Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Life is But a Dream


The skies were clear when we left Coos Bay, destination:Port Orford. You see, I am NOT a fan of fog, am more of the type who like’s to know where am going (like most human beings). In any case, clear days make me happy. It’s on these days that I get to discuss with Scott if I like the sunrise or sunset better. It’s on these days that we close off the radar and relax as miles and miles of water are laid out before us. As we arrive in Port Orford, you can bet I don’t have to squint my eyes to see the uncanny rocks shaped like shark teeth’s from a distance. Yes, now you can understand more my fondness for clear, bright days.

I am, however, a fan of wind. We both are (duh-it’s the purpose of our trip!). We’re joking about how our expedition as been “all or nothing”. It seems that since the last stormy night, it’s been: NOTHING. Therefore, on what appears to be this almost-dazzling and almost-perfect clear day I permitted myself to sing my lil’ heart out (anything to bring some wind):“Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream, merrily, merrily…”. Well, in our case it would sound more like: ” Sail, sail, sail your boat gently down the Pacific Ocean merrily, merrily…”. But how can you sail when there’s NO wind!? Where is the wind? Of course, Scott stubbornly tried to put up the sails (the spinnaker- for lighter winds), but without progress. Don’t get me wrong, the trip of 45 miles motoring was still enjoyable. Who could complain about breathtaking scenery that offers the strip of Oregon cliffs and all these rocks that present a stunning spectacle, not me! We anchored in Port Orford for the night.

At 7 am, Saturday morning we depart again, destination: Crescent City. We motor again, but it’s o.k. The weather is obviously something you have no control over so why fight it? By sunset, the ocean is glassy with some orange-like reflection. Scott sees a whale from a distance… yeah! We’ve seen seals, birds, and even 2 dolphins but this is our first whale. Quick! Give me the binocular, the camera, anything! Ah, another one there and look, another one! Whales are everywhere! Then, one is really close… cool! Wait a minute, like, how close is too close here!?! Before I have time to ask anything else, unexpectedly, a whale is in front of the boat, at approximately 15 meters and jumps out of the water and opens its jaw’s!!! At this moment, not only I am thinking that this massive mammal could fit my brother’s Prius in its oral cavity, its rib cage is at least the same size of the Twister. Oh-My-God! The whale is right there and we’re motoring right in front of it. We both fall silent. I don’t know why, but in almost a whisper, I tell Scott. STOP. THE. BOAT. Gently and quietly he does. The next 5 seconds, were the longest of my life. We did not breathe, we did not move, we did not flinch. Suddenly, there she was, at our left, its giant tale flopping out of the water. If we hadn’t stop we would have hit her! (MOTHER’S its ok, WE ARE OK!!!) Needless to say, we didn’t feel big in our pants. After that, others whales kept on popping out, but at this point, you can imagine that I was kind of over whales. Phewf! Anyhow, arriving in Crescent City was confusing (due to darkness), but since it didn’t involve a head-on collision with a monster whale, we know we would most likely survive. We are officially in Californian waters now. This is exciting. Sunday was spent like a blink of an eye- hiking through the gigantic Redwood forest, admiring coastal waters and walking everywhere to get things done before our next lil’ trip.

Next destination: Eureka ,CA. Scott is getting aggravated of the no-wind situation. But then, with a hint of abracadabra, there it was. At around 1 pm, a full 20 knots push steady for almost the entire afternoon. See, now that was the “ALL” in the “all or nothing” theory. Or more so, I’d like to blame it on my song working wonders…where was I again? Oh yeah ….

Merrily, merrily, merrily…..Life is but a dream ; )

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Happy Birthday!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Dear Estelle
Happy birthday..what a nice place to be to celebrated your 27 years old...

I wish you all the blessings and the protection you need both on this incredible adventure....You never know when can merge an event that can change it all .....you know how to stay connected, Estelle, with the One that can protect you at every instant...
Happy Birthday!
PaPa/Paul

Unknown said...

Enuf already - it's been 5 days and no updates?? I'm dying here!! More whales, celebrity look-a-likes, coast guard adventures?? I'm awaiting the pirate attack and defending the twister with flare guns and avacados slingshotted with bras - the true doubleshot sling!! Do tell, do tell!!