Mas en La Paz

 

Ran over dolphin – much rum – time flies – boat work on Bamboo – epiphany – remembering tons of dreams.

 

 

Well I'm certainly not alone.  Herbert and I spend about twelve hours a day together now.  He had cracks in his deck and no decent nonskid, so we grinded all the bad spots and either epoxied them or fiberglassed them.  We found only one spot where there was any rot.  So not too bad.

Tomorrow I'll fare it all out and prep for the paint.

 

Time has passed like a great dime store novel.   I mean fast.   I've been here a week and I'd swear to a few days.  I can't explain how great it is to have a job, to be working again—it is so satisfying.  After this job I get to paint the decks on Araby (which is my boat if you have forgotten).

 

I can't remember if I have written about it, but I have had a sort of epiphany of late.  Everything has been coming together and congealing in my mind.  I feel like everything is right; I am at peace with it.  My psyche has sort of caught up with all my body has been doing and experiencing.

For a few months have had "dangling ends" of sorts, things I hadn't fully come to terms with, people I hadn't fully let go of.

Where was I going: south? West? With whom?  When?  I have been riding by the seat of my pants through most of it and now I feel like I am grabbing the reins a bit and taking control with some direction in mind.

 

Why am I so ineffective when it comes to making decisions that incorporate other people?  I am more interested in pleasing them—actually, to please them is to please myself.  So I really lose my center; I can easily go whichever way the wind should blow.  And if they are the indecisive sort than I am left in a quandary. 

Strange how I can be so undecided at times.

 

Now I am in a place where I am living again alone and have my own space to settle my own mind.  It is wonderful.  I am not alone.  What a community is here!  Herbert and I get along so well.  We just had some drinks with Dan and Sonya on Lift.  Paul and Laura have a bar-b-que almost nightly.  The taco joints are all but irresistible.  There is always something to do and someone to do it with.

Tilikum is back in Florida helping here family sort things out.  She's riding with Herbert on Bamboo now—or, at best as I can reckon.  Hopefully she'll be back soon and Herbert's decks will be all shiny and new.

 

The only real excitement around here are the tides.  They rip like a river.  You'd swear you were moving.  It is strange to have a boat at anchor that is stern to the wind—the current effects the hull more than the wind.  It gets a bit nasty in the afternoons sometimes.  There is some weather coming down the coast from Alaska, so it may be bad for a few days.

 

The only personal things is that I ran over a dolphin with my dinghy.  There are dolphins in the bay everyday.  They come right up to the boat when we're working.  I call them by tapping on the side.

The bay is very very shallow.  Anyway, somehow, I was zooming along and a dolphin came up right before my bow—like a foot!  Before I could turn or lift the prop I hit him with the prop shaft.

I don't think I cut him.  I didn't hear any change in the throttle at all, and it is fairly noticeable when I hit just a bit of kelp.   Ahhh….I felt terrible.  It was a strange thing and everyone saw it.  Whales hit boats that same way, just coming up without paying attention I guess.

Anyway, what to do?

 

 

All is well, better than well.  These are cheerful days I hope to carry with me for a long time.