A friend recently asked me ‘why sailing?’.
The first thought that came to my mind was ‘wherever I travel, I am home ‘. The only difference is my surroundings and my neighbors.
To give a feel for the ever changing surroundings, I have created a photo gallery of ‘my backyard’ over the past 12 months.
The simple acts of maintaining our residence and provisioning have allowed us to better integrate into the communities we visit. The remoteness of some locations with few tourists adds to the experience. Whether we are being offered a much needed ride to town by a Port Captain, sharing stories with a local farmer over a melon and a coffee after handpicking our vegetables, discussing the community’s economic challenges and hopes over drinks with the local baker, queuing up for carrots that will sell out by noon the day the supply ship arrives (every third week), or enjoying a bounty of freshly caught octopus and mangos with a young fisherman in exchange for pasta, beer and SnackPack puddings, we enjoy a richer view of local life while traveling by sailboat. And of course, developing relationships with our ‘neighbors’ in the sailing community has been priceless.
I can give you a million more reasons for why I sail, but I think the Captain said it best when I posed the same question to him. His response: ‘the sea chose me’.
Why do you sail (or why don’t you!!!!)? What does your backyard look like?