• People who think you are insane. They stammer, avoid eye contact, and look for a quick exit from the conversation. (Todd says this happened to him before we went sailing, but I think that was related to his ‘one day on, two days off’ showering schedule.)
• People who admire you for “following your bliss”, but who know that such a choice is not for them. These people are polite and encouraging, and we thank the gods for them, because someone has got to keep the home fires burning!
• People who harbor thoughts of a making a similar getaway. They get a faraway look in the eye, seem quiet for a moment, and then start asking you detailed questions about how to rent out your house.



• People who, despite their total lack of sailing skills, have a wild flash of inspiration that they should join you!

We got an interesting ‘application’ from someone in the latter category that I figured we should post as an example for those looking for crew positions.

I don’t want to publish his name for fear that some other captain will snap him up, so let’s just call him “Frank”. Here’s what Frank had to say:

Let me know next time you take a trip and need a deck hand. I would make the ideal ‘hand on deck’. My sailing knowledge is extensive to say the least although there was one embarrassing rookie episode involving my misunderstanding of the use of the poop deck.

Just a few of my sea faring attributes:

• I have a lot of technical knowledge. For example I know the big stick thingies support the large pieces of cloth so the wind can push the boat around.
• I smoke cigarettes.
• I get sea sick at the drop of a hat, so as long as no one drops their hat I’m fine.
• I can cook as long as the menu consists of boiled water and/or toast.
• I’m open minded concerning food as long as it’s not ‘lite’, contains or has been anywhere near tofu, and is the complete opposite of organic.



• I sunburn in a heartbeat. I once got sunburned watching ‘Lawrence of Arabia’ on television. I use the sunscreen with the picture of Andy Warhol on the bottle.
• I know lots of sailing terms like ‘gerbil the frig line’, ’snort the phlegm mast’, ‘cleave the skiff knot’, and the one I hear the most, ‘get the hell out of my way before you kill us all’, just to name a few.
• I can swim and execute a gold medal quality cannonball dive. (I wish splash dives were an Olympic sport, but then again, who doesn’t?)

References furnished upon request once they’re parolled.

Our train trip from Konstanz to Ferrara, Italy took us through Switzerland; and since I’m speaking of contradictions, I couldn’t help but notice one about the Swiss. Known (well, at least in Germany!) for their conservatism and distrust of outsiders, the Swiss have declined to join the European Union. And yet, Switzerland has four national languages (German, Italian, French and Romansh) in what you would guess would be the most diverse country of Europe. What’s up with that?

Anyway, we were thrilled to be headed to Frank and Arianna’s wedding in Arianna’s hometown of Ferrara. “I can’t wait to drive one of those cars! Vrraaa-eee, vrraaa-ahhh!” squealed Todd, mimicking the movements of a race car driver shifting gears. “It’s Ferrara, not Ferrari!” I corrected him. At first he was pretty disappointed, but once he learned that we’d be in a region famous for pork products, fine cheeses, and rich foods, he was psyched up to start eating!

Well, we definitely weren’t disappointed in Ferrara or the food we had there! We spent the first afternoon walking around the city’s medieval streets, having a beer next to the castle, and walking on the walls that were originally built for protection, and now serve as a walking/running/biking trail. Fun facts about Ferrara: During the Renaissance, it was the home of the powerful Este family. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Native residents (including Arianna!) have a genetic resistance to malaria (the place used to be surrounded by mosquito-filled swamps).

That evening, we joined Arianna’s parents Remigio and Anna for dinner at a restaurant in what used to be the stock exchange building. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t catch the name of the restaurant, because Todd and I agreed that it was one of the best meals we’ve had in years. We had the same first course: a soft-boiled egg, shelled, breaded, and lightly fried, served over a chanterelle mushroom sauce. It was nothing short of heavenly! Our main courses were pasta; mine was pumpkin-filled ravioli (a specialty of Ferrara) and Todd’s was a spicy spaghetti. Again, both were exquisite. And the wine! My god! Organic, local, and amazing!

Organic, local food is a really big deal in Italy, the birthplace of the Slow Food movement. There is even a big organic farm right in the middle of Ferrara! And it makes sense: when you think of Italy, you think of long, leisurely meals with friends and family. Given all this, you might imagine that a coffee break in Italy would be a relaxed, hours-long affair, because even in the States “having a coffee” means sitting down, having a chat, connecting with a friend.

Not so in Italy! When it comes to coffee, Italians are all business. Having an afternoon coffee means running in to the coffee shop, ordering an espresso, drinking it standing up, and running back out the door! And, just like San Franciscans are a bit snooty about burritos, Italians have very set ideas about coffee. Think you’ll come off as cosmopolitan by ordering a cappuccino? Well, you better check your watch, because if you order one after noon, Italians will snicker at you. Silly American, cappuccini are for breakfast! “Okay, maybe at 10 in the morning,” Arianna advised us, “but not in the afternoon!”

Another contradiction in Italy: they somehow manage to be both very serious and very casual about religion. On Sunday, we were wondering where we might buy some sodas, snacks, and the like, and someone mentioned the local corner store. “Not today,” said Arianna’s mother. “Everything’s closed. It’s God’s day.” This from the same woman who, when I commented on a beautiful building near the center of town, dismissed it with, “Oh, that… it’s an old church. We have so many, we don’t know what to do with them. Some are now shops… there’s even one that is now a sex shop!”

Well, we were certainly looking forward to an Italian wedding. An old church, food, wine, dancing, and a huge Italian family, right? Um, almost! Frank and Arianna were married at a lovely old abbey, and the reception featured nine courses and wine that Arianna’s father made. Afterwards, we danced until almost 3am, and were amazed by the thunder and lightning storm that held off until the festivities had ended. But the big Italian family? Well, Arianna is an only child, and apparently, the huge Italian family is a thing of the past. With only 1.33 children per woman, Italy has one of Europe’s lowest birth rates. The only countries with lower rates are… Any guesses? Sweden? The Netherlands? How about Spain and Greece!

But, even without a big loud family, like so many before us we were enchanted by Italy. Maybe it was just great spending time with Frank, Arianna and their friends. Maybe it was the relaxing spell of riding bikes around the city on a sunny afternoon. Or it could have been the custom of aperativo, in which cocktail hour includes a free appetizer buffet that thrifty travelers can turn into dinner. And, I’m not ruling out the possibility that we were so hopped up on espresso that we weren’t so much “high on life” as “high on caffeine”. Whatever the reason, life is just a little more fun when you speak with an Italian accent- something we felt compelled to do the entire time we were there!

“It’s easy,” I reassured him. “We just show up with our stuff, and they give us a blanket and a pillow, and free drinks. Sometimes they’ll even give us food. And we just watch a movie and then we’re there!”

“You had me at ‘free drinks’!” cried Toro enthusiastically. We were all set for a three week trip to Europe: a week visiting our friends Frank and Arianna in Vienna, followed by a week with the Schumanns in Germany, and wrapping up with Frank and Ari’s wedding in her hometown of Ferrara, Italy.

Well, to make a long story short, the morning of our departure didn’t go as planned. After six hours at SFO, involving:

• our first flight being delayed for maintenance
• being switched to an earlier flight on a different airline
• check-in complications due to the carrier change
• being told at the check-in counter to tell the people at security that our flight was about to leave, then being denied access to the first class security line and told with a sneer that “You should have got here sooner”
• being pulled out of the regular security line to undergo special testing of ourselves and our luggage
• running for but missing the earlier flight
• being put back on the delayed flight and re-routed through London
• boarding the plane, taxiing out to the runway, only to be turned back by a different mechanical problem
• deboarding with all of the other shell shocked passengers
• and realizing we would miss our connection on the London flight and end up in JFK overnight

…we decided to scrap the Vienna leg of our trip!

Actually the deciding factor on that was it was going to cost 200 euro each (over $300) to change our AirBerlin tickets (for the Zurich to Vienna portion of our trip), with no guarantee that we wouldn’t have further complications and lose that money too!

Luckily our supportive friends Dave and Melissa welcomed us back to their place in SF, where we had cocktails and licked our wounds (the alcohol makes it sterile!). Then we went back to my mom’s in Sacramento for a week, so Todd could work and we could get psyched up to try again the following week.

We got to the airport extra early, and breezed through check-in and security. We were only slightly concerned when our flight posted a 10 minute delay; we got more concerned when that was upped to 30 minutes. When we finally got off an hour late, we weren’t sure if we’d make our connecting flight or not. So much for a relaxing flight! Luckily, there were a lot of people on our plane connecting to Europe, and they held our Zurich flight. We were amazed that the other passengers actually stayed in their seats to let us scramble off and run to our next flight! And we were so relieved once we got to our seats, that Todd didn’t even mind that the limited leg room meant that he’d be crossing the Atlantic with his knees next to his ears.

As always, it was a pleasure visiting the Schumanns in Konstanz! We visited their lovely garden several times, and their neighbor Stefan took us out sailing on the lake! We also had a lot of water fun: soaking in the new thermal baths, swimming in the lake, laps at the municipal pool (an activity that I believe can be translated into German as ‘Susankickentoddsarse’), and a trip to Alpemare near Zurich, which has the craziest water slides ever! (That translated into German is something like ‘Toddscreamslikeeinekleinefrauline’.)

And of course, the best parts were eating Doris’ cooking, and catching up with the growing Schumann family. See all of our Germany photos here.

On our first full day, we did the short Weeping Rocks hike and the Emerald Pools hike. Koiya did a great job hiking, despite the heat. She enjoyed all the squirrels, lizards, tadpoles, and flowers along the trail. And when she got overheated, we poured some of the icy cold stream water over her.

The second day, we hiked up to Angels’ Landing. This is a very popular trail, even though people slip and fall to their deaths from time to time. Koiya joined us for most of the hike but decided to stay behind while Toro and I did the last bit, as that part of the trail looks pretty intimidating. At one point, the trail is about 4 feet wide, with 2000 foot drops on either side! The scenery at the top is amazing! We were glad she was such a good sport about waiting for us. She knows that Toro loves adventure with a small bit of danger mixed in!

See all of our Zion photos here:

20080531Zion

We spent one night in St. George, Utah, had our standard road trip breakfast (waffles at the hotel buffet), then it was off to Las Vegas. Koiya was very excited, as she had heard so much about Vegas. We checked in to the Monte Carlo, then headed downstairs for a quick snack. The food court taqueria had “street tacos” that were a fair approximation of the real thing; but they were $1.89 each! “19 pesos?!” exclaimed Koiya, “That’s really expensive!”

Next stop was the swimming pools. Koiya and I headed to the “Easy River”, so named for the current that pushes you around it. Koiya had the bright idea for one of us to go downstream and the other to go upstream, and to see where we’d meet. I sent her off with the current and turned to walk back against it. Within seconds a whistle blew, and I looked up to find I was being scolded by the lifeguard. “You can’t go against the current, ma’am!” Well, Koiya was long gone, so I thought I should just jump out and wait for her to come around again. I pulled myself up on the “island” in the middle of the pool. Again the whistle sounded; “Ma’am, you can’t be there!” Sheesh! “Captain Ron is right,” I told Toro, “there are too many rules in this country!”

After the pools we took Koiya for a stroll along the strip, to see the lions at the MGM and the water show at the Bellagio. Though she thought both were cool, overall she was underwhelmed. “Everyone’s always saying how Vegas is so great,” she mused. Another childhood illusion- dashed by reality!

The highlight of our Vegas stay was our trip to the sushi buffet (Toro’s treat!). All the rolls, noodles, and desserts, and Koiya’s dream come true: a chocolate fountain! Maybe Vegas is the city of dreams after all!

We put Koiya on a plane home that night, and were so sad to see her go! After all the places we’d been together, it just didn’t feel right not having her with us. We debated which route we should take, and decided to go through Death Valley, maybe because it matched our mood!

We were still getting used to the great distances you can cover in a car.
Toro (looking at map dubiously): “I don’t know… it looks like that’s over 200 miles away!”
Me (sighing): “Honey, that’s like, a three hour drive.”
Toro (not hearing me because he’s doing calculations in his head): “I guess if I take the first watch, and you take the second…”

Even though we hadn’t climbed in 8 months, we were excited to go bouldering near Bishop, CA, one of the premiere bouldering areas in the country. We rented a crash pad for the day and spent the morning at the Happy Boulders (where we struggled) and the afternoon at the Buttermilks (where we got our asses kicked). Well, it was still fun, and the scenery was great!

See the Bishop photos here:

20080603Bishop

When we left Bishop, it was 85 degrees F. In less than an hour, we were at Mammoth Lakes. It was 51 degrees, and the wind was howling over the snow covered mountain! We stayed at the quaint Austria Hof lodge, where we enjoyed the hot tub and the fireplace in our room. The next day, we hiked around Convict Lake, where we had a brief snowball fight! The Eastern Sierra sure is gorgeous.

After our hike, we drove over the Sonora Pass and dropped down into the valley. The rolling brown hills and sturdy oaks made us feel like we were really home. When we arrived at my mom’s house, we saw the sign she’d hung from her balcony: “Welcome Home Sailors!” I bet that got the neighbors wondering about her; last summer she hosted three strapping Italian boys, and now she’s welcoming sailors?!

See our Mammoth Lakes photos here:

20080604MammothLakes

Mistake Number 1: We didn’t take into account that half of Arizona was in Mexico for the weekend, and all those people were also crossing back into the US that day. We had a lot of time to figure this out, waiting over 2 hours in line at the border.

Mistake Number 2: We didn´t fill the tank, jerry cans, our water bottles, or a kiddy pool strapped to the roof with $2.50/gallon gasoline. When Capn Bright Idea wondered aloud if we should get gas before crossing the border, First Mate Clueless dismissed the notion. “Gas can’t be that expensive in the US,” I said self-assuredly. “I mean, what did we invade Iraq for?” “I thought we were spreading democracy,” chimed Koiya from the back seat. Todd and I had a good laugh over that! Kids say the darndest things!

Well, one good thing about the long wait at the border was that Todd had time to jump out and buy us a last mango with chili. We were a bit worried about getting searched, because the van was just packed with stuff. Luckily the agent at the border crossing was tickled by our Canadian license plate number, “456 BRP”. “456 Burp?” he asked. We were quick to appear jovial. “I know, it’s wacky, eh?” He chuckled and waved us on through.

We got to our hotel in Tucson around 10pm, and Koiya was disappointed to have to go straight to bed. We promised her waffles at the breakfast buffet followed by a swim in the pool in the morning. Once she was in bed, Toro and I slipped out to the hot tub. I let him bring a drink, but stopped him when he grabbed a bar of soap. “But all that fresh warm water…” he whined, “Next you’re going to tell me I can’t walk around town with an open beer!”

It was our first night off the boat in eight months, but the weird thing was that it wasn’t weird. Just like driving felt totally familiar, so did falling into bed next to a bourbon-scented Todd. The only odd thing was that he and the sheets were clean!

The next day, we all enjoyed a visit to the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum, which is cleverly arranged so that you walk a bit through the desert, then get to cool off at exhibits featuring live animals and birds. See our Tucson photos here:

20080527Tucson

That night, we got in a quick visit with my friends Matt and Margaret, who live in Scottsdale. We found a hotel in Camp Verde for the night, and spent the next day around Sedona. We went on a hike and got to see some cool pictographs. We also went to Slide Park, where the river has carved out some natural water slides. I was pretty psyched to get into the water, until I found out it was only 57 degrees! But Toro was insistent, declaring, “We spent 10 bucks to get in, so we’re all going swimming!” Two words: frickin’ freezing! See our Sedona pics here:

20080528Sedona

We spent that night in Williams, Arizona, at the Grand Canyon Hotel. What a cool little place! It was built in 1891, then fell into disrepair and was vacant for 35 years until the current owners bought and restored it. We had reserved the cheapest room with two beds, which turned out to be two twins… but since she had rooms available, the owner upgraded us to two adjoining rooms. Todd and I were in the “Missouri Room” while Koiya, appropriately enough, got the “Mexico Room”. She loved the decor, but pointed out a little authenticity problem: “They have some Marys, but no Virgin of Guadalupe!” Still, we loved staying there, including seeing the staged gunfight in the street.

The next day, we drove north to the Grand Canyon. We walked a couple of miles along the Rim Trail and a little ways down the Bright Angel Trail. See all of our Grand Canyon photos here:

20080529GrandCanyon

There was a lot of work to do to get the boat ready to survive the sun, heat and rain of summer. We had to take all of the sails and lines off, as well as the solar panels; change the engine oil and filters; flush everything we could with fresh water; put aluminum foil over every port and hatch (sun protection) and plug all through-hulls (bug protection); pack up our clothes and everything heat-sensitive to take home; clean out the fridge and all the food stores; and more!

We had planned to work first thing in the morning and later in the evening, to avoid the hottest part of the day. Lucky for us, San Carlos was having unseasonably cool weather, so we could work all day if we wanted to. We still took off most afternoons to go to the beach with the crew of Theophilus, who were hauled out about 15 miles away in Guaymas.

Everyone asks us if it was strange to be back on land. Really, the transition went very smoothly! It probably helped that we were still living on the boat, and that the way she was resting on the supports, there was a slight list to one side. The bummer was that we couldn’t use our head (toilet); we had to go with the less ergonomic OSH 5 gallon bucket!

The night before we left, Josh had a birthday party. We had pizza and cake and ice cream on the beach. Then we got our party favors: Snickers bars for Toro and Koiya, a mango for me, and socks for everyone!

We donned our new socks at the bowling alley. Our party had 6 adults and 3 kids, so one adult had to bowl in the kids’ lane. The obvious choice was Toro, who I can honestly say is the worst bowler I’ve ever seen. He was a bit put off about being stuck with the kids, until he realized that their lane had bumpers on either side, so it was impossible for him to throw a gutter ball! Still, even with the bumpers, his final score was 77. Koiya beat him with an 80.

After a final flurry of preparation, we loaded all our stuff into Sassona’s van. We felt lucky to have such nice wheels (with air conditioning!) for our road trip home. We had to stop in to Marina Seca’s office to ask for directions. Cross this one off the list of things I thought I’d never say: “Um, how do we get to Arizona?” Jesus (the manager) gave us great directions and even drew a map in the dust on the rear window of the van.

By concentrating on the road trip ahead, I managed to stifle my tears as we drove away. Be well, Sugata! We’ll see you again soon!

See all of our haul-out photos here:

20080526SanCarlosHaulout

And if you don’t know the sea shanty referenced by the title of this post, click here to read about Leave Her, Johnny.

Special thanks to Milt and Eva on S/V Bellavia for giving us their list of must-have items. It was extremely helpful to us, and is the basis of the list I’ve posted here.

Another attraction on shore are cliffs featuring quartz crystals and fossilized shells.

Of course. the highlight for us was getting to spend more time with the crew of Theophilus. Captain Ron set up a swing on board for the kids, which kept them happy for hours. Plus, he brought along his Hawaiian sling on our daily snorkeling excursions, supplying us with some yummy meals!

This was the first time we all wore our “super hero” outfits at the same time. They’re actually custom made lycra suits, for protection from sunburn and jellyfish stings. Capn Incredible looks especially fetching (and German) in his high-contrast blue and yellow suit. While snorkeling we saw all of the usual suspects, plus a number of lobster, and coolest of all, a banded guitarfish.

Although we didn’t get to see it, Captain Ron was on the beach when the crew of another boat asked him for help killing a big squid that had washed up on shore, but was still alive. They gave him just a small portion, but the thing was so big, we got at least a kilo of meat! I cooked it up three different ways: batter fried, Greek style with tomatoes, and everyone’s favorite, Thai style with garlic and hot sauce.

The moon was pretty near full while we were in San Juanico, and the nights were calm and warm. One evening, as Toro and I were dinghying back to our boat, Capn Romance decided to take us on a little detour. He motored us out into the middle of the bay, cut the engine, and just let us drift. The moonlight glinted off the waves, and, knowing we had about a week left in our cruise, we sat back to soak it all in.

Todd began to reminisce about the trip, and the lessons he had learned along the way. I tried to focus on his soul-searching soliloquy, but my mind was racing. “Maybe this is it,” I thought to myself nervously. “Maybe he’s finally going to propose!” I tried to non-chalantly fluff up my hair, and tensed my pecs to boost my cleavage. After about 5 minutes, I almost passed out from the isometric exercise. Todd must have thought I was just nodding off out of boredom, because he soon restarted the engine and we zipped back to the boat. Sure, it was disappointing, but I reminded myself that if the guy has to spend two months salary on the ring, it’s better not to get engaged to an unemployed cruiser!

After about 5 days in San Juanico, we got a perfect weather window for the due north sail to San Carlos. We raced along under our trusty spinnaker, consistently posting 6+ kts speeds throughout the day. We were thrilled to see several huge pods of common dolphins simultaneously; the sea was filled with thousands and thousands of them, everywhere we looked! After we saw them, Koiya remarked, “Now we just have to see a turtle and a whale.” Within 15 minutes of her utterance, we sailed past a couple of turtles, and saw a whale breaching in the distance. The sail was both perfect and bittersweet, as we all knew it would be our last for the season.

See all of our San Juanico photos, and video of the dolphins (that unfortunately doesn’t do them justice), here:

20080520SanJuanico

Well, I wondered why I didn’t fit into the equation, so I asked him about his reasoning- did he have a ration rationale? “It’s simple,” he said. “Every day, each crew member gets two beers for every Y chromosome he or she has.” I pointed out that women don’t have Y chromosomes, but apparently he had already considered that. “That will make the math easy for you,” he explained.

So, it was time to move on. We decided to make the short jump to Mano de Dios, a beautiful little cove that is named for its “Hand of God” rock formation. On the way we saw a number of jumping manta rays, and also an interesting pod of 6 to 8 bottlenose dolphins. They were moving very slowly, and staying close to the surface of the water. Koiya remarked that we could really see their faces and beaks, which is unusual. We were headed straight at them, but they didn’t ride our bow. When we got close to them, they seemed spooked and dove down, resurfacing behind the boat to resume their slow surfacing. I can’t be sure, but I think I saw a lighter-gray something attached to one of the dolphins. Could it have been a baby?! Dolphin births in the wild are rarely witnessed, but maybe we were very lucky.

Mano de Dios is gorgeous, and we enjoyed swimming and kayaking there. The crew of the catamaran Rapscullion invited us over for drinks and yummy chips, salsa and guacamole. We sucked down their gin and tonics, and I’m pretty sure we overstayed our welcome; they’re not likely to make the mistake of inviting us over again!

That night, we put the cockpit cushions down and Josh and Koiya slept up above. The next day, Koiya joined the crew of Theophilus for the sail up to Loreto. And we left the anchorage just in time, as a swarm of bees was descending on us (they often land on boats in the Sea of Cortez, in search of fresh water).

Loreto is a cute little town, but the anchorage is wide open to the wind and swell that pick up most afternoons, so we only stayed one night. We managed to squeeze in dinner, breakfast, and two shopping trips. I stocked up on our staples: cheese, tortillas, fruits and veggies. Koiya used her Tooth Fairy money to buy a sombrero for the Meleons. And Toro picked up a case and a half of Modelo and Pacifico, plus a six-pack of New Mix, which is a tasty concoction of Squirt soda and tequila. Every time he drinks one he shakes his head and asks, “Why don’t they sell this in the States?”

See all of our Mano de Dios and Loreto photos here:

20080514Loreto

We were lucky to get great south winds for the sail up. Always concerned with protection, Toro wanted to drop the hook in the more sheltered north anchorage. Unfortunately, it was a bit crowded there, so we motored around awhile before we gave up and went to the south anchorage. Theophilus arrived shortly thereafter and joined us there.

The next morning, a number of boats left the north anchorage, so we radioed Theophilus and told them we were planning on moving there. They agreed that, given the forecasted north winds, it would be wise to move. No sooner had we got off the radio, than we heard the unmistakable clanking of an anchor chain. There was Captain Ron on his foredeck, cranking in his anchor. “Oh no you didn’t!” yelled Toro, flying forward and yanking up our own anchor. I’ve never seen him move so fast! In less than a minute he yelled “Anchor’s up!”

I drove slowly, because I had turned on the refrigerator for the short trip over to the other anchorage. (If the boat is moving too quickly, the fridge pump can’t get cooling water.) Toro looked over his shoulder and saw Theophilus, hot on our tail. “Mind if I turn this off?” said Toro, flicking the fridge power switch. Before I could answer, he grabbed the throttle and pushed us up to 2400 RPM. “Take that, Captain Ron!” he snickered.

At the same time, Sassona was just arriving from La Paz. There we were, all three boats steaming for the small anchorage at full throttle! I imagined the people already anchored there looking up and thinking “Holy crap! We’re being invaded!”

“This is ridiculous,” I said firmly, easing way back on the throttle. Capn Nascar looked alarmed. “But… but… we’re winning!” he pleaded desperately. “What?” I scolded, “Are you trying to steal a spot from our friends?” He fell silent, pushing his bottom lip out in a pout. I started to say, “This isn’t a race,” but I stopped myself, as my eyes followed Todd’s gaze to Theophilus‘ quarterdeck. There, Captain Ron was enthusiastically dancing a victory jig.

Once he got over that disappointment, Capn Paperback was glad that the nights were calm, and he had plenty of time to read. A typical day’s schedule was: get up late, eat, read a bit, eat, go snorkeling, eat, read some more.

I enjoyed all the good food we got to eat. One morning, Leslie on Sassona invited the women over for tea and scones; we put on big hats and fancy (read: clean) clothes. When I told him men weren’t invited, Toro called the guys over for beer and porn on our boat. (Since we didn’t have any porn, he made it beer and chips instead.) Later, we had a couple of cook outs on the beach, celebrating Dave’s birthday and eating yummy fish tacos, made with fish that Captain Ron speared with his Hawaiian sling.

But the crew member who had the most fun at Agua Verde was definitely Koiya!

The folks on Sassona had a tent, so the kids set it up on the beach and camped out. We gave them a hand-held VHF radio and told them to give us a call if they needed anything. The first night, I saw their flashlights flickering on the beach at about 11pm. Oh well- not like they had to get up for anything the next day! We started calling them “Swallows and Amazons”, after the children’s book that features kids camping out on their own island.

It was pretty cute the next morning when we got a call on the radio: “Uh, Mama, I’m getting hungry.” I rowed ashore with some scones to sate their hunger until they cooked their lunch on their campfire (hot dogs and potatoes).

The following night there were spiders in the tent, so the campers opted to sleep back on their boats. (It was probably a good thing, because they would have really been spooked by the coyotes howling later that night!) First thing in the morning they cleaned out the tent, so they were ready for another day and night on the beach. Koiya relished her new-found independence, and we were happy that she was enjoying herself so much.

The week flew by, and all too soon we had to move on to make our haul-out date. We were so sad to leave Agua Verde, because it meant saying goodbye to Sassona. They’re going to make the long sail back to British Columbia this summer, so they didn’t want to head too far north in the Sea of Cortez.

See all of our Agua Verde photos here:

20080511AguaVerde