Aloha ʻauinalā, Ke'ili here!
I'm not sure about you, but this past week has felt jam-packed with all kine stuff. Last Thursday feels like it was a month ago, and I find myself in need of some rest and solitude. Moments of quiet reflection seem harder to come by as responsibilities pile up. I've been working on being intentional and setting boundaries for a while now, but it's not something that comes naturally to me since I usually enjoy being busy and get energized by spending time with others.
Luckily, I've had the opportunity to do plenty of that lately! We've been taking full advantage of our heavenly slip after weeks of keeping a healthy distance from life at sea and enjoying the comforts of land.
Chris and I celebrated our two-year anniversary with a night out on the sandbar, and then spent another night with Noel and her friend Michael. It was both a treat and a challenge. A treat because we got to sail Noel's boat around the bay and teach friends as we shuttled them back and forth. A challenge because many of those trips happened at night… and during low tide. Fortunately, everything went smoothly—we had lights and a radio—but we definitely learned our lesson. We also sadly realized that the long days of summer are coming to an end.
I hope you enjoy this episode of Lolo's Abroad. While watching, remember that peace of mind is always available if you can recognize the miracle of life all around you :)
Reflections I had while watching:
A reminder that Kuleana means both responsibility and privilege.
Poor baby flying fish… What are the odds that out of the entire ocean, they decided to jump onto our tiny speck of a boat? Looking back, I wish we had tried to eat them so their sacrifice wasn’t in vain. Hopefully, we fed some megafauna out there.
Moving forward with no sails up and still averaging 5 knots was a pretty surreal feeling. I was definitely nervous… but exhilarated. Not going to lie, I was also pretty confused about how we were moving in the desired direction with very little control. I guess we were just lucky to be in the grace of the trades. Over the entire trip, our recorded peak speed was 24 knots, or just over 27 mph! That’s pretty insane for our tiny vessel.
The night watch shift on deck should have been called "coffee servant." We quickly learned just how essential a hot caffeinated beverage is, especially with no lights and the sheet-to-tiller system out of commission.
Music we had on repeat for way too long (shoutout to Brit for letting Chris use your Spotify lol):
Mele o Paese ʻĀina
O ʻIo
Mahalo nui loa for reading and watching. It's so much fun to reflect on the trip, and I hope you're enjoying it as much as we are. Feel free to reach out if you have any stories to share, questions to ask, or if you just want to talk story :)
Also, if the video sparked your interest in celestial navigation, Chris is sharing what he’s learned with small groups of friends. If you want to join the next session, reach out to him on Instagram!
-Keili
As always, this post is dedicated to the best mom in the world, Illa McEvilly, thank you for always being there for me and supporting my dreams no matter how crazy they seemed.