teams of oxen. This exit from the sea was rife with danger and the construction of the harbor was an important event for this town. Multiple reminders around the town kept the danger of the sea fresh in our minds including the number of women wearing traditional dress, in black.

We ended up in Nazaré, we had no plans to stop in Portugal, because we were hit by an enormous wave. Midwatch fell off the wave doing a little damage and letting in a good bit of seawater at the same time. It took us 11 days to dry out, make repairs and mentally recover from this adventure. From there we took a short hop down the coast to make sure everything was working properly before we made the big hop, our longest passage as a family, down to the Canary Islands.

Ever since rounding Cape Finisterre, we have philosophized that no part of this trip is easy and we are truly in an adventure. We arrived at Las Palmas, Gran Canaria more than three weeks ago and have spent a good deal of time recovering from the previous month’s journey to get here. As we prepare to embark on the big Atlantic crossing we are hoping for a slow and uneventful crossing full of a lot of nothing.

This talk of ‘adventure’ started after we rewatched the first Hobbit movie and were reminded of Bilbo’s definition of ‘Adventure’ as “nasty, messy things that make you late for dinner.”  We are about to take off on our big family voyage, back to the western side of the Atlantic.  We are all a little scared, excited and anxious to have this big step past us but know that once we are on the western side of the Atlantic, the return home will seem much more real.

We have been joined by friend and fellow cruiser Mark Gordon of Minnesota for the crossing. The Gordons have a charter business on Lake Superior (link to Amicus web page) and we are thrilled to have an experienced, third hand, and adventure seeker, on board to share in the next step of our journey. We met Mark and his family in the Bahamas last winter and had a great time with them. This was their second trip to the Bahamas and at least the kids were able to reconnect with them, while Bob and I prepped Midwatch for the first crossing, as they were passing through the Erie Canal in the spring on their long journey back to the west end of Lake Superior for their summer season.

We plan on taking off on the 1^st and expect the trip to take about three weeks. We will again try and update the blog on a regular basis which is far better than we do sitting here in comfort! We have lots of pictures and stories to share and my guess is I will be working on these slowly over the coming weeks. Here is to adventure!...but I am really hoping for a smooth and uneventful crossing.