Wanted... Crystal Ball

I was driving to work on Friday and began to think about Crossroads.  Sometimes you don't know you've passed one until you see it in retrospect.  Other times you stand poised before one... In the mind's eye you peer into the future.  You try to envision what lies  ahead down each path, and you make a choice.   Bruce and I are standing at such a crossroad.  Thus the need for the Crystal Ball.  

I guess we aren't really still AT the Crossroads. No, we've already begun our journey down the pathway of choice... But it's not yet too late to turn back.  I can be indecisive but once a decision is made, I tend to blast my way to the goal.  We began down this road once before and I won't say we turned back, but we did take a detour.  We sold our home and purchased our current place.  Instead of it being a small rental to keep as backup while we went cruising, it ended up being a Cruising Kitty eater.  All is well now.   The fix-er-upper is fixed up and paid off and  we're ready to continue on down the path.

So, we put our boat up for sale... no hurry, it's winter and nobody buys a sailboat in the winter, right?  We aren't desperate, we've got plenty of time.  (Just our toes on the path)  We do some (lots of) research and settle on our "dream boat".  Several out there, more than we want to spend but hey, the economy is bad, it's a "buyer's market".  But wait!  The one we want goes off the market!  That's not in my plan... I wanted it! 

No worries, I settle back into my current life and try to pretend I've got patience.  Meanwhile, we show our boat to a few people and hope for an offer.  Suddenly a very sweet young couple appear on our radar.  They want our boat and make an offer.  Now remember we're still not desperate, no boat on the market that we really want.  So we stall and say no. 

But wait... is that our dream boat back on the market?  Emails fly, excitement builds and with it, doubt and uncertainty.  Here is the crossroad.  We crunch some numbers and get encouragement from the Broker that perhaps an offer such as we could afford to make might be acceptable...  now it's up to the sweet young couple.  Are they still interested in our boat?  Will the deal go through?  Oh, the lack of control is killing me!  THEY SAY YES!

Bruce and I sat there in silence... just blinking at one another... each thinking our own thoughts, our minds casting wildly around to find a foothold.  GULP!  Now what!  We've sold our boat.  OUR BOAT!  It's like being nudged from behind further down the path.

Now the doubts really begin to fly.  How can I let go of all of my possessions?   I really like that leather chair...   How can I get my work situated so that I can leave in good conscience? They just aren't thriving with this new system...  What do our daughter's really think about us leaving on a boat?  I'm sure they never thought we'd really do it...  Will the kitties survive life on the boat?  I'll just have to find a place for that litter box on board... What will I do about health insurance?  One word has kept coming up lately... peri-menopause... Will my health hold?  Maybe I'll just get a hysterectomy now.   I've already had my appendix out...  Will Bruce's health hold?  I can't handle a shin snapped in half in a tacking incident (that nearly happened by the way...)  Will there be pirates?  I read the reports...  What about the Kraken?  We will be in some really deep water!!!!

OK thats ENOUGH!  Quiet already.  I've been talking to cruiser friends and reading sailing blogs and I have never once encountered anyone who hates it.  Surely those people can't be illiterate and just not writing about it.  There are no internet censoring, pro-cruising, information police out there.  We're going!  Send that Crystal Ball crashing!  No regrets, what will be-will be.  The thought of squandering this gift by waiting too long is unacceptable.  Each day not spent with my husband, on a boat, doing what we love to do, together is one more day lost to regret.  Time to stop casting about for certainty, nobody ever really has that anyway.  We will take each day as it comes, and continue pressing onward.  Cruising is just a little bit closer now...

Getting Our Life Back Weekend

Bruce and I have been trying to extricate ourselves from the many duties and responsibilities we've assumed in the past two years or more and this weekend, we've begun to see the fruits of our efforts.  Somehow I found myself off work at 3pm on Friday and we threw some things into the van and escaped to the boat! 

I will say that since we've had Elan for sale, we've been limited as to how much we are able to relax and spread out due to the fact that we never know when someone might come along and want to take a look.  Every time we come for the night or weekend, we find that we've forgotten to bring some "vital" piece of stuff needed for casual weekend boat activities.  We finally gave up and quit trying to cook on board so as not to have to clean the galley to "boat show" standards.  It also cuts down on the amount of stuff we have to haul out here and gives us the opportunity to eat out, which is my real ulterior motive. 

We arrived here at about 4:30 and grabbed a beverage for an evening stroll.  We were checking out friend's new slip over on the fixed docks and were hailed by those very friends.  We hadn't expected any company this weekend but were pleasantly surprised when Bill and Jan showed up. 

We made quick plans and ended up having dinner at the Wild Horse Saloon. We agreed upon this place at Bill's urging and were not disappointed.  I was up for trying something new...  

The Saloon is not very old but when you enter, it looks like one of those old places that have been around for ages.  No frills, just peanuts on the floor and darkness brightened by a multitude of neon signs.  We found a tall table easily as only the bar seats were taken at this time of the evening. 

We ordered drinks and I found the novelty of husking a peanut and cavalierly tossing the shell onto the floor quite liberating.  We all settled on burgers and fries and felt a little flutter when Larry Joe Taylor came in the door with a couple of cronies and sat at the table right next to us.  I got the distinct impression that he wished to pretend to be incognito, so we obliged.  It's gotta be hard to be him and have people hanging on all the time.  He's just a guy after all... I think he was even wearing that same white shirt the last time I saw him...  It was funny though how when I got the waiter to take our picture, LJT was hiding in the background.

We finished up and joined Bill and Jan back on Merlin for a rum punch.  The night was much cooler now so we hung out down below.  Typically Bruce and I head for bed at this point in the evening, but one of my New Year's Resolutions is to be more fun... that means no more going to bed at 8 pm.  Bruce was the one who threw in the towel first this time and we slunk off to the v-berth somewhere around 10 pm. 

My favorite thing about sleeping on the boat are the sounds you hear through the night.  We had a change in the weather and I knew it by the way the boat sounded.  Sometime in the night, things changed.  New sounds and more rocking.  The Norther' had arrived.  This means we really need not spring out of the sack in the morning because it will be blowing hard and much cooler.  I snuggled down and enjoyed the forced inactivity. 

We abandoned sleep at about 6 am but didn't leave the v-berth until about 9:30.  I mused about whether I would ever be able to shake the compulsion to be doing something all the time and just go with whiling away the time following the leads on the Internet or reading a good book...  I gave it a good try this morning. 

We finished our coffee with Bailey's and drove over the Beaches for breakfast.  We had the biscuits and gravy, the best anywhere and tried the bread pudding with more coffee.  We were greeted by the owner, Bob and had a long conversation with him.  He's quite nice and is studying the art of BBQ which is evident if you ever get a chance to try his pulled pork.  He said he's toying with the idea of doing whole hogs but hasn't launched it yet.  I'm OK with it as long as I don't have to see the thing.  We talked to him about working up a proposal for possibly catering a future BYC Cruise to Port A. 

Back at the boat, the cool winds were blustery and wild.  I had a walk on the beach in mind but a nap seemed a more likely pastime at this point.  Hey, it's the weekend and I'm trying to relax and go with it.  I stretched out in the v-berth under the warm sun from the hatch above my head and dozed away an hour or so.  

Once again the compulsion to be doing something seized us so we packed up our stuff and drove to the jetties for that beach walk.  I made some sandwiches... heavy emphasis on on the "sand"... which we ate in the van while watching people feed flocks of gulls.  Aren't tourists cute?  The winds were really blowing the sand which was all over us already and we weren't even out of the van yet...  We gave up on our walk and headed for home. 

We had planned to stay on board for a second night but had received an invitation to an impromptu 40th birthday celebration for our friend Clay.  No way could we miss it so we showed up at the appointed time at B&J's Pizza and joined the fun.  It's been a while since we've seen Clay and his family but he is one of those friends that you can just pick up where you left off and we always enjoy his family.  We ended our Saturday with lots of laughs and a scrumptious cupcake.  I can't believe Clay is 40...

BYC Frostbite Cruise 2012

The New Year is off and running with the first Cruise of 2012!  This year's Frostbite cruise was practically balmy as compared to last year's freeze.  Walt and Judy took us up on our offer of help in getting Endless Summer over to Port A.  With the help of Stace, the five of us set "sail" at around 11am on Saturday headed that way.  We had very light winds... OK no winds... and a bit of fog as we set a course for marker 43.  Don't bother putting up sails as they would be useless. 

Ann and David closed in on us on Sanctuary with a boatfull of guests.  We tried to outrun them but not very hard and they easily overtook us before we reached the channel. 

Just as they came alongside, a couple of dolphin began playing on their (minimal) bow wake.  You know it's calm when this is the best game in town for a dolphin!  The guests on board were very excited.  As is the norm with my cheap little digital camera, I missed the best shot, but here is the second best.  I got him just as he finished a roll...

There was a little more excitement once we reached the Corpus Christi Ship Channel.  We had some tanker traffic and the dolphin there were taking full advantage.  As always... I love these displays of "Dolphin Joie de Vivre"

We did get a bit more wind with a cool front blowing in as we neared the Port Aransas Ferry lanes but as we were near our destination, we didn't bother putting up sails.  There's still the return trip tomorrow...  We radioed Merlin for our slip assignment and found a BYC welcoming committee ready to help us dock.  Walt did a marvelous job backing the boat right into the slip.  Not too bad for a guy with a recently broken hip!

WE'RE HERE!  Well... our boat is already here so what's the big deal?  The big deal is the turnout for this cruise!  I think we had more than 15 boats show up for this not counting the four boats that stay here.  After the year we've had... this is great!  Every event we planned last year was battered by bad weather.  This weekend with it's little bit of fog and cool wind was a treat! 

SeaFlight was the first of the "Host Boats" that we visited.  We had planned to help out but when Walt asked us for help sailing the boat over, we slinked out of it.  No worries... Brenda had a marvelous pot of seafood chowder simmering on the stove that warmed everyone inside and out!  We joined the throngs of happy sailors in SeaFlight's cockpit and had a taste.

When all of the Chowder was gone, fickle crowd that we are... we all migrated over to our second Host Boat, Merlin.  Jan and Bill had a sumptuous spread laid out and we dove right in.  Their boat was all warm and toasty and the chatter was near deafening!  Bill was serving up some ridiculously delicious rum punches....  May I have some moa? 

I shared the corner with Jo and a giant bowl of guac that was to-die-for.  Jo and Ron are planning their 5th Mardi Gras party at the Club coming up soon.  They weren't at the Officer's Installation Banquet held earlier this month when their names were announced as having (finally) won the prestigious "Cook of the Year" award for 2011.  Jo and Ron have put on the Mardi Gras party year after year and are only now reaping the rewards of fame and fortune beyond measure.  Kudos to you both! 

We whiled away the afternoon and early evening hanging out on the docks like a bunch of shore birds.  We had one more thing on our agenda tonight and when darkness fell, we began the short walk to Fins where we were to eat yet again...

We had over 50 people show up for this dinner.  Some drove over to meet the boaters and we filled this little place up! 

The staff at Fins had their hands full as they brought us all drinks and then began bringing out plates of food, family style.  Bruce and I brought up the rear with Bill and Jan and had to have more tables brought in from the porch.  We got there just in time to get the tail end of the food.

We weren't really very hungry after grazing all afternoon... but for $17 a plate, you have certain expectations....  Bill, just consider it as a donation to local charity and ask for your tax receipt on your way out!

The waiters and manager are pretty good to allow us to take over their place each year for this cruise.  We got pretty noisy and a little rowdy and I'm sure their regular patrons were not too amused by our shenanigans.  There was one couple there who inquired about membership, so hopefully we picked up another new member in spite of it all.

We walked back to the marina where Bruce and I peeled off the parade to sneak back to our boat without notice.  I was ready to be in my jammies and Bruce put up little objection. 

The next morning, we had coffee and set out for a walk to the San Juan for breakfast.  We figured the rest of our bunch would have partied long into the night and it was NO WAY any of them were awake.  We did see several couples out and about when we returned from breakfast. 

We did a few boat chores and even had a chance to show our boat to a prospective buyer... then put away our stuff and headed back over to Endless Summer with our gear.We were just in time to see one of our women working out her strategy to get their boat out of the slip with a bit of wind causing havoc.  We all watched as Sylvia wrestled this beast out of this small space while her husband, Jim gave quiet advice but didn't jump to the wheel and take over.  Sylvia got it out beautifully and we all cheered!  We are seeing more and more of this as our men patiently teach their wives to handle the helm. 

One by one, our little party dissipated as the boats set sail for home.  Our turn came and we had some help getting off the dock and were soon under way again. 

This time we had PLENTY of wind.  It was blowing in the 20s and gusty but the flat water of the ship channel made for a comfortable ride once we got the sails situated. 

The sail back to Corpus Christi was punctuated by the obligatory dolphin show... As this military vessel slid by us we were treated once again to this glimpse into the lives of these marvelous creatures.

The winds moderated before we got out into the Bay, giving us a chance to have a picnic.  Is that all we do?  EAT?  We had nice flat(ish) water and some holes in the breeze before it settled down to a nice 15 plus kts the rest of the way.  We said goodbye to Starfish as we left them behind.  See Ya at the dock, Chip! 

We drowsed our way across the Bay in the weak sunshine and then once docked, scrambled to get all our gear off the boat.  We had to get back to reality and prepare for the work week.  More and more I'm thinking "This is my REALITY".  I'm counting the days until I don't have to go home!