Today is Day 151 on the water for Michelle. These are her musings from a couple of days ago.
Today, I’ve got three sharks swimming with me. I’ve had this one shark who’s been trailing my boat for several days now. He just hangs around. Today he’s brought two mates. They’re all in harmony with all the fish under my boat. They’re ducking and weaving under my boat, they go left, they go right. It’s quite amazing to watch the way they all interact.
Speaking of harmony and the interlocking of nature, this reminds me of when I had a turtle show up to cruise along with me. He was beautiful, he had this amazing bright orange and black/yellow shell. When he showed up, every single fish under my boat ran over to greet him. It was like they rolled out the red carpet for him. He had a huge fan club around him. What a treat to watch.
It was so raw and beautiful the way it happened, there was no pretence, this was real life in nature and how all of the creatures of the sea interact. This is how it is. I’ve felt so blessed to be able to witness all of this.
This whole journey is about patience, acceptance and being grateful I’m not being pushed backwards going in the wrong direction. After a while you just sort of learn to look for the good and accept whatever comes. It’s nature. You can’t struggle with nature.
Christmas day for me was just like any other day, I didn’t do anything special, no pudding no champagne, just a nip of Kahlua at the end of the day in the sunset. Apart from making a couple of phone calls, it was just another day for me, focused on the finished line…
Same for New Years’ Eve, it was just another day. It’s all row, no play out here.
I’m looking forward to getting close enough to home so I can start eating my emergency rations. This will mean no meal prep, which for me at the moment takes up quite a bit of time, especially now that I have increased my rowing hours to 12 hours a day instead of 10.
Everything else on board is good. I’m just getting tired now. Getting up is a little more difficult. I tend to always feel like I want one more hour sleep. I don’t give in though. I drag myself out, and once you’re out putting your shoes on, you’re out the door, you’re just there. Just like getting any activity in really, once you’re in the groove, you’re there.
As for my location, I’m 5 degrees south of the equator…with under 2,000 miles to go. The next milestone will be getting in the triple figures, so under 1000 miles to go. Chasing these little milestones is such a good mental boost.
I caught my image the other day in the reflection of the water. I can’t even bear to look at myself, everything’s filthy, my clothes are filthy, I just wear the same two pairs of shorts and tops, everything’s putrid dirty, I’m just living in two rash shirts,
When I did catch a glimpse, I realised I’m very lean now. Seems like I must have lost at least 12 kgs maybe 15kg. It’s been a pretty good weight loss program. For anyone with any new year goals of that nature I can recommend it 😉.
Track Michelle here : https://yb.tl/greatpacificrow22
Michelle is grateful to all her sponsors;
The Quays Marina LTD Southern Seas Marine Dunbier Trailers Fibre Marine Boat Repairs Simrad Yachting Survitec Group Ltd. Deep Cycle Systems Chief Nutrition Speedo Sharkskin Tiller and Kites CAMPERS PANTRY Pty Ltd Crewsaver Australia One Party Silva Method Australia
