Dreams (written in December)

The marinas and work yards in Guaymas and San Carlos are humming like a hive of bees in a field of blooming clover. Cruisers are working hard to get their boats ready for another season of sailing. Cleaning off the dust from the summer months when the boats sat idle in storage yards. Re-running lines. Bending on sails. Repairing all those things that failed last season. Installing new equipment. Inflating dinghies and checking for leaks. Starting outboards to make sure they run.

 

"Faith" getting her bottom painted.

We have had “relatively” few new projects this year and most of those are on a much smaller scale than the past couple years so we are pretty much ready to go sooner than usual. What we have had to wait for is our new immigration cards and those arrived on Monday. We’ve notified our friend, Mary, that we are ready and will be picking her up tomorrow since she is joining us for the trip south.

As we plan this year’s voyage I am struck by the changes that have taken place since I first began dreaming of “sailing off into the sunset”. Way back when, I wanted to sail around the world so badly I could almost taste it. As much as I wanted the adventure, I was also afraid I couldn’t do it. Over the years I have accomplished much of what I dreamed of and changed plans so many times one would almost think I was schizophrenic. I do think, however, that being flexible is a very necessary part of the lifestyle.

There are as many different kinds of cruising as there are people who cruise. There are folks who are not able to be away from home, family, jobs for long periods of time so they keep a boat in the port of their choice and whenever they can get away they go for a few hours or a few weeks. There are people who don’t know any life other than on a boat and spend their lives circumnavigating the world and have long lists of foreign countries they have visited. Then there are hundreds of styles in the middle.

 

The cold, gray Pacific Ocean.

Over time, Chris & I have pared our cruising down to spending winters on the boat in Mexico. When we began this journey, 6 years ago, we had visions of the South Pacific, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Europe and “the world as our oyster”. The first wakeup call was the leg from Portland, OR to San Francisco, CA. Even though we spent much time waiting for bad weather to pass the conditions still involved mostly big, sloppy seas, fog, too much wind and cold & damp that permeated our bodies all the way to the bone marrow. At that point we adjusted to “places that are warm and sunny”. Then, we received an invitation to crew for friends in the South Pacific. We flew to Tahiti and sailed with them as far as Tonga. Overall, it was a wonderful trip and we got to see many of the places we’d always dreamed of…not to mention getting married on an uninhabited island! It was very nice but we came to realize the boats that do these very long passages take a huge beating, as do the people.

 

Wedding on the beach - Suwarrow Atoll, Cook Islands

Over the past six years of cruising in Mexico I have discovered that I am not a big fan of long passages. I am finding that as I age, my eyesight (especially night vision) is gradually deteriorating which makes me pretty uncomfortable on night watches. I also find it difficult to sleep as every small noise causes me to awaken with “What was that?” screaming into my mind. And, every year there are more of the physical jobs that we hire out because our bodies are getting older.

 

Jesus & Eduardo. Our faithful helpers in San Carlos.

This year has begun with a higher than usual amount of lousy weather which meant sitting in (supposedly) protected anchorages for longer periods of time waiting for it to end. It is cold & windy with very large chop which makes moving about much more uncomfortable. Add to that a fairly major boat issue that came up after we left San Carlos and my flexibility ability has really taken a dive.

So…while dreams are what propel us into action and keep us looking forward to new experiences, it is important to remember that dreams are not set in stone. The only constant in life is change.