I think that this final leg of our journey, a long sea passage straight from the bleak volcanic landscape of the Canary Islands to the unknown adventures awaiting us in Freetown, has snuck up on all of us.  As I watch the students begin to take leadership roles in sail handling and navigation, to put all of the pieces together for their academic work, and especially as I see how well the whole ship's company has come together as a crew, it's hard to imagine that in only a few weeks Sankofa 2 will be over and everybody will begin to disperse to their own various corners of the earth and to get back to their other lives.  We'll have to hand the Amistad over to a new crew and have faith that they will take care of her as well as we have. I know that it's a little early to be getting sentimental about this, but I suppose that's just how I am.  One great lesson that I've learned from sailing, however, is that though it's difficult to watch any chapter of your life end, especially when we've worked so hard to build a sustainable little community for ourselves, there's something wonderful about achieving such a hard won goal and then letting it go.  Once you've gotten really comfortable in a situation it probably means it's time to move on to the next challenge; it's a perfect lesson in impermanence. I am indeed getting a bit ahead of myself, though.  Unless things have drastically changed since my watch ended at three in the morning (I've just rolled straight from my bunk to get some coffee and write this blog, without really checking in on deck) we're still in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, about 200 miles offshore from the disputed territory of Western Sahara, with well over a thousand nautical miles of open ocean between ourselves and our final destination.  This is all, of course, extrapolated from the celestial navigation and dead reckoning work we've been doing on this second of our no GPS voyages.  The boat isn't going to sail herself, and anything could happen between here and there.  Another lesson I've learned from sailing is that it's important to keep your head out of the clouds and your vigilance level high.
 

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