I was 12 years old and my mum had just given me my first digital watch. Fittingly, I was using it to keep time on my other first watch, a solo pre-dawn stint on the deck of our sailboat aswe crossed the coralsea from of our sailboat as we crossed the Coral Sea from Cairns in Australia to New Guinea. I was skippering while my family slept below, and I felt so grown up. When I went up to the bow to check the ropes, I looked out at the quiet ocean and contemplated the fact that we were two days’ sail from anywhere. Raising my gaze above the dim horizon to the heavens above that were lit by stars, I was hyper-aware that it was just tiny me floating on our massive planet. Later, when I was looking down into the deep water, I saw streamers of tiny lights curling through the darkness. At first I thought it was the reflection of the stars, but I soon realised it was ribbons of bioluminescence stirred up by a pod of dolphins who’d decided to join me. Although they ended up accompanying us alongside our boat for the next day or so, playing at the bow and throwing us glances from the water, it was that early morning which I will truly never forget; the ocean, the quiet night and the stars, the animals, me, growing up in the world.
PHOTOGRAPH: TRAVELSCAPE IMAGES/ALAMY
THE TAKE AWAY
Travel can make and maintain a sense of wonder that drives everything in a better direction.