Sailing with the Artemis Posse

By Natalie Keith

Can the friendship of five middle-aged women, linked mainly through the happenstance of South Florida living, survive a week sailing through Greece's Dodecanese Islands? The trip starts with a dubious warning, but the help of their skipper, Paul, and first mate, Haley, the intrepid neophyte sailors make their way through the Agean Sea aboard the Artemis. Along the way, they discover the splendor and trepidation of nature's offerings, along with a spirit of renewal that will last a lifetime.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Natalie Keith
• Release date: Nov 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223613152

Natalie Keith

I remember the first story I ever wrote. I was 8 years old and sitting in my grandparents' living room when the idea struck. Like a lightning bolt out of nowhere, inspiration crawled into my consciousness and soon I had pen to paper. I loved it. They say lightning never strikes twice but, in my case, it's struck all my life – at 14 when I wrote my first poem, at 26 when I became a newspaper reporter, at 34 when I wrote my first screenplay, and at 49 when I began writing my first novel. Writing has served as my best friend and my therapist, the antidote to a dark's winter's day, and a window into my greatest aspirations - and fears. Today, I spend my days working for a large consulting firm earning my living as a proposal writer. But in the hours and days in between, I still wait for lighting to strike and the world to become so tantalizingly lucid – even just for a few moments. We all have a story to tell. In my case, I've had many. My goal is to keep writing my stories in the hope that someday one will shake the world like a thunder clap – the loud crescendo of a life spent embracing the power of lightning.

Book preview

Sailing with the Artemis Posse

By Natalie Keith

The trip does not start auspiciously. A concerning email from SeaScape Sailing proprietor Diane, meant for another’s eyes, somehow lands in Denise’s inbox. There is urgency, if not panic, in Diane’s tone. The message is clear—do these five women really understand what they’ll face during a weeklong sail of Greece’s Dodecanese Islands aboard the Artemis?

In a follow-up email, Diane apologizes profusely for the error but takes the opportunity to offer these stern words of caution: Sailboats really are big campervans-on-the-water – with all the cool things about such; but also all the ‘resource limitations’ too. She reiterates what we have known, at least in theory, from the start: this is not going to be a glossy brochure experience. There will be absolutely no frills aboard the vessel, which means quick showers, soiled toilet tissue stuffed in a nearby bin (not a shred could be dropped in the toilet), and only enough electricity to power our cell phones.

For a moment, our party of five middle-aged neophyte sailors hold our collective breaths. Are we truly ready for this once-in-a-lifetime experience?

Like many friendships in South Florida, ours had been haphazardly stitched together over the years – acquainted by friends of friends of friends with a shared love of sunshine and spirits, and vacationing as far as airplanes, and our quest for adventure, would take us. But this marks the first time that all five members of our intrepid group would be travelling together and, at least privately, we have reservations.

Mel is our trip leader, the person who introduces us to SeaScape Sailing and communicates with Diane. She serves as our driving force, the wind in our sails, booking many of our flights and hotel rooms and ushering us through the logistics of international travel. She patiently answers the slew of questions we ask in the months leading up to the trip and offers dozens of travel tips gleaned from her many years of travelling around the globe.

Dawn serves as our comic relief. Armed with Drunk on a Plane, Dierks Bentley and Cheers Beaches baseball caps, she is never shy about speaking her blunt and often hilarious opinions and likes to punctuate sentences with her universal term of affection for women, Sister. In discussing how we should celebrate July 4, she jokes that we should jump from the boat naked, Our Founding Fathers would want us to! she declares.

Jenn and Dawn have known each other the longest, having worked together at Home Depot in their 20s. Dawn called Jenn Hennifer – a portmanteau of Dawn’s last name, Hennebery, and Jenn’s longform name, Jennifer. It’s a demonstration of both endearment and a kind of sisterhood between the two. Jenn doesn’t suffer fools gladly and has a particular distain for times when she is mistreated. Early in the trip, after a man rushes rudely into an Athens elevator we’re occupying, she marks her displeasure by pushing several of the floor buttons prior to exiting, thereby