“I really don’t know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it’s because in addition to the fact that the sea changes, and the light changes, and ships change, it’s because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea – whether it is to sail or to watch it – we are going back from whence we came.” ~ John F. Kennedy

(some under water photos taken by guests at our hostel)

Dear Asher,

We have spent the past 26 days next to the sea and each day brings us new surprises, but none more than today. You were wide awake at the crack of dawn and during our morning breakfast on the dock, a beautiful rainbow filled the entire sky. How wonderful to see the rainbow in its entirety without competition from tall buildings or trees. After a few pictures, you continued playing with your food and then we heard a splash near the shore. A large black and gold eel, the size of my arm, was searching for its morning meal completely unconcerned by the commotion above. Today, we also saw a stingray stirring up the ocean floor directly below the dock; a puffer fish; and a school of two pound fish, a hundred strong, leaping out of the water to avoid its prey.

You are definitely a water baby. You loved your summer by the lake and swam in the cool waters until the end of September. You love bath time, family shower time and bucket splashing time. On hot days, you love sitting in popcorn bowls of cold water and on cool evenings, you love a warm bath. And now that we are by the sea, you love floating, swimming, snorkeling, and sailing. If you are not in water, you love being near it, swinging in your hammock or going for long walks beside it. You are seven months old now which means you have still spent more of your life in water than out of it. The amniotic sac. The protector of what is most precious. The gift from your mother and every mother before her. The requirement for tetrapods to leave the sea and become terrestrials. There is a reason humans love large bodies of water, not merely for the necessity to consume it. For all of us, water was our first home and we all know, “there is no place like home.”

(taken Sept 24th, 2015 at the camp)

(Asher’s placenta art and first home)