2007 Holiday Letter

Deciembre 2007

Buenos Dias Amigos,

¿Cómo está usted? That might give you a clue as to what I’m up to these days—leaning Spanish. In January, I’m off to Córdoba, Argentina to write the marketing plan for a non-profit organization that serves children with disabilities. The prerequisite was to speak at an intermediate level of Spanish. I’m trying, but have a long way to go. Fortunately, the program starts with two weeks of Spanish lessons. My plans to go to the Antarctic were literally sunk in late November. A month later and that would have been me in a lifeboat. What a story for the book I’m writing, but I’m not sorry to have missed the opportunity. I’m now planning to go next Winter/aka Summer, but it might not be the highlight of the year now that my niece is getting married. My niece just got engaged and plans to marry in October 2008! Such excitement for the family! I can only imagine how this is going to consume my sister for the next 11 months. She’s already losing sleep over it!

The chapters for my book continue to accumulate as my travels for 2007 took me to places I’d not yet been. Imagine me in Costa Rica while you all were celebrating the holidays a year ago. I was releasing sea turtles into the Pacific Ocean and trying to ride waves on a surf board; I managed a few. The baby turtles captivated my heart. We relocated newly laid nests of turtle eggs (Atlantic Ridley, Hawksbill and Green) from the beach to a hatchery—usually in the middle of the night to save them from poachers and predators. We watched over the sand-covered nests, and about the time they would hatch nine weeks later, we monitored the cages every ten minutes. 100 or so baby turtles would crawl their way up from nests 1-2 feet below and clamber around the chicken wire cages to get down to the beach. They instinctively knew what to do and the cages were a major obstacle. We piled the newborns into a bucket, took the little rascals to an area close to where their mother laid the original nest and set them free. We released them about 20 feet or so from the water’s edge so they could imprint the beach in their minds—vital knowledge to be used in 30 years when they themselves have eggs to lay. Some raced to the water; some moved at a moderate pace, while others struggled, as if still waking up from a deep sleep. The stragglers seemed to be the ones to be pushed furthest back up the beach by the waves, again, and again. Their spirits never wavered.

As much as I wanted to stay with the turtles, it was on to Mahahual, Mexico for the second volunteer portion of this trip. Fish were the focus here. I studied fish in the Seychelles on my first volunteer scuba project, which made learning the Caribbean fish easier. Before long, my 23-year old scuba buddy and I were off surveying fish, and studying to become divemasters. There were 13 volunteers and 4 staff aged 18 to 56. Some of us spent weekends in Tulum (to dive in cenotas--caverns of fresh water lakes), Chetumal and Bacalar. Unfortunately, Mahahual was decimated by Hurricane Dean in August. Projects we worked on are just now resuming after much reconstruction.

I’d dreamt of diving in Belize, so after my stint in Mahahual, I headed south to San Pedro. I saw fish there that I knew only from books. In fact, my favorite part of the dive to the famous Blue Hole, a 130-foot dive in what had been a dry cave with stalactites and stalagmites prior to the last Ice Age, was sighting two 3-foot long midnight parrotfish near the surface at the end of the dive. How breathtaking—their emerald blue skin glimmering in the sun’s rays. Belize hosts many sharks, rays, sea turtles, all within easy reach of divers. The Belize Zoo outside Belize City lured me to the furry kind of wildlife, then it was the Mayan ruins in Lamanai. After saying a final farewell to my friends back in Mahahual, I was off to Florida to sail with a friend from home, then to the BVIs for sailing classes and more great diving. A 46’ catamaran for one week, a 50’ monohull for the second, and two octopuses to wish me Happy Birthday while snorkeling! Life IS good.

Now it was time to return to Minnesota. I longed to see my cat Karly, who is now good friends with several caretakers who love her almost as much as I do. But alas, I flew to Malta, off the toe of Italy, within six weeks. I was to meet up with my spiritual friends, but before that enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere of Gozo (north of Malta), similarly picturesque as Ireland. I’d heard diving in Gozo was remarkable, so dove twice, and wondered why people liked it so much. It was cold and much like seeing fields of tall grasses swaying underwater. The views from land were much prettier, and being with my fellow spiritual trekkers once again was moving.

Summertime activities diverted my thoughts from the lost of a very good friend of mine from colon cancer in June. We had taken several (sailing) trips together, including one to Turkey just prior to any symptoms and diagnosis. I immersed myself in sailing. I continued racing sailboats and kayaking on our large metropolitan Lake Minnetonka. There were trips to Bayfield for racing, and one to the east coast for sailing from Staten Island in New York to Baltimore and seeing my sister, brother-in-law and nephew (who is now studying at Hofstra University). I took some sailing instructor classes, and taught a few classes, one being on a trimaran, a boat I hadn’t sailed until this summer. That was fun, even for the non-sailing friends I used as guinea pigs to see if I could convey how to handle this three-hulled contraption.

Some friends had arranged a sailing trip to Croatia for September. How beautiful. Amazingly, given its proximity to Europe, the water is about clearest I’ve seen. Maybe they don’t use all the chemicals on their lawns like we do. Diving was okay (I did see the amphora underwater that I’d read about), the sailing was awesome—many islands, waterfalls, hills, and ancient city walls. The destruction of the war in the early 1990’s clearly showed in Dubrovnik. Most of the clay tile roofs had been replaced. When fellow sailors returned home, I spent some time in Bosnia & Hercegovina, which also had a civil war in the early 90’s. Sarajevo, on an overcast day, looked sad. I hoped it was only the weather. The city has still not recovered. Money came in for building repairs until 2000, but it wasn’t enough. Much evidence of bullets, bombs and other devastation remains visible. In comparison, the countryside looks surrealistically peaceful, as does the Plitvice Lakes area in Croatia. I spent several days there to take in the waterfalls and nature. Being a very pleasant fall weekend, the national treasure was packed. I’d been looking forward to peace and quiet for reading and writing while enjoying the scenery, not parking lot stop-and-go rush-hour type foot traffic. The next day, I veered away from the crowds only to retreat from a brown bear—an especially undesirable encounter when hiking alone. Afterwards I spoke with another solo hiker I’d passed earlier in the day, who had stationed himself in hopes of seeing a bear . . . if only he’d walked slower. From him I learned to carry a big black plastic trash bag when hiking and to wave it at a bear so he thinks I’m bigger than he is. Scaring a bear away makes a much better story than me simply saying “I backed away slowly before the bear sensed me”.

Other than a long weekend in CA to visit my niece, I’ve stayed pretty close to home this fall mainly because of my cat, Karly. We’ve just celebrated her 20th birthday—that’s well over 100 in human years. She was diagnosed with cancer this year. The vet is surprised she’s doing as well as she is but I may have to make a decision very soon. Guess that’s why I wasn’t supposed to go to Antarctica this year. I will still go to Argentina, Chile and Easter Island. It’s tropical so you would be correct in assuming I’ll be diving. After that I’ll head to Bonaire where I hope to get certified as a divemaster. With my TEFL certification (teaching English as a foreign language), sailing instructor certification and forthcoming divemaster certification, who knows where I will finish my book.

If you want to keep up with my upcoming or past exploits, this is where you can find out. And please do email me at nauticalnomad@gmail.com. I enjoy hearing from friends, especially when traveling.

I hope this has been prosperous year for you and those you love. Now on to the holiday celebrations!