Sea-lion inspiration

So here it is - the prelude for the book!

I should tell you all this is real – I am not making it up. It’s exactly what happened on that day at that time. I really did get inspired….

More will follow shortly...

Prelude

Dateline: March 23rd, 2011…Sea of Cortez, Mexico

It all began with the sea-lions. As our boat approached their colony in the Sea of Cortez, Mexico, the young ones jumped excitedly off the rocks and swam out to greet us, heads popping up out of the water to see who had come to play with them today. I donned wetsuit, snorkel and mask and jumped in. Holy schmolly!! That water was cold enough to freeze the tail off a donkey! Heart beating rapidly but undeterred, I gamely swam towards one of the pups. He brushed past me, twirling and swirling around with grace and joy. Then another one joined us, actually nudging me with its nose, begging my participation in his aquatic antics.

I was having SUCH fun .. until I saw a much bigger, no... make that enormous monster of a sea-lion swim rapidly towards me, mouth open, teeth bared! You can’t open your mouth and scream under water as your snorkel falls out of your mouth. Instead, adrenaline kicked in and I swam back to the boat as fast as I could, so as not to invade the big guy’s territory any more than I had already. He didn’t come after me, just swam away. But I had had my experience, and teeth chattering with cold, was happy to call it a day and climb back in the boat.

It was at that moment that I received the inspiration for this book. I cannot say it was necessarily the sea-lions themselves that gave it to me. More likely it sprung from that intensely alive, joyful feeling that was like a life-blood coursing through my veins, a sense of “can-do”, anything is possible, “it's-never-too-late” kind of feeling. And the conversation I had had two nights ago under the stars with Mike and Alice came flooding back, crystal clear in my mind with the message attached... “Yes, you WILL go to Galapagos. And you will write about the experience. And discover more about being a 50-something newly single woman with a still insatiable curiosity about the world.”