From time to time, my blog will include an excerpt from one of my books. This story is an example of Serendipity—one of my favorite words.
Excerpted from The Long Way Back, pages 228-29:
An Unplanned Stop in Sri Lanka
06º01’N, 80º13’E
Galle, Sri Lanka
February 9
Despite the miseries that we’ve endured this past week, part of the joy of traveling is encountering the unexpected. We did not plan to stop at this island nation, southeast of India. Our plan was to sail straight to the Maldives. But after our miserable crossing of the Bay of Bengal, we welcome any refuge from the lumpy seas.
Serendipity brought us to Sri Lanka. And I’m fascinated that the country’s original name was Serendip, an Arab traders’ word applied to the land long before the Portuguese came on the scene. It reflected the lucky circumstance of their discovery and contact. Today, in its native Sinhala tongue, Sri Lanka means Land of the Blessed. For us, being here is indeed blessed and serendipitous.
Günter and I intend to understand its people and culture better—and, yes, even its’ continuing civil war. This war caused us to strike Sri Lanka from our original circumnavigation plan. Now, though, we cannot avoid its ongoing cruelty. We arrive at dawn’s light, crossing the shipping channels at 90 degrees and deviating course twice to sail behind giant freighters.
“You never want to cross in front of a freighter,” Günter tells our crew, Chris, “because it can take one of those monsters up to four miles to stop.”
Chris, our crew, with the Maldives flag. Gunter with Sri Lankan flag.
As instructed via VHF, we prepare the ship for anchoring outside the harbor. It doesn’t take long to see the guns. We’ve never experienced an entrance like this! Two small runabouts, with mounted machine guns, race toward our boat while men wave and point to where they want us to drop the hook. Next, we spot a huge navy vessel—tons of sleek steel glinting in the morning sun—coming around the breakwater. Three Immigration Officers from the navy vessel board Pacific Bliss, while the two speedboats keep circling us.
Stilt Fisherman near Galle, Sri Lanka.
The officers conduct a thorough inspection of Pacific Bliss and give us forms to fill out. These are immigration forms, and each asks the same questions over and over. The process lasts half an hour. Then, after stamping the paperwork, one officer asks for “smokes.” Wisely, we had purchased a few cartons just for this purpose. Chris distributes a pack to each officer.
We’ll have a two-hour wait before being shown inside the harbor, but we don’t mind; we’re happy to have our first onboard breakfast in a week in calm water. After breakfast, via VHF, we hire a local agent, G.A.C. Shipping, to handle the rest of the voluminous paperwork that will allow Pacific Bliss to berth here.
Later, a navy officer boards our ship to direct Günter to a berth inside the harbor. As we enter, we note that it’s entirely roped off, except for one small lane for fishing boats and yachts. The officer presents us with three choices: to tie up to a black buoy in the center, where we’d have to use our dinghy to get to shore; to Med-moor to a floating dock, consisting of wobbly plastic sections with no handholds; or to raft to one of the monohulls along the sea wall. We choose the third option and raft to a small monohull flying an Italian flag. Now we can walk across the monohull and from there, onto dry land.
“Well, we’re finally safe,” Günter declares with a sigh. “But we’re not going to do any serious touring until we graduate to a berth directly on the sea wall. Tomorrow, we’ll just walk around Galle and mingle with the locals.”
That first night, cradled by Pacific Bliss and swaying with the current, I fall asleep feeling like we are still at sea. KA-BOOM! I jerk awake. I hear and feel the thunderous boom right through the water and the hull. Oh my God! What have we gotten ourselves into?
Günter pulls me over to him and hugs me tight. “It’s the depth charges, remember? They told us this would happen.”
Talk about encountering the unexpected!
“It feels like we’re in a war zone!”
“We are. It’s the price we pay for taking refuge from the storm.”
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- An elephant bathing near Kandy, Sri Lanka, came right up to us watching on shore.
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- Boys hanging on the train, Sri Lankan Highlands.
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- Eighty-something Indian Guide, Adams Peak, Sri Lanka.
How has serendipity worked in your life? When you travel, do you make allowances for expecting the unexpected? Please add your own comments.
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About the Author: Lois and Günter Hofmann lived their dream by having a 43-foot ocean-going catamaran built for them in the south of France and sailing around the world. Learn more about their travel adventures by reading Lois’s award winning nautical adventure trilogy. Read more about Lois and her adventures at her website and stay in touch with Lois by liking her Facebook page.
SailorsTales 
February 2, 2020 at 1:19 am
Serendipity and Synchronicity.
Two words, … and words have meaning, often clearly and precise. Although, these words are not commonly used in everyday language, they sometimes describe perfectly various experiences or events in our lives.
What exactly do the words mean?
Serendipity
The good old Australian dictionary describes this as the …
‘Faculty of making happy and unexpected discoveries by accident.’
Or from the internet …
‘The occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way.’
Scientists would have no real problem with that. This is because the underlying components can be interpreted as tying in with the concept of Chaos; things simply happen. Ultimately they turn out to be ‘luck’, sometimes good, sometimes not so good and, more often than we like, sometimes outright bad. The ‘good-luck’ bit is perceived as serendipity.
But then, … there is also Synchronicity.
The word, coined by Carl Jung, is not even in the dictionary. But one can find it on the internet …
‘The simultaneous occurrence of events which appear significantly related but have no discernible causal connection.’
There is also a more concise definition. Rather than describing an occurrence as ‘significantly related’, which has a distinct flavour of ambiguity to it, the other definition spells out exactly what is meant by the word synchronicity: ‘Meaningful Coincidence.’
Now, … if something is ‘meaningful’, it is not due to potluck, or Chaos as scientists would call it.
If something has meaning, it was directed to have that meaning!
Who, then, would do such directing?
Scientists would have enormous problems with just the thought of it, let alone the question. Because, as far as they are concerned, there is no one (not anything) that can give meaning to coincidences. Why not? Because, as they see it, it would be supernatural; and in the world of science that is anathema.
On the other hand, … for those of us who believe, it is perfectly feasible and possible that God or our Guardian Angel, call it what you will, sometimes guides us or gives meaning to events which we then perceive as mere coincidence, lucky ones at times.
It’s usually only afterwards, when we have the time to reflect, that we come to realise, ‘hang on, … there was more to it than just that’; even if it seems to have been serendipity.
When I read your ‘Sailor’s Tale’, and your inspiring books, I could see instances where your experiences may have been a lot more than just ‘Serendipity’; there were probably a lot more elements and moments of ‘Synchronicity’ than you realise, I reckon.
Thank you for your ‘Sailor’s Tale’ and please keep up the good work.
Cheers,
Peter.
https://www.google.com/search?q=serendipity+meaning&oq=serendipity&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5j69i60l2.6135j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
https://www.google.com/search?ei=-BA2Xr3CHZWFmge3mpmwBA&q=synchronicity+meaning&oq=synchronicity&gs_l=psy-ab.1.1.0i273j0l9.417206.422443..426362…0.1..0.315.3157.0j4j7j2……0….1..gws-wiz…….0i71j0i67j0i131.S31e4zCz8s0
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity_(disambiguation) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synchronicity_(disambiguation)
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February 3, 2020 at 7:34 pm
Thanks, Peter, for your research and thoughtful reply. I used “Serendipity” because I was fascinated that the country’s original name was Serendip. It was also a case of serendipity, to be sure.
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