You had to be there, but here goes anyway:
We’re going from Turtle Bay to Bahia Santa Maria. It’s the middle of the night, and my shift, so everyone else is asleep.
Shortly after coming on-shift, I had realized we had plenty of wind, so switched from motoring (which is dependable, but tedious and noisy) to sailing (which is variable and requires more attention). At present, we have about 13 knots of wind, so we’re going around 5-6 knots through the water. The sails are full, and the water gurgles as it passes by, giving a feeling of motion, and of a sail boat doing it’s thing.
We’re well away from land, and any sources of light pollution, and there’s no moon. So looking up, I see stars, stars, and more stars. The Milky Way is very visible and spread across the sky. Orion, my personal favorite constellation is up and brighter than I’ve ever seen it.
After a bit, I notice something moving in the water beside the boat. It’s a pod of dolphins, come to swim alongside. When sailing, we often cross a pod, and they usually swim along with us for a stretch. But this time, it’s a set of white shadows in the water next to the boat, weaving in and out. Probably five or ten dolphins as best I can tell.
I’m sitting on the aft railing seat, taking all this in, and thinking how absolutely glorious it all it, when a shooting star streaks across the sky, putting the while experience somewhere beyond that.
