Month: February 2023

Up by 7:30, my sister-in-law makes me a good breakfast, and by 8:30 we are on our way to Aine. I restore the jerry cans and make the boat ready to start the engine. Since we had problems with the engine cooling water I’m going to stay inside for a day or two until everything… Continue reading It begins… Again [Jun 10, 2022]

I decided that I shouldn’t eat breakfast yet since I’ll be diving in about an hour, so I start to prepare for the dive and have a cup of tea. By 7:30 am the current is still moving pretty fast and I’m going to have to wait a little longer. Around 8:00 I move everything… Continue reading A New Plan [Jun 9, 2022]

A normal morning at anchor, and I’m waiting for the diver, at 12:15 pm I get a call, the diver is running a little longer than he thought and it will be more like 2:30 pm, but he will definitely be coming. By 2:30 pm I’ve got nothing, but rather than call again I figure… Continue reading And Another [Jun 8, 2022]

I could tell by the phrases I received from the diver last night that he was likely Hispanic, I spent all last night drawing pictures and translating the labels on the drawings into Spanish. I also wrote up an explanation of the work I need and translated that into Spanish too. I’ll be set for… Continue reading The dominos start to fall. [Jun 7, 2022]

I’m awakened at 5:30 am by the sound of metal clanging, not once, but twice, I sit straight up in bed, remove my CPAP mask and listen again, clanking again, louder this time. I jump out of my bunk and head up the companionway and I see the sailboat behind me sailing up my stern,… Continue reading Crash, did I do that? [Jun 5, 2022

By morning the weather was starting to improve slightly and when I went into the cockpit, I noticed a new sailboat had arrived overnight and was right snugged up behind me, a little closer than I’d like, but I’m not going to complain about it. I dug out the dive mask and fins knowing that… Continue reading It’s the simple things that break your spirit. [Jun 4, 2022]

I woke up early after a very restless night, went to Publix at first light, and shopped for previsions to sustain me for at least a week. I got to the boat at 9:30 am, filled the water tanks, and everything else looked good, I opened up all the ports, turned on the refrigerator, and… Continue reading The nightmare begins. [Jun 3, 2022]

Somehow, without even knowing it, I became what I was trying desperately not to become, an interloper, a carpetbagger, a user… of an old friend’s generosity. There I was, on the wrong side of a line that I had no idea I had crossed. All along, I was thinking that I was keeping to the… Continue reading Florida to North Carolina Prelude [Jun 2, 2022]