Up and Down

And all kinds of other realities kicked in too. The most immediate ones had to do with my body. The boat is in constant motion--it rocks sideways, the bow goes up and then crashes down--so my muscles are in constant use, even when I'm laying down. This is going to be more of a workout then a vacation.

All three of us got noxious. John threw up twice last night. I felt terrible for a while too, so I put on my anti-seasick patch. I started feeling better but then the side effects of the patch started: blurred vision, sleepiness. Later I discovered that my patch fell off as soon as I put it on, so the getting better part was all in my head! As for blurred vision and sleepiness, well, yeah, my shift was from 2am to 4am, what did I expect?

My theory is that we didn't get sea sick at all but that mexican food leftovers we had for lunch was the cause of our suffering. My salvation finally came in the form of a little pink pill called Pepto-Bismol. (Thank you Pepto-Bismol for saving my life yet one more time).

We also had a small mishap last night when a big wave splashed us from the top, lifted one of the hatches that wasn't closed tight, splashed John and me as we were sleeping down there, and then closed the hatch. We jumped up and started looking frantically where did the water come from, and it took us a while to figure out the loose hatch explanation.

Despite all this trouble and discomfort, somehow this cruise still manages to be beautiful: night full of bright stars, luminescent planktons that make water light up when Sol Searcher rushes through them, deep blue color of the sea, even the cool spray in my face when we crash into the wave.