Place Memory

En Route, Pablo Creek, FL

30 20.88 N 081 36.22 W

You know what it feels like to drive the road between your work and your house. You have become completely familiar with the route. You know every twist and turn and you probably have some memory associated with each twist and turn. Well that is the way we have become with the US East Coast; both on the outside and on the inside (ICW). The exceptions are Long Island Sound where we have still never sailed, and the New Jersey ICW which is too shallow for us to attempt.

One major difference between driving and boating is speed. If you drive south down I95, then each mile passes in less than one minute. In a sailboat, the same mile would take 14 minutes. That gives us much more time to notice the setting, the scenery and the adjacent objects of interest. Therefore, I estimate that the acclimation ratio is 100:1. That is for each one pass via boat, one builds up the same mental acclimation as 100 passes via automobile. The route between your home and work you have probably traveled many thousands of times.

In the past week or two, I noticed that I have much stronger memories of some places than others. Seemingly innocuous places like the 300 yard stretch between green markers 184 and 186 I remember very clearly, and then a related but different memory of the 186-188 stretch. Strange. Delving into my own memories, I realize that I remember best those places we passed under sail or under adverse conditions. Sometimes the weather is against us and we really have to work hard to make the next mark without tacking. Sometimes, we are worried about approaching bad weather, or a change in the tide or approaching sunset. The more challenging the experience, the stronger the memory. When I think really hard about what I remember about 184-186 the answer is almost always how strong the wind was, from which direction it blew, and how hard we had to work to get where we're going. Alternatively, we may have passed 184 on another day with gentle breezes and blue sky when we were enchanted by the beauty. I conclude that we don't remember the places so much as the exciting life experiences. Passing by those places once again triggers recall of those memories.

I guess that is a large part of the reason why we love the cruising life so much and why so many blog readers wish that they too could cruise. The secret is that we really live life more intensely. We generate non-repetitive and memorable experiences almost every day. If we lived on land, how many days would pass where we did nothing more than watch TV, read a book and drive to the store?

To what do we owe our good fortune to be able to live such a life. Brushing modestly aside, I'll admit that it takes a little courage and a lot of determination. Equally important is good heath. If either of us had serious health problems we couldn't do it. We can thank our lucky stars for that.

I usually shy from offering advice, but this time I'll make and exception. If you enjoy good health, good for you. But you have no idea how long that will last. If you want to live the cruising live, do it ASAP, before some misfortune robs you of the opportunity.