Grace Under Fire

February 28, 2010
Lat/Lon 24 44.0 N, 80 54.0 W

Yesterday, we started heading back. east through the Keys. We are nearing the end of this initial shake-down cruise. 11 days left to get up to Indian Town where Quest will spend the summer.

But I still have several stories to tell about our trip to the Dry Tortugas, here is another one.

Grace under fire. I love that term. I guess because it’s something that is/can be very hard to achieve. I believe it to be a fairly rare quality. I doubt I will ever be able to pull it off! But when I see it, I recognize it and greatly admire it.

This is our friend Apryl, aka – 'Grace'. And aside from spelling her own name wrong, she is one of the coolest people I’ve ever met. She has a wonderful sense of humor. She’s eager to try new things. She’s generous, beautiful and incredibly optimistic.

On our way back from the Dry Tortugas, we got into some fairly heavy seas. Ok, that's putting it mildly. 8 of the 10 hours of the trip back to Key West were going head on into 7 to 10 foot swells with deep troughs. Easily the roughest water we’ve been in yet.

We only have three inflatable harnesses on board, so Sid, Rob and I wore those because we were ‘working’ the boat and could be tethered to the boat with them. Apryl got stuck wearing one of the ugly orange life preservers. And because it can’t be tethered to the boat, she had to stay below during the roughest part. She was such a good sport about it.

However, being below made her over heat and become very seasick. Before long, she was stripped down to her little turquoise bikini, spread eagle on the bed, and barfing into a garbage can. jWhen I went below to try to give her some Dramamine, she smiled and apologized for being a wimp! But believe me, Apryl is NO wimp! She wasn't able to keep the dramamine down. She HAD to come up above, which is helpful when seasick. So she put on the ugly orange life preserver, some warmer clothes, and her best smile, and came up to the cockpit to try to feel better.

At this point, a lot of people would have been grumpy, angry, pitiful, and pathetic, not Apryl. Bless her heart, the first thing she did was give us a big smile, and apologize again for ‘being a wimp.’ (I'm tellin' ya, the girl is a stud!) Then she sat there, watched the horizon, which helps, and cracked jokes about the rough water. And all the while, her hair looked cute, her eyes sparkled and she smiled. I told her, with all honesty, I have never seen anybody look so radiant while being that shade of ‘green’. What a trooper!

And the next day, she was not only willing, but enthusiastic about going back out on the ocean to go snorkeling.

Apryl is just the type of person to ‘find the pony in the pile of horse shit’.
You rock, Apryl!