Location: Antigua
Last night, we had our final dinner, and we spent it with great food and better company – dancing in the rain until the taxis ushered us home. This morning, we said a lot of goodbyes and even more. See you later. As the boat cleared out, leaving behind only the staff and a sobbing Emma in its wake, we were met with a foreign silence. Now, we are catching up with friends and family, making the long trip back to Alaska, or exploring Antigua with our Vela family. It feels surreal that it’s over, and we’re all grateful that it happened at all. Unanimously, it was decided that the tears weren’t because we thought we wouldn’t see each other again but because we couldn’t recreate this if we tried.
To quote words entered into Vela’s book, “Only TO be able to write in words everything I am feeling and how grateful I am for this experience feels cruel and unfair. I am still in denial that what was once 90 days has dwindled down to a matter of hours. But no matter how much longer I would have to call Vela my home, it would never be enough. I would trade my bed for the top port three stacks with very little convincing if it meant waking to my friend’s smiles each morning. I would fall from that same bunk 1000 times if it meant my friends would be there to laugh when I did so. I would wake up at any hour of the night knowing that I could make up constellations with my watch team and slice our way through the waves of the Atlantic and Caribbean. In these last moments, I am grasping at ways to commemorate this experience, taking pictures of my bunk, the view from watch or sous cheffing, and even writing this. They are all ways to combat the inevitably fleeting memories that I am already mourning. But while I may not remember each and every detail, it is vital to remember that the character I have become through so many trials and joys will be immortal.”
Every goodbye is hard. Every goodbye on Vela is a little bit harder. As randomly as we have all come together for this mutual experience, it is as random as the directions our next steps will take us in, leaving us sprawling across the globe. But we will always have each other. Near or far. By land or by sea. We have all called Vela home, and home it will always be.