V1 Leg 5: Left Behind in France (Oostend to Calais... to Poole?)

Our night sail to Calais, France was cold but peaceful. Due to customs issues, I was stuck in Calais with the cat for a few days. Everything was closed, so I took the opportunity to reflect on my night watch thoughts and create a series of watercolors that will be available in my Etsy shop March 2025. I enjoyed walking around town, being inspired by wall murals while finding new ways to keep Odin (the cat) entertained on land. I left gifts for my wonderful hosts and made a watercolor for my dear friend who rescued us from the customs issue, helping me check-in my pet to the UK via a government-approved entry route: crossing the English Channel by car so that customs could scan my cat's microchip. My watercolor series include text, like journal entries, of the philosophical places my mind explored during moonlit nights on the North Sea--what do we have in common with ocean creatures like sea jellies, and what can we learn from them? Sailboats and jellyfish are both drifters, using the wind and the current to get around. Sure it's slow, but it sure is energy efficient. I wrote about how "Slow is the New Efficient" in my Substack, here: https://taraapierce.substack.com/p/slow-is-the-new-efficient?r=4eryu4 You can also read more about my night watch thoughts on Substack here, in my post "Lost (and Found) At Sea": https://taraapierce.substack.com/p/lost-and-found-at-sea?r=4eryu4 If you like this channel and want to support the voyage, consider becoming a paid subscriber and enjoy more of my content in writing. (all content is always free, my humble offering to making the world a better place) As always, thank you to my husband Brett Pierce for the music and being the best life partner I could ever ask for. sailing, sailor, ocean, ocean lover, sailing family, sailing with a cat, cats that sail, traveling with a cat, traveling to the UK with a cat, making art, art about nature, art about the ocean, art process, art studio, a day in the life of an artist, a sailing artist, disrupted sailing plans, we saw dolphins while sailing, we spotted dolphins while sailing, seeing dolphins in the wild, sailing Europe, sailing France