Transitions

 

When we are old enough and wise enough to have years of life behind us, we become aware of the fact that we have lived more than one life. Each of us who have achieved this ranking can peer back at their former selves and find that, for the majority of us, we are not the same people we once were years ago. Think of your teenage years, the choices made and the actions and decisions taken. Would you truthfully say that such actions, such choices and such decisions made would be similar to those you would make as the person you are today?

If you are, then perhaps you are wise beyond the ordinary, or perhaps you are not yet mature enough or sentient enough to stand in this place. But for most of us, there will be a common thread that we all share in this observation. It is here, again, that I must segway into yet another transition as we slowly find ourselves plodding away across the Atlantic Ocean toward adventures yet to unfold. Life is chock full of transitions: Our first job, first date, first marriage, first child, first car. The list goes on endlessly, or so it seems, with each new challenges reshaping the very essence of the fabric of who we are.

Goodness knows, I have experienced many such transitions, some of which you, the dear reader, could scarcely guess in full, let alone comprehend. Now, I find myself sitting on a ship, specifically on a balcony at the very aft, watching the miles and waves churn below and past as we move on, transitioning toward another adventure and perhaps some further personal understandings of this place we call our planet Earth and, perhaps, my own family history as well.

We embarked two days ago, Thursday, April 9, 2026 to be precise, from the port of Miami, Florida. Two days at sea thus far have taken us through the Bahamas past places like the Island of Eluthera, an island we visited last year in some depth when we sailed our own boat, Athena, to these turquoise waters. Today, one day later, and we are somewhere off the coast of the Dominican Republic. We can't see it off in the distance, but the charts that are shown on one of the channels on the television in our room tell us so. Tomorrow we arrive in Tortola, in the British Virgin islands and will have a day to explore.

For now, we keep amused with a plethora of dance classes, practicums on the dance floor at night, and the creation of new friendships, perhaps long lasting and perhaps ephemeral, as we share conversations, perspectives and ideas with a ship full of people from every country imaginable. Getting into conversations has been made easy by the fact that we are already recognized by many of our fellow passengers as “those amazing dancers”. We admit only to our well paid stunt double doppelgangers as being complicit in such activities but it does open up conversations with many!

The stories are endless and the random intersection of so many people is fascinating. Our dinner table mate is a woman from Nebraska who is traveling alone, mainly for the fact that taking the time off for 3 weeks is a commitment that is not an option for most people in the USA who hold regular jobs. She isn't one to let such hindrances become an obstacle and I applaud her bravado in experiencing all that life has to offer by taking the reigns. It does of course help that she is relatively newly retired and finds her largest constraint to be a canine family member that is being taken care of while she is traveling.

Another couple at our table is from South Carolina, near Florence I do believe. They are also newly retired and taking this advantage to see Europe for the first time. It is always wonderful to see people experiencing new adventures for the first time. We seem to have passengers on board from far flung places: Albania, China, Italy, Brazil, France, the USA,, Canada, Japan, the Philippines, Croatia, England, and many more places. A trans-Atlantic cruise is unlike a round-trip Caribbean cruise in that it travels from one country to a destination or, in this case, multiple destinations in other countries. As such, it attracts a wide variety of people eager to satiate their curiosities of other peoples, places, foods and cultures. It's not hard to make conversations with such a curious bunch of eager folks. I look forward to the next 15 days onboard as we slowly transition our way across the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea to our disembarkation in Turkey and adventures of self discovery beyond!

 

Departing Miami by Ship

 

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