[size=3]If any have not been following, the fearless crew of the Commander 'Faith' have made San Pedro, Belize. The log is a good read. Here is an excerpt drawn from the days '40-47'.[/size]
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[size=3]"For the first time nothing broke. There wasn't a crisis. We began to feel that we were healing, and I include Faith in that. The columniation arrived as we – as a functional team – sailed up to the south end of Chinchurro Banks Reef on the evening of Sunday the 15th. The reef is one of the only atolls in the Caribbean, just off the Mexican/Belize boarder. It is also completely invisible at the surface of the water. Wrecks litter the east side of the reef, marked on our chart as little half-sunken boat-shapes. Slowly, carefully, we approached the color change delineating the shallows from the deep. We watched over the side as the bottom came up to meet us, a touch we very much desired to avoid. At last, just yards from a coral forest whose branches came inches shy of breaching the surface, we let the anchor fall gently to the bottom.
We unpacked the flippers, masks and snorkels. Our breath came fast as we prepared for the plunge and – the world under the sea welcomed us! We swam about the boat like children, for everything was new. Each fish was brightly swatched in yellows, blues, greens….wait, that brown one is invisible under that coral overhang! There's a conch shell! Wow, look at the size of that round thing! I don't even know what that is!! Later, drying in the last rays of the day's allotted sun, we grinned like fools. Tired in the most relaxed sort of way, we all drowsed and finally slept. Very, very well.
I woke first, checked the time (10:30 pm) and roused the others. We whispered to each other not because it was necessary but as an instinctual reverence for the solitude. The mainsail was raised as the anchor line was retrieved, our about face away from the reef was accomplished with only the ruffle of the sail. We wouldn't try the engine and break the silence here. In gratitude the wavelets whispered in the coral behind us.
Perhaps coral reefs talk to each other. We sailed the night through, arriving off the town of San Pedro, Belize, about 10:00 the next morning." [/size]
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