Baja California-The Accidental Sailor
The Sea Years · Accidental Sailor
20,000 Leagues Into My Brain
I was once an armchair sea dog dreaming of going places. Then I became a travelling sea dog dreaming of staying put.
Field Note 01
Putting the “he” in hero, every action-adventure film carries the same moral: perseverance pays.
Of all the things I am not very content doing, living on land is the most outstanding. I was an armchair sea dog dreaming of going places. Now I am a travelling sea dog dreaming of staying put.
Leaving the ritual and habit of ordinary living, I embarked on an unplanned trip and became an accidental sailor. You can teach an old DOGma new tricks.
For reasons of necessity rather than innate wanderlust, I am at sea because it gives me something to do and a place to be. Magnetised and full of charisma, I always managed to stay on course without realising it.
Maybe it is not only how much I love being at sea. Maybe what matters is who I am when I am doing it. I am my best self.
Character is doing what is right when no one is looking. Many of our problems come from the inability to spend time quietly alone in our own room.
As much as I sometimes detest the travel, I love the writing and introspection: the virtuous delight of organising a disorganised country, itinerary, or culture and comparing it with my state of mind at that moment.
I strip away the inessential and second-rate, classify what remains in neat, terse blog posts, and build a foundation with the bricks that ports of call and life at sea have thrown at me.
The Winds of Grace
The winds of grace always blow for us, but you have to raise your sails and go.
Any port in a storm will not do. You need to be content with the weather of the day-to-day. The whole secret is to have no fear. Never fear what will become of you. Depend on no one.
Living at sea is hours of boredom tinged with moments of hysteria. Sometimes the water is so rough you get seasick, but I never found that an excuse to remain ashore.
It is lonely at times, but I call that solitude. Freedom is not free, but it is not for sale and cannot be purchased in a seven-day cruise.
Food, drink, music, and noise are fun. Pleasure, however, is not happiness. Happiness is balance, following your bliss, and connecting with the divine.
The Elixir
The sea is where I house my soul.It is where I access my higher self, where boredom becomes solitude, and where the accidental sailor becomes the person he was trying to find.