The Darien Hitch. Chapter 4
Aboard Wayward Sun: Seasickness
It’s4am Saturday morning. The Captain is already up and the coffee is set. The rest of the crew wakes up. Slowly. The incredibly patient Greg instructs his incapable crew to help with pulling up the anchor and get the sails out. We try, but Greg has to come out and show us rookies how it’s done. Around 5am we finally leave Portobelo. Off to the San Blas it is!
I am thrilled. Excited. Nervous. All at the same time. I sit next to the Captain as I don’t want to miss a thing. I watch the screen to follow our course and the depth, observe how the Captain handles the wheel, look up at the sails flapping in the wind, I see stars, thousands of stars, the moon, lights in the distance, my fellow crewmembers who must be just as excited as I am, waves, the shore, the sun rising…WOW. I am so happy to be here in this moment. Just one word:
WOW.
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2 hours later.
WOW.
I’ve never felt this bad.
In fact this is the most awful I’ve felt in awhile. I can’t remember the last time I felt this nauseous. Why?! Why do I feel like this?! I was doing fine so far. I was enjoying the fresh ocean breeze, the views, the waves…
Those fucking waves. When did they get so wild all of a sudden? What happened? What changed?
Damn.
My stomach is turning. OK stay calm. Take a deep breath. You are doing fine. Look at the horizon. Yes the shore. Look at the shore. Don’t think about the pasta you had last night. Remember the pasta, with beef, cheese, onions, tomato…Argh… Disgusting. Yikes, how could I even eat that shit? How could I eat at all! How can people eat?! Pasta is disgusting! Food is disgusting…STOP THINKING ABOUT THE TOMATO SAUCE!! Stare at the horizon. Breathe. Breathe. Calm down…Take a deep breath. Tomato sauce. Deep breath. Look at the horizon. Just look at the beautiful blue sky. Tomatosauce. Horizon. Breathe. Tomatosauce. Breathe. Tomatosauce. Horizon. Tomatosauce. Tomatosauce. Horizon. Tomatosauce. Tomatosauce. Tomatosuace. TomatosauceTomatosauceTomatosauceTomatosauaaaaauuucheee
BBBBWUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHHHHH
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1 minute later.
WOW.
I feel a whole lot better.
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1 hour later.
I have to pee. Damn. It’s looking kinda rocky below deck. I don’t want to go down there. But I have to pee.
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3 minutes later. Back on deck.
BBBBWUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHHHHHH
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1 minute later.
WOW.
I feel a whole lot better.
The rest of the journey I lie down - glued to the seats next to the Captain. As long as I lie down, everything is fine. No actually, everything is NOT fine!!
This is not what I imagined sailing to San Blas would be like. I should be sitting on deck, hair blowing in the wind, working on my tan, see dolphins, sip coconut juice, eat fresh lobster and stuff. Not lying here with vomit in my hair and shirt.
Screw my motto - It’s the journey that matters, not the destination - forget the journey.
Are we there yet?!
