Expect magic to unfold
A lesson in the power of manifestation from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
Day 43: Atlantic Ocean. Last night, around 2 a.m., we reached the midway point between Mindelo and Barbados. 1017 nautical miles travelled and 1017 nautical miles left. Even if it has never been an option to turn and go back (it would probably be faster and more comfortable to drift West across the ocean than to turn around should anything happen), the midway point is symbolic, and we can start counting days left instead of days sailed. The wind has picked up to a fresh breeze, even a gale at times. The rocking is stronger, and we’ve had to secure all the loose items down in the cabin. The atmosphere on board is good, and the crew is happy.
A few days ago, someone noted that we hadn’t seen any whales on our journey. “Let’s manifest one,” I suggested. According to the pundits of manifestation, the universe provides whatever you focus on as long as you let go of expectations. As a trained researcher, I should probably not indulge such superstition, but the idea makes sense to me, and I have already manifested the weirdest things: a whale in the Atlantic should be well within our manifestation powers as a group. We decide to consciously imagine a whale sighting a few times each day, and see if it appears.
Yesterday morning, Lucho says, “Today we’ll see the whale, I can feel it.” His intuition was on point, and in the afternoon, as the sun was setting, we suddenly heard a puff next to the boat, turning our heads just in time to see the big, dark back of the whale we had manifested breach the ocean surface a few meters away. “The whale!” Lucho yelled—not just any whale, but the whale was dancing casually along us, so close that I for a split second feared that we would run into it with our keel: a sailor’s nightmare. But the whale was very much aware of us and our position, so much so that it crossed underneath the hull, from one side of the boat to the other, whilst pirouetting and exposing its big white belly and tail.
It followed us along for an hour or so, disappearing and reappearing—perhaps encouraged by our cheering and yelling. The dancing whale was a bit over the top, we agreed, but thanked the universe and decided that it was our halfway gift and a lesson on the power of asking and then letting go of expectations.
