When Jennifer and Russel Redmond got married in 1989, they made a decision to spend their honeymoon at sea, sailing to and around Baja California’s Sea of Cortez. The voyage tested their new relationship, not just with storms and bad weather, but in all the ways that living on a twenty-six-foot sailboat make one reconsider what’s truly important. The account of this important year in her life is told in Jennifer’s memoir, Honeymoon at Sea: How I Found Myself Living on a Small Boat (Sept, re:books, Toronto).
In witty insightful prose, Jennifer recounts that first year, moving back and forth with the currents of her life. Her unique experience on the boat weaves through time as she explores the events that lead to taking her first step onto Watchfire, from her bohemian 1960s childhood in Southern California to her years in NYC. As Jennifer’s grandfather once said, “If you want to get to know someone, take a long trip in a small boat.”
Redmond’s love of Baja radiates throughout the pages of Honeymoon at Sea. Her description of her first La Paz sunset comes at the end of a long day, after the couple anchor their sailboat boat in nearby Bahía Balandra.
“We barely made it to sunset, but it was worth staying awake for. The hills had turned a deep violet and the sky was illuminated with golds and deep reds, all reflected on dramatic cloud formations that spread across the cerulean sky in rose, gold, and hot pink billows and streaks. The water of the bay reflected all the colors on its glassy surface, mirroring the celestial glory. La Paz sunsets are justly famous, and though I am still partial to dawns, sunset would prove to be a highpoint of each day to come.”
The memoir begins and ends with the couple on their current sailboat in San Diego and Washingtons Puget Sound. More than thirty years later, the couple still live aboard their sailboat Watchfire, somewhere on the West Coast of North America. Find out more about their current and upcoming travels at www.jennyredbug.com.