I roller coaster week

This week has been full of some ups and downs. The motor thats being rebuilt for the boat is going to take longer then planned. So now I am looking local for a motor that will not cost to much. The other day I found a little work that netted me $50.00 and all the beer I could drink. I am friends with one of the owners of The Oriental Steamer, and he need the grease trap mucked out so I went to work and got er done. It felt good to spend the day working and 6 hours later I had a little more money in my pocket and all the beer I could drink that night. Another great thing was the owner Jeff had also found a crab pot for me 

So life is good I am eating fresh crab in almost everything I cook now:):):) You just can't beat fresh crab is it so good. Here in NC it is the blue crab that you catch and they are very very very tasty. Heck I am eating rice with dried peppers and crab in it as I write this.

This is what I look like when i am happy.

Life is good these days But today I had a bit of a reminder that On a boat we live by the will of Mother Nature, and she can be a very tough task master when she wants to be. A gale force storm blew in with more lightning that you can shake a stick at. So being tied up to the dock I could hear the clicking, creeks and moans as the wind put a lot of stress on my mooring lines. I had to pee sitting down do to the boat leaning about 12 Degrees to starboard, as it was rocking and rolling against the lines holding it to the dock. I should knows when all the ships started pulling in around the harbor. All and all I have to say every day is a new experience and I can't be happier that I chose this life. 

A view from my port hatch as the wind was howling at me reminding me Poseidon knows I'm home.

Fun things that can burn your home down

The other day  found out my fire extinguisher worked well. When the stove says use denatured alcohol they in effect are saying Rubbing alcohol is not the same thing. But with a clam head and quick thinking I was able to spray it down before there was any real danger. The white powder is from the type AB extinguisher, water would of also worked for for an alcohol fire, but as always when testing out a new used stove,,, I had the extinguisher in my hand before starting it. In the end with the right kind of Alcohol the stove does work fine but the pieces fit into my counter top stove so I just took what I needed to fix the built in one.

Tomarrow I am going to play with my dinghy

This is the the Zodiac that was shipped to me from New York. If your wondering about the shape I have to keep it partly deflated when it is sitting on top of my Boat. 

Charts are fun

A little showing my location right now I am the grey boat shape.

and

in this one I am the red dot on the Neuse River

Iceland geology at war.

Never let it be said that I am not excited about my journey through life. I think about the millions who have never really seen the world outside of their home town, and wonder do they look at life like a journey, or just a string of unfortunate events fallowed by death (You know I am I'm just kidding right?). I know some people are happy being in one place, and I can understand the enjoyment of feeling grounded. But I have never been that person. For me being in one place too long feels like being stuck. There is just to much world, and a finite amount of time to see it all. I also am not big on tourist traps. I want to see the beach that only 3 other people have ever walked on, or the small village with people that think seeing a new person is an event worth telling their friends about. I know when I start sailing south and pick up a job in Texas the first thing I will save for is a slightly bigger blue water sailboat. One that I can sail to Europe and around the globe. This pearson 30 is a great island hopper/shore cruiser, but not the choice I would make to head 2000 miles from land in all directions. 

I think when I get that boat the first place I will go is Iceland That is one of those places that the planet really shows off what it can do. Iceland is many different effects happening at the same time. One effect is that it sits on top of the line between two tectonic plates. At the center of the Mid Atlantic ridge it pushes apart by about an inch every year. Another real cool fact and the reason it is not at the bottom of the Atlantic is that it is on top of what is called a “Hot spot” that pushes the land up, and is why it is very active volcanically. It is the only place that you can stand on the Mid Atlantic ridge that's on dry land. As if that wasn't ample reason to go there, you also have fire meeting ice. Glaciers mixing with Volcanic activity in a war that has been going on for millions of years. It is just as if someone took all the coolest geographic activity and threw it all together in one place.  So as the ridge and volcanic activity make new land the glaciers are working their magic to slowly erode it away. 

Iceland's Geology

Iceland's Glaciers

Today I am adding a poem and a quote from Moby Dick.

As you can see I like to read a little from the written history of the sea every day, from books to poems. It helps me feel more connected and reminds me of the fact that life is a journey that we make. No matter what we do or where we do it. Sometimes life's journey has us sailing calm waters, and at times navigating gale force winds. The trick is no matter where your journey takes you is to always find time to relax, reflect, and remember there is an endless supply of choices that will lead us to the next moment. For me looking at the water, and the sky at night as I read helps me find those Zen moments. These are the moments when I remember why I decided to stop rushing to the next destination, and enjoy the path I have chosen to get there.


A Life on the Ocean Wave

By:
Epes Sargent

A LIFE on the ocean wave,
A home on the rolling deep,
Where the scattered waters rave,
And the winds their revels keep!
Like an eagle caged, I pine
On this dull, unchanging shore:
Oh! give me the flashing brine,
The spray and the tempest's roar!
Once more on the deck I stand
Of my own swift-gliding craft:
Set sail! farewell to the land!
The gale follows fair abaft.
We shoot through the sparkling foam
Like an ocean-bird set free; --
Like the ocean-bird, our home
We'll find far out on the sea.
The land is no longer in view,
The clouds have begun to frown;
But with a stout vessel and crew,
We'll say, Let the storm come down!
And the song of our hearts shall be,
While the winds and the waters rave,
A home on the rolling sea!
A life on the ocean wave!


From Moby Dick
By:
 Herman Melville

There is a wisdom that is woe; but there is a woe that is madness. And there is a Catskill eagle in some souls that can alike dive down into the blackest gorges, and soar out of them again and become invisible in the sunny spaces. And even if he for ever flies within the gorge, that gorge is in the mountains; so that even in his lowest swoop the mountain eagle is still higher than other birds upon the plain, even though they soar.

I account it high time to get to sea as soon as I can.

Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever 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 high time to get to sea as soon as I can.


Herman Melville