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The above picture is how I will remember Baja this year. It seems like there was more times than I can think of where I looked around and this was the picture I saw. Not a bad way to remember the place.

It’s hard to believe that tomorrow we will be in Seattle and that will signify the official start of Alaska for me. Though I won’t officially start in the great white north for another month, I am ready for it. Four years now, it’s hard to believe.

Here’s to another good summer!

We’ve been blessed with some calm seas and are making great way. This trip is truly been the flatest I have ever seen the waters off the west coast, it’s been quite a sight to see.

We should be into Seattle tomorrow night, with some luck and good weather.

We should be into San Diego tomorrow morning around 8am. I’ve been on the noon to 4 am shift (ugh!), so I won’t get to see too much, but hopefully I’ll be able to get a call or two out before we continue north.

We’ve made it up about one third of the baja coast now. The Sea Bird is currently off the coast of Magdelena Bay, headed up to Sitka, AK. I’ll be riding it up to Seattle, WA where I’ll be done working for a few weeks.

The water has been pretty smooth so far, but it’s supposed to be getting rougher tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll be able to update in a couple of days.

For now…… all is well.

Today I actually saw something new. It’s been a while.

We ran into two separate groups of Sperm Whales today. I hadn’t ever seen them before, and I sure am glad that I have now. Fascinating creatures!

It’s funny, when you talk to people about the art form that they have chosen to use to vent their creativity they usually get pretty serious about it. With all of these respected and coveted photographers aboard, there is definitely a bit of seriousness in the air. If you sit and talk to each one of them about how to take a good picture, they will each tell you a different thing. I find it interesting that most of the photo geeks I’ve come across the last couple of years will step right up and tell you that their way is the best way.

As time goes on I’ve realized that there is no right and wrong when it comes to doing things. It’s really more about consistency. If you do things consistently you will get better and better. That is why anyone that is new to anything isn’t as good as the person that has been doing things forever. The apprentice is trying to learn his way, making mistakes and learning the lessons it takes to become more efficient at what they do. Slow and steady wins the race. In this case, the race isn’t really a race at all. It’s about learning to put something down on a piece of paper the same way that you see it in your mind. That’s what makes a good photo. When I can look at something, snap pictures of it, then later that day see the picture and it is exactly as I remembered it. That is a good photo.

We’ve had a good couple of presentations from Cotton Coulsen and Sissie Brimberg, both of which have worked for National Geographic Magazine for thirty plus years. They also have photos published in just about every travel magazine known to man. The style they have is very distinct, and attractive to my eye. They shoot everything at an aperture of F/5.6 or larger. Everything. In a lot of ways this makes sense to me, but not always. Really, I’m still learning and very much the apprentice. I’ll give this a try for a bit and see how it works for me. It should be a good experience, none the less.

The weather has been insanely good lately, little wind and calm seas the whole time. The last couple of days we’ve been making our way up the sea on our way to the midriff islands. Currently, we are off the coast of Santa Rosalia exploring the island of San Carlos. We only come here a couple of times a year, so this is a treat. We will be in Santa Rosalia for about 24 hours, and then the real treat begins. We head north to the midriffs, where we only venture once or twice a year. Islas Rasa and Estaban will hopefully be a big treat for us, if the wind and seas will allow.

The moon and sun rises have been awesome!!!!

Today has been a very emotional day for me. It’s my daughter’s eighth birthday, and I’m a bit sad that I’ve not been able to speak with her in over a month. One of the major bummers about being down here in Baja is that cell phones don’t work most of the time. Communication is really important to me, as I’ve mentioned over and over again, and this one feels like a huge hole for me. What it comes down to is I have a career that takes me away for much of the year and I need to get better about this.

Another emotion that’s been going through my mind is being away from my kids so much. I do get to spend some good quality time with them when I’m home, but the emotional stress of missing yet another birthday or Christmas can wear on my soul pretty heavy at times. I think that what makes the whole thing so difficult is that there are huge parts of me that need to be home with family, but there are equal parts that need to feel constant motion. I realized a long time ago that it’s not running. I have nothing to run from, no skeletons in my closet, and all is peaceful in my life for what may be the first time ever. I wonder if I’ll ever be able to remind myself that life is never easy. The grass is always greener, or so they say.
A funny realization did come to me today. That is, even though I am on a ship cruising hundreds of miles a day through some truly beautiful country, it’s still possible to feel confined. I’ve been almost to a stage of claustrophobia at points today, and had to step out onto the fantail several times for some fresh air. My tiny office/cabin and engine room just cannot offer the space I need right now. Looking back, it seems that maybe this has been the case for me in the past. It seems to come about halfway through my time aboard and hit me like a brick. Sometimes I can’t shake it for the rest of the ride. Others I can pull through and end up on a good note. I’d guess that I just need more practice.

The psychological aspect of this lifestyle is something else. It really does intrigue me. Why do I live like this? Why do so many others? I believe that every person has their place in life, and that I am in mine. I just don’t really understand why.

Getting back to my daughter, my kids and life I really do feel that my relationship is strong with both of my babies. They are growing to be strong people, with a different perspective on life, and maybe that is the gift that I give to them. I know that I’m gone a lot, but I also realize that when I’m with them I am teaching them that there are other things to life than what they get when they are with their mothers. I am in a situation to take them places to teach them and show them things, and I very often do. My kids have been more places and seen more culture in their short lives than many people ever do their whole entire lives. That’s not such a bad thing, right? In essence, they are getting a huge blend of knowing what home feels like, while also seeing what the world is really like. I do feel good about that.

So how will I recoup from losing this time in my daughter’s life? I’ll take the time we do have together and make the very most of it that I can. It’s all that I can do, I believe. Oh, and thanks for letting me vent about this….. I feel much better now.