Publish Date: Thursday, January 1, 2009
Location: Cambridge Cay, Exumas Land and Sea Park, Exumas, Bahamas
Coordinates: 24° 18.115′ N 76° 32.386′ W
We rang in the new year at the Cambridge Cay mooring field at the southern end of the Exumas Land
and Sea Park. The evening began with cocktails at sunset on a deserted beach with cruisers from the four other boats in the anchorage. We laughed, shared stories about our cruising adventures and toasted the arrival of the New Year in Paris (6 hours ahead of us).
We then returned to Three@Sea where we enjoyed a candlelight dinner of local Bahamian lobster. I had purchased the lobster tails from a local fisherman in Bimini about a month ago and was saving them for tonight. After dinner, we slipped into our jammies and headed up to the boat deck with sleeping bags in tow. We planned to ring the new year by spending the night under the stars.
I wish I were a writer, so I could have a better command of our language for bringing events to life
through words. For my simple words, I can only say that the sky defied description. The three of us laid there in awe of the light show above us. Ayla was thrilled to clearly see the gaseous clouds of the Milky Way, we identified all the constellations we knew, and then wished we had a book to help us name the hundreds we didn’t know. Satellites twinkled by in their smooth orbits, and we made new year wish after wish upon all the shooting stars. Our hearts were truly bursting with joy and appreciation for how lucky we are to be on this journey.
We drifted off to sleep shortly after midnight. The wind gently played on our faces until we all awoke suddenly to strong 25-30 knots gusts about 2:10 a.m. The sky was quickly darkening with a bank of fast moving clouds, and we scrambled to get inside without losing a sleeping bag, Thermarest, party hat, or person overboard. After we were safely inside, with the adrenaline pumping through our bodies, we laughed and laughed about how this night would probably be a great metaphor for our next year…awesome beauty surround by moments of panic.
Happy Happy New Year To You and Yours! Wishing you a new year filled with love, joy, peace, prosperity and great adventures!
You have a special way with words. I find your writing refreshing and easy to read. I’ve read too many blogs where its hard to follow events. I also like it when your family writes about the same events from each individual viewpoint.