The New Year
Some days stand out from others. For me, days stand out either because they are particularly hard or because they somehow embody a new reality. You find yourself realizing how much things have changed for you to find yourself in that spot, at that moment, experiencing the world. You’ve gone through many days where the small things were hard and nothing just worked out. And then like a series of lines intersecting, a whole series of things that didn’t work out before click. Tomorrow they will all fall apart again, but for one magic day they seem to converge.
January 1st, 2023 was one of those days when a whole series of arcs converged. It wasn’t a particularly momentous day. Rather, it was almost the mundaneness of the itinerary within which magic happened that made it stand out.
We had anchored in Chacala the night before and set our first stern anchor. (A stern anchor is a second anchor you set from the back of a boat, which keeps the boat pointing in a specific direction, regardless of the wind direction. It is most often used to point the boat into a swell to minimize side-to-side rocking.) The night had a hint of New Years Eve bedlam to it, with fireworks being lit all over the beach. We ate great food at a roadside taco stand and bought street donuts for desert. We went to bed with loud music and fireworks from the beach and this continued into the wee hours of the morning. (New Years is for sure a holiday for the young, more so than almost any other.)
We decided to move on, but needed a quick re-provision and some wiggle time ashore. The kids played soccer with others on the beach, in the shade of tall palm trees and amongst families on holiday for the New Year. We raised the stern anchor without tearing muscles or breaking something. We didn’t rush out, we took our time despite knowing we were going to move on.
This little act of not rushing was the first piece of arcs coming together. We decided any number of next stops would be okay and we were confident enough in our skills to go into the nighttime if we had to. These weren’t just mindsets, rather things we learned how to do over the past few months.
After setting out, we cast our fishing line. We have just recently gotten comfortable to add trolling to our activities while sailing. We had been experimenting with different lures and caught a couple of fish, but nothing worth keeping yet. After sometime we got the big strike. We had changed to a dual hook - small white fish and black-and-white squid double hook a few feet back - and the telltale sound rung out. The real jerked aft and the reel started it’s loud ticking as the line spooled out. We worked the line in, watching what was obviously a large fish swerve across the stern as it swam hard.
It was a mahi mahi - or dorado - and it was beautiful. We used what we had learned to get it on deck safely and fillet it. It is hard to imagine eating such a beautiful creature, but in reality, it is also what happens anytime we eat fish from anywhere else. It was a moment as a whole family to talk about this dichotomy.
As we neared the final turn in our trip for the day, we saw 3 humpback whales close on the port side. We have been seeing them for days now and it had never lost its magic. We have seen lots of spouts, tails, tail slapping, and some far off breaches. But this time we got the whole show. No photos exist and that somehow feels right. We saw 3 beautiful, enormous creatures, leaping high out of the water and coming down in thunderous splashes.
We decided to anchor right as the sun was setting in one of our possible destinations. We nestled in amongst the boats just as full dark was set in. Everyone did their part in finding a spot, navigating amongst the boats safely, and setting the hook well.
The day ended with mahi mahi tacos in the cockpit under our battery powered red lanterns. There was a gentle breeze of warm, humid air. We watched our trusty nighttime sidekick Orion rise from the east.
This first day of 2023 was remarkable, not because of one momentous event. Not because of some massive accomplishment or feeling. Rather life felt lived in the in between. In the moments that can come when a series of arcs connect, for the briefest moment. They will diverge and who knows what today will bring. Whether serendipity or dumb luck (I tend to believe in the later), I’ll cherish this day for a long time.