March 01, 2009

Sheer bliss and tribulations

I was thinking today, god forbid someone out there envied this lifestyle. There are picture perfect moments of sheer bliss but these moments are balanced out with tribulations. The Tobago Cays lend more to the "sheer bliss" side of the equation but there are still tribulations here. The day before last it seemed like we had a day of them. Our dinghy motor stopped working and without a dinghy motor you have to row everywhere, which is fine if the currents aren't strong and there aren't 4 people in
the dinghy. Luckily our friends Joanne and Dev (Murray) offered to take us out to the reef in their dinghy. En route to the reef their dinghy motor stopped working to but luckily there was another boat around and they towed them back. Dev finally got the motor working and away they went out to the reef. Graham tied the dinghy up to the mooring ball and they all went snorkeling. Unfortunately the dinghy came undone and began drifting away. Joanne noticed this and is a great swimmer and was able to
catch it and then Dev and her drove it back to the mooring ball and tied it up again. Tribulations weren't over yet, later that night I was making dinner and I had the water and pasta on boiling. I went to put the garlic buns in the oven and the pot tumbled over behind the stove and the hot door of the oven fell off. Hot water and pasta everywhere. Arrrrgggg .To quote Graham as he was sitting in the dinghy attached to our boat and the dinghy is flopping and bouncing around while he is taking apart
the motor since it wouldn't start, "For f&^* sakes, it is just like I signed up for army training!" Nothing better than rolley polley ocean, tiny screws and gasoline.

Yesterday was a day of SHEER BLISS. No tribulations to be had. Our dinghy motor began working again, once Graham had cleaned everything out (fyi...today it isn't working again and Graham is in the dinghy working on it as I type, such is life.). We all headed out to the reef. The four of us had the best snorkel together yet. We spent time just studying coral heads and all the fish that lived within. The kids are so comfortable snorkeling. They would dive down and point things out for me and take
pictures. Graham led the way and we seemed to go forever. We saw lots of cool fish and coral and got some great photos. We seemed to laugh so much yesterday. One of the funniest moments was when we got back to the dinghy. Graham climbed in and then I went to hoist myself up and I couldn't seem to get myself in. My arms aren't strong enough I guess. Anyway after trying for a bit and having the kids and Graham making fun of me. I finally heave my leg over the side but I am sort of lying on my side
not quite on top of the inflatable. Graham begins pulling me in and saying he has landed himself a big tuna. I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe or help him get me in. It seemed to take forever. Very funny.

The other thing we did yesterday was Amelia and I swam naked. We figured everyone else out here does it and you don't get a suit wet and it just feels good! The boys were down below. Alex wanted to be as far away as possible. We had our towels on and we sat on the edge of the boat working up our courage, actually my courage. Amelia was the instigator and she didn't need any courage. She was just waiting for me. Finally I figured what the heck, why not. We jumped in and laughed ourselves silly. It
was a hoot. Even this morning, I heard her giggle and I asked what she was thinking about and she said our swim. To cute.

Last night to end the day, we all pulled the cushions onto the roof and watched the stars. There were so many shooting stars it was amazing. The moon was a sliver and it had a star just beside it, just like you'd see in a kid's picture book. The four of us were laying in a square and we looked up our two masts to this amazing sky. It seemed only appropriate to recite "Winkin, Blinkin and Nod". My mom would say this poem to us every night before we fell asleep. It felt neat to be saying the poem on
the ocean with our bed rocking back and forth. I won't lie to you though...it made me miss my mom.

Still in the Cays and hoping for more bliss

Julie

4 comments:

  1. Wow skinny dipping!!! Good for you.
    I love skinny dipping although its usually in the darkness of my backyard.:)) You are very brave.As far as ups and downs go I think everyone has them on a daily basis. Although we have to deal with them in the freezing cold weather. Your lucky you have the heat and sun shine!

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  2. Hey all - just caught up with all your blogs. We have been out of wifi touch since the 20th of Feb except for a short bill paying visit to Basseterre. Your life sounds so much like the sailing life. Us and downs in paradise. Been there - done that. Although we haven't lost a dinghy yet - well.......maybe in Grenada a little bit
    Take care and hopefully see you when Jason gets here
    Dad and Cheryl

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  3. I have tears in my eyes, I miss you four also. I am amazed that you can remember the poem.
    Love you lots
    Mom

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