Woke around 6 on Tuesday- I really think this IS THE DAY! All these other times we attempted/ planned to leave, I still had this nagging feeling it wasn't going to happen, but I didn't want to believe it- I didn't have that feeling this time. We planned to leave around 9- no later than 10, to give us time to get to Bahia Jiquilisco before dark, just to get inside the estero and anchor for the night. Sparing so many details, we pulled up anchor and were going through the bar at 11:30. We called both my mom and Jim's parents as we were crossing the bar. It was one of those surreal moments- hard to believe it was actually happening! After the panga escort from the hotel left us and headed back in to the estero, there we were- out in the Pacific Ocean! It's hard to describe something like that and only those that have done it could understand or relate. Below is a quote that has quite a history with us and Jim and I want to share it with you, and we had decided that after making our maiden voyage would be the best time. The background of this is such. Jim has dreamed of sailing ever since high school, and never had shared it with anyone except me. It's one of those things you never really know if it will happen, so why mention it to others who may or actually may not understand. At first we talked about doing it before having children, but time and money kept us from pursuing it. For years Jim talked about it, reading sailing magazines, researching different styles of boats, even checking out the possibility of building a boat himself-but eventually realizing that would take up too much time and be too stressful with raising a young family at the same time. The dream kept on, as only a dream. Then as Jenaya got older, about 2 years ago, Jim started reading webblogs of families with children under teenage years who are sailing, and started researching and looking into the possibility of doing it with the kids and rather we thought we could make it work for us. And I guess as they say, the rest is history. As for the quote below. Back in June of 1993 or 4, Jim and I were on an overnight trip on Mackinac Island. He bought a t-shirt that at the time we had no idea how much inspiration that shirt would lend to our future. It was a simple white t-shirt, it had a deep lake blue background kinda splashed across the front, in the image of water of course. On the water were 3 sailboats drawn in bright colors as if they were sailing. Between the sails of these boats were these words, and I am printing this with permission from Mike Dooley from the Totally Unique Tees company who have rights to this quote:

Your Dreams Are Gifts
that set You in Motion,
on the Tides of Time
where Life is an Ocean.
Your Sails are Filled with
the Winds of Desire to
Surge through the
Waves of Murk & Mire.
And When You Awaken
With Your Goal at Hand,
You See Your True Destination
Was the Voyage Not the Land!


Jim still has this t-shirt. It's worn, tattered, stained. He doesn't wear it, for it may just fall apart. But someday we are going to do something with it- maybe cut out the picture with the quote and frame it along with pictures of this trip, or some other idea to save it, preserve if not the shirt itself, but print the quote out on something else and frame it or who knows. We'll come up with something when the time is right.