Pivot

When we left for a 10-day cruise during which our dock was to be rebuilt it didn’t occur to us we would not return for 2+ months.

Mostly we wouldn’t embark on many of the journeys and adventures we experience if we were well versed in what we were undertaking. Many people limit their adventure from the start by virtue of creating finite time lines. A week or two is the time line most can afford to give themselves.

Some changes are so needed, so important that they take on a life of their own. Have you ever noticed how unexpected circumstances can easily ignore our artificial limits and attempts at control and safety?

Many of the items we might have taken on a planned 2 month cruise were left behind because we knew we would return in ten days. It was only on day 7 that we learned that the dock would not be completed for another 60 days. By then, we were far from home and it made no real sense to return. Wanting to make the most of our theoretical plans we had covered lots of territory to maximize the limited time available. Suddenly we had 60 days minimum not 3.

We had friends, guests and clients all scheduled around our home base, the one constant and known place that was in turn being quickly reconfigured! We found ourselves asking, “what do we really want to explore, experience, learn about?“ “How can we make this unexpected expanse work with our current plans?”

When we had people planning to join us, we oriented our travels to ports of call with easy ferry schedules. Otherwise, we planned our itinerary around wind direction at the time we were ready to pull the anchor. Freedom. Where was there a great farmers market, restaurant, quiet private anchorage, good fishing or crabbing, great hiking trails, appealing places of interest?

The surrender became mostly flow. Being with the moment and having minimal fixed plans yielded surprising results. What was surprising? In almost 70 days of uninterrupted cruising to new places we had Zero days of bad weather, met dozens of new people that we maintain contact with, saw hundreds of porpoises, caught dozens of crabs, ate large quantities of fresh wild caught seafood, experienced phosphorescence that surpassed anything we had seen in tropical waters, mostly had beautiful anchorages to ourselves, watched seals climb aboard our swim platform and eat salmon, saw sunrises and sunset vistas that rivaled the nicest homes we saw. Eagles, osprey, diving birds in endless numbers entertained us. We learned unspoken rhythms of nature and each other.