Wined & Dined

Spent a luxurious weekend touring the wineries of the Colchagua Valley with my dear friend/employer Tim, his friend Allan, and Captain Ralph (aka Curley). If you thought what I'm doing is crazy, Allan is currently riding his motorcyle around the world! His road stories of Guatemala make the bumpy seas seem like the Four Seasons by comparison.
We toured five very distinct yet equally elegant wineries over the two days and spent a healthy portion of the time laughing and taking silly photos in between serious lectures on sustainability and French oak.

A highlight for me was a long bubbly soak in our flash hotel room's tub-a-saurus! (Sorry, no photo available.) I sent the 3 amigos off for beers and mayhem while I savored my last opportunity at a deep scrub before heading off to sea and less-than-optimal hygenic conditions.

In the midst of our Saturday night feast, our waiter announced the lunar eclipse, so napkins flew off laps as we scrambled to see nature's freakshow. No snaps of that, either, but it was well-appreciated on tippy-toes over the shrubbery and across the palm tree tops. Tim followed up for an hour or so with a scholarly dissertation about about red vs ultraviolet light bending around earth or something, and it was very interesting, but I was focused mostly on scooping up the last of my pumpkin cream sauce. (Sorry, Tim.)

Deep Sea Post

Grab a blank sheet of paper. Go ahead, I'll wait. (I certainly have the time.) Got it? OK. Draw a wavy blue line across the middle of the page. Then draw a sun up in the corner, like a first-grader would do. Now stand up, hold the page at arms' length, and turn slowly in a circle. Welcome to the middle of the Pacific Ocean! Now do it again, but cock your head at a 25 degree angle and bounce up and down. Welcome to being on a boat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!

By the way, I'm attempting to send this post via sailmail, so I unfortunately can't attach any photos; we'll see what actually makes it to the blog.

This is our 4th day of sailing and not much happens out here save a handful of zippy sea birds and the pair of nearby whales that checked us out. I haven't felt freaked out by the whole no-land-in-sight thing the way I thought I would, but I also admit to not really dwelling on it and not spending too much time just staring into the endless water in every direction. The night sky is positively filthy with stars including the Southern Cross, Seven Sisters, Orion, and other constellations I learned about in college astronomy. The vastness of the sky coupled with the vastness of the ocean makes me feel microscopic.

We did have one overly exciting event at 10pm on Day 2...why does the drama always happen in pitch black night?! I was just zipping up the toiletry bag in the bathroom when I heard a LOUD K-RRRR-ACK crash bang noise. I'm no expert on sounds-at-sea but can recognize a universal feeling of OH SHIT...especially when accompanied by frantic calls of "RALPH! GET UP!!!" I rushed gracelessly through the small dark cabin up to the main deck to see the flurry of all-hands-on-deck grappling with a broken forestay and sail flapping dangerously over the side of the boat. The forestay is basically a long thick cable/pole that helps support the mast. A bolt had snapped at its base, so you physics buffs can imagine the tension such a catastrophe would place on the mast itself. While I stared in terror at the chaos on the bow, my three robust endorphin-driven crew mates heroically clutched at the various pieces of rope and material blowing violently in the 20 knot wind. It played out like a Hollywood blockbuster with George Clooney, Bruce Willis and, um, I dunno, pick another action megastar. Tom Cruise. Good. A worse disaster was averted by these incredibly brave men and a sleepless night of constantly rolling side to side in the waves followed. Not fun. Ralph and his giant brain fixed the problem with the assistance of a bunch of power tools by lunchtime and we were back on track, recovering from the 25 miles we'd drifted in our 12 hours of bobbing along.

I was not a happy girl yesterday but feel more confident today after a huge long sleep and a nice sunny day of quiet sailing. We should reach Cumberland Bay at Robinson Crusoe Island by noon tomorrow. I'm eager to stand on solid ground again.

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Outward bound

Farewell winter...Santiago, here I come!

Breezed through LaGuardia Airport with a smaller load than I had anticipated and felt very strange wandering around cellphone-less. Even stranger was transferring flights in Atlanta and not having anything to collate! (Atlanta is an all-too-popular work destination.)

The flight was long but made painless by the selection of Academy Award-winning films and small bottles of vina tinta (aka red wine, aka sleep aide). After uncrunching my plane neck and sliding open the window shade, I was excited to see we were flying over the Andes mountains, which separate Chile from her eastern neighbor, Argentina.

I arrived in Santiago, Chile around 10am, paid the $100 entry fee required by US citizens, and had no problem finding Captain Ralph and his armful of pink roses. Ever the gentleman, Ralph proceeded to schlep both of my backpacks through 3 bus transfers and 3.5 hours to the marina.

A Farewell Luau

Thanks so much to everyone who came out on a glacial Friday night to give me an ironically tropical send-off! Being surrounded by a bunch of my favorite people and dancing with our exuberant transgendered host while sipping Tidal Waves was big fun. Serious props to the friends who gave me an eye patch as a going-away gift. Genius. You have created a ridiculous theme that will permeate my photos for months.


You can check out more silly Luau pictures at my new Flickr site. Not much there yet but I'll be posting all of my trip pix in the coming months:
www.flickr.com/photos/melegram

I hope to improve my blog layout skills, as well! It's a work in progress...