During my life I have read thousands of books. They have taken me to thousands of different lives and worlds. From fantasy to reality. They reside in my soul to make up a large part of who I am. Tonight will be my first night crossing on the Pacific ocean on Strikhedonia. Our destination is Isla Isabel.
I woke to hearing the anchor being hauled up. It was 8:30 PM and Chris was getting read to start our night crossing. We had sailed only 10 miles before anchoring on the south side of Mazatlan at Isla de la Piedra or Stone Island to rest up in preparation of sailing through the night. The beach was lit up with colorful lights from the bars on shore. Looking out to sea I could see two very large tankers that were anchored and waiting to come into port. Chris put in the coordinates and we headed out between Stone Island and the tankers. I was amazed at the size of the tankers and wondered who those people were who were aboard. Chris said they were probably of Asian origins. A life at sea...I've wondered what that would be like.
The night was dark without the moon. We left the tankers and lights of Mazatlan behind. In the dark of night I saw we had company. A few birds had decided to night shadow us. I would see them flicker through our dim running lights. The further out we went the darker the night became. The lights of Mazatlan a distant memory. The stars were brilliant with no land interruption. I was on my first three hour shift by myself with Chris sleeping just inside the saloon if I needed help. My job was to watch for lights of other boats and keep us on course. So the night begins.
There are no words to describe the feeling of sailing a boat by yourself in the middle of the night. When I was a child I read the quote "If you have a good imagination you can never be bored." It was my first mantra. My mind raced with the words from thousands of adventures I have read and ancient dreaming of sailors past. Realization came to me on how the sailors knew where they were from the stars. I naturally oriented myself to the stars and the position of the boat and mast. I could tell by how far the mast strayed from the three stars that made up Orion's Belt if we had drifted a bit off course. Just as on land we orient ourselves to the terrain and buildings such your mind makes the jump to the stars and horizons and shades of light.
The swells were still large and coming at us from behind. Strikhedonia was built for sailing open ocean in any weather and this was her element. I settled in and just called it surfing and enjoyed the ride. I would first watch on the open ocean side of the boat and look out towards Hawaii. The sky endless and the stars unique. In my mind state the present place of time could be thousands of years ago or in the future. I let my imagination run wild. I felt my ancestors through me who had sailed the Atlantic when they immigrated to America. Imagining them on the schooners of their time making the crossing. Of all the adventures in life I've had this felt the most natural and in tune with my soul. When you touch water you touch every bit of our planet at once no matter where you are. When you put your hand in a stream you are connected to every bit of land that stream touches all the way to the sea. When you touch the oceans you connect to every continent on earth. The pull to explore is strong. To see what is around the next bend of the river or the next horizon. It has always been hard for me to resist this pull. Incidentally I feel it when I am on the interstates...this road if I follow will take me to Oregon, or Maine.
My job of looking for the lights of other boats I took seriously. I spotted a horizontal line of light on the shore side of the boat. As I watched it seemed to get bigger. I asked Chris what the light was and it was only the half moon coming up out of the ocean. Such an optical illusion. Of course then the whole world changed and the light from the moon glittered on the waves. Chris took over and it was my turn for three hours sleep in the saloon.
Your first sunrise in the middle of the ocean you can only have once. The sky was clear and it was beautiful. Our destination arrival time was noon so we had the whole morning to eat breakfast and just enjoy the time. I spotted something off in the distance and alerted Chris to a possible boat. He took his binoculars and announced it was the Pinnacles. Good eye he said. The Pinnacles are probably my favorite rock formation now to date. They are on the eastern side of Isla Isabel. Two large rock formations that from certain angles appear to be a dragon in the sea. Fascinated with them I watched as the two rocks changed as our perspective of them changed. I saw what I thought was a sea blowhole and a second later Chris yelled whales from his side of the boat! We had whales on both sides of the boat. What I thought was a sea stack spouting water against the Pinnacles was a whale blowing!
Our original plan was to anchor in behind the Pinnacles but we were still exposed to the swells so we sailed to the south side of the island and anchored in a cove with cliffs covered in hundreds of Frigates and Booby's.
The overnight crossing to Isla Isabel was one of the most magical nights of my life. My description here pales in what it actually was to me. When your internal library is crammed with adventures read, experienced and lived combines with a mind that likes to dream, sailing into the night was fertile ground for magic. I don't think I can find the words to fully describe it because it's something you need to prepare in life for and let your soul experience for yourself. You will. Next up is the Isla of Booby's, Frigates, and Iguanas galore!
