Gulf of California, Baja California, Mexico
Last night our little ship bravely battled her way northward against the powers of wind and wave. In the end, at first light, we had to give in and turn back southward in search of places to get out of the 30 to 40 knot winds and try to get ashore. It was an all-day search that included an aborted landing attempt on the south end of Isla San Marcos and final success in the later afternoon deep within beautiful Bahia Conception.
Not only did this make the day an adventure in expedition cruising but also gave us time to just be at sea and watch the fabulous sea birds soaring gracefully overhead and a few schools of dolphins riding our bow and also just enjoy the motion and expanse of the wave strewn sea.
As I enjoyed the sunshine and the fine company on the bow of the ship, various quotes about the sea kept coming to mind and I wanted to share some of them with you here:
-When a man ceases to want to run away to sea, he can be sure that he has finally left youth behind him. --Maurice Griffiths
-They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters: These see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. --English Bible 1611 Psalm 107
-A journey is a person in itself, no two are alike and all plans, safeguards, policies and coercion are fruitless. We find after years of struggle that we do not take a trip, a trip takes us. --John Steinbeck
-All things considered there are only two kinds of men in the world--those that stay at home and those that do not; the latter are more interesting. --Rudyard Kipling
-At sea the albatross and little petrel fly as if the storm were their proper sphere, the water rises and sinks as if fulfilling its usual task, the ship alone and its inhabitants seem the objects of wrath. --Charles Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle
-The wonder is always new that any sane man can be a sailor. ---Ralph Waldo Emerson
-Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever there is a damp drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself pausing before coffin warehouses and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially when my hypos get such an upper hand of me that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street and methodically knocking people's hats off--then I account it is high time to get to sea as soon as I can. --Herman Melville, Moby Dick
