Land ho!

Less than 50 miles to go and we'll finish our 21 1/2 day trek across the Pacific. I'll save the official stats for a later post to give us time to figure it all up, but boy are we happy. We see land!

I thought it might be appropriate to give a "What we loved" list and a "...not so much" list here to show that it wasn't all wine and roses... While these are written from my perspective, I've checked with the crew and there's a general consensus here. So here goes...

"What we loved..."
1) Fresh fish - while we only caught 3 fish, they were good ones. Two yellowtail tunas and one giant skipjack. By far the best sushi we've had since we left San Diego.

2) Getting to spend time with my two favorite guys with no interruptions - this sounds like it might should be on both lists??? But seriously, this wasn't nearly the issue everyone thinks it's going to be. I think we all fully enjoyed each other's company and this was touted as one of Jake's top reasons to go sailing with mom and dad..."so I can spend every day with you" (I'm going to have to show him this when he turns 12. He'll never believe it)

3) Swimming across the equator - well, who wouldn't think that was cool?

4) The doldrums...yep, I loved 'em. It was the only time I was completely fear free :). It was also the only time we got a full night's sleep.

5) Saving money - we didn't spend a dime at the Costco buoy by the equator and thank goodness the Target was closed!

"...not so much"
1) Only getting 4 hours of sleep at a time - while it was much better than our usual 3 hours on/off watches, it still wasn't enough (I've grown accustomed to at least 10 hours of relief a night of this really high stress lifestyle I live). For anyone contemplating this and likes their sleep as much as I do, try to do at least 5 hour watches.

2) 24/7 with my two favorite guys with no interruptions - ok, so I had to put it on both lists or people wouldn't take me seriously. There were times when I just didn't want to "play" anymore or talk anymore. I just wanted quiet, alone time. It's pretty easy to get that from a spouse, sometimes a 5 year old just doesn't get it.

3) 8-10 foot swells coming at our beam for days on end - ok, 8-10 foot swells coming any direction. I just don't like seeing it come and coming on the beam makes for a very strange, not so pleasant sensation as it hits the hulls. At least they weren't 20 foot. Add to that, we're in an aluminum boat. Can you imagine anything louder? When I'm laying in the rack trying to sleep and get woken up by a wave that I swear sounds like it just cracked the boat (or a whale or large bus), my first instinct is to jump up and see what's wrong, but what I really want to do is just roll in a ball and suck my thumb until it's all over.

4)Cooking, washing dishes, cooking, washing dishes, cooking, washing dishes - not so much once a day, but two and three times a day every day was too much for me. Andy helped a lot but it seemed like groundhog day for sure when it came to my domestic duties. Would stepping on legos fit here too?

5) Not being able to stand still without holding onto something for fear of falling, bruising, or just dropping something. Our seas were active to say the least.

Overall, it was a fantastic trip. I learned a lot. I gained a lot of confidence. And I watched a lot of movies :). Now for the real exploration...

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