A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step---Lao-tzu
In so many ways this quote epitomizes how much we have learned about sailing in the past few years. It is also indicative of how much more we have to travel. This trip to the British Virgin Islands is representative of both these points of view.
Travel can be viewed in two ways--it can be an escape from everyday and then you return home--more appreciative of where you came from and all that makes up home. --OR-- Travel can be a way to come to the realization that home is more than your house, home is where your heart is and that encompasses more than place.
Travel helps us identify parts of our souls that we had not previously seen. Moments when you recognize that we are more ourselves that we have been.
We have traveled to one of those places that others tell you about or that you read about in books. It was a place of multi-hued blue seas with fluffy white clouds in a bright blue sky and green colored mountains reaching up to that magical sky. The breezes that would tease and taunt and yet refresh your soul giving comfort. ---Robin M.
I am almost a trained Scuba Diver, two more dives and then I'm there. I saw so many fish this trip that I was totally amazed. I saw several barracuda for the first time. There aren't enough words to describe the life underwater. I loved it! ---Dominic M.
I thought the snorkeling was amazing, but it doesn't even compare to the scuba diving. The water was so clear you could see more than 60 feet. You really have to be careful not to go too deep, because you can't tell how deep you are just by looking around. On our first dive we jumped into a huge school of juvenile squid which immediately darkened the dive. We descended about 35 feet and entered an underwater cavern--where shrimp and lobster thrive. We tried to descend into a hole in the coral but Dominic couldn't clear his ears. We saw many types of fish, worms, sea cucumbers, and corals. We even saw a huge red snapper and a grey angel fish. I can't wait to get my diver certification and do this stuff again.--Sam B.
Mark Twain once said ""Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." This is the gift we want to bestow upon our children. A lesson that Robin and I learned long ago. Travel to different places... well it jsut changes you! It is important to know that each time I venture out of our comfortable home and the familiar surrounding of Northwest Arkansas I begin to think of myself not as an American Citizen, but as a Citizen of the World. The previous statement has little or nothing to do with the amount of patriotism and pride that I have for my country but a realization that we are all citizens of the world and not just our own little corner on the street. --- Michael M.
This little story begins
sometime in September or October of 2005-- actually it begins much earlier than
that with a book that I read about a young girl who sailed around the world in a
27' boat called Varuna. Dawn Raider has sharp lines as she waits for is in
her slip in Nanny Key, Tortola, BVI. We have traveled some 2000
miles to play in the sea.
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