So many miles....

And so it begins, the final countdown for Seabbatical 2013. We still need to post about our week through St John, Norman, Savannah Bay, the Baths, Gorda Sound, little Jost and Easter on Jost Van Dyke! We had our "unhook" from electronics Easter week so we find ourselves behind blogging. But today we find ourselves back to Cooper Island with so many miles travelled behind us. Rewind to Monday April 1 we had a beautiful sail after dropping our 4 member Hetrick Crew at Sopers Hole for their journey back to Illinois. The boys did all the tacking required for our arrival on Norman Island. All the rope and teamwork lessons have resulted in a cohesive shift of the jib from port to starboard. Our night on a mooring ball in The Bight at Norman Island was full of 20 knot winds and yet we all slept pretty sound. By Tuesday we formulated a plan to sail to Peter Island but after a hike and lunch, school work, and signing Cody up for the SAT plus beach side service of drinks and snacks our plan simply became to stay at Norman. This is where our evening got really exciting!! Upon our return from the beach, Brian checked our flight itenerary for Friday only to realize we fly home Thursday!! What day is it anyway? Our Friday plans became Thursday plans and our over abundance of provisioning means we eat and drink Realy well for our remaining meals. As we motored away Wednesday morning from our third experience of Norman Island we sensed our first bitter sweetness in leaving the BVI. The thought resonating with me this morning was 'the palest ink is better than the best memory'. We need to continue umpacking all that life encompasses. Even if the day solely involves rising, sailing, boat chores, and a thousand words to describe all the day entails. Not all people will embrace journaling but putting this Seabbatical to words in a blog has enabled us to share and also explore and wonder without google. Our Wednesday of packing, gathering, and drying out the last of our wet clothes and towels began this morning. Hauling luggage from the two coffin births was an interesting feat after 9 weeks of sailing. But a small amount of Wd40 applied to luggage zippers and gathering all our belongings from approximately 650 sq feet of living space we were packed in a small amount of time. We squeezed in a first experience of paddle boarding and William finally got his opportunity to be hauled in a bosan chair up the main sail (pics to come). We have covered over 700 miles in nine weeks. The lifetime of reflection and learning continues to come at us in rapid succession. We hope (or at least I hope) to continue writing our reflections in stone as we leave all else in the sand and the wind. ~Kelli