Thursday, July 25, 2013

I Went Sailing! - By Myself!!!- Day 6 in Punta Cana!

Today is Thurday, July 25, 2013 and I went sailing by myself. 
The boys have been sailing since day one here in Punta Cana but I haven't been very keen on any of the various activities available. I have been enjoying the beach, the water, my quiet time, reading, relaxing etc. 
But yesterday, Aly came to my corner of the beach and said, "Mom, let's go!" 
I said."Where are we going?" 
He said, "Let's go sailing! Come on! I'll teach you!" 
So I left my things covered up with towels and walked over to where the sailboats are.
 I climbed in on the sailboat and we were out there for about an hour or so. 
Aly taught me the basics of how to tighten and loosen the sail, how to control the rudder, what to do when the boat starts to lean in one direction which is we have to loosen the sail and how to get ourselves back up if the boat were to capsize. 
Halfway out, he let me take the control and steer the boat. It was not difficult, but just a bit tedious. Like anything, there is an art and a science to sailing as well. 
And I enjoyed myself. 

Just another beautiful image captured while standing on the deck of Celeste.

I sat here for hours with my laptop as I blogged. I finally stopped when my laptop battery was drained.

This is another view of Celeste, there is a bar and a restaurant where one can get burgers and other fast food any time of the day until 1 am.
 So today I woke up around noon, packed up one one large suitcase with all of our used and dirty clothes, freshened up, grabbed a bowl of red beans for lunch and headed to the sailboat area. 
Aly and Zayn were just about to take a sailboat out. 
I decided to go out on my own.
Aly and Zayn had spent all morning together with Aly teaching Zayn how to sail.
It was cool to be out on the water by myself with the boys not to far away from me in their own boat. 

 I did okay...in the sense that I managed not to capsize my sailboat. But I definitely needed help.
Aly jumped in my sailboat when we were closer to the shore and let Zayn go out by himself. Zayn immediately capsized his boat but he was in very shallow water. He managed to get himself up and standing in the back of the boat but he was too little in size and weight to be able to pull the boat the right way up. One of the staff members came out and helped him. Zayn was scared and rightly so. I would be freaking out too if I were to capsize the boat. But thank God,  I didn't. 
It was a good experience but it was a lot of work. I was out for about 30 minutes and was more than ready to come back in.


Now I can say that I have sailed and understand the basics of sailing. 
 I have never understood why people or rather men like to own these boats that run on gas. They can go really fast but are so loud and annoying. I would never want to have one of those
But I would love to have my own very large sailboat and go sailing around the world. 
It is so peaceful to hear the sound of the sail as it catches the wind and the sound of the ocean as the waves rise and fall. 
But I would want someone who knew exactly what they were doing to handle the boat. 
Maybe some day!
This will go on my list of things I wish to do which also include spending an entire summer in a home overlooking the ocean on the island of Santorini, Greece by myself with my laptop and books. I dream of penning my many books (yet to be written and published and enjoyed by millions) while overlooking the beautiful, blue waters and the distant hills. Ameen!

The boys went to go to the trapeze activity where Zayn is learning how to do it. More on that later.

Love,
anita

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