Now in La Paz, we have been anchored in the channel just outside the front of the town for a couple of days making preparations for Desert Vision's lonely month in moorage which is where we will move to tomorrow. But today we drove the dingy out to the bay to view the Whale Sharks. We saw many large mammals of which we took lots of film footage and began our long slow journey back to Desert Vision. Along the way back we spoke with a very interesting couple of Australians who were also out to view the whale sharks. They have sailed their sixty-five foot cutter rigged sloop all over the Pacific and they explained that what we had just seen were a unique species of Dolphin. So we bobbed in our dinghies and spoke and listened to some amazing stories for a while and then back again we went. This time we really did see a whale shark and got some pretty good video too. They are huge, spotted all over, sleek and beautiful. They are also apparently not mammals. I never saw the huge animal breathe any air though we followed and circled it for twenty minutes.
After that we went further up the coast to assist a fellow cruiser and family in distress. I was able to diagnose and repair their 25 horse outboard and send them speeding on their way. But we were too slow with our 4 horse and got caught in the afternoon winds and so we fought big seas and current all the way back to Desert Vision. Once aboard, we grabbed our garbage, (which had grown some disgusting maggots) and crossed the turbulent channel into town to deposit it in the cruisers garbage dumpster. After a long walkabout the town, we stopped for cocktails and pizza at a nice little restaurant on the beach.
Tonight I am reflecting back at the railroad car that we have riding the last few years to accomplish this dream. And I am reminded how fortunate I am to have had this experience. It is true I worked hard, paying my dues for nearly fifty years; and yes we have made many sacrifices to bring it to a reality. But so do many others who never live their dreams. Many never even got the opportunity to live a full life span. So I want to thank some sort of divine intervention for my life and blessings thus far.
And as this chapter of "Desert Vision's Vision" comes to a close, I will say that Iris and I have learned a great deal as Cruisers. Though I have tried, I will never learn all I would like to know about sailing. Our learning curve still remains steep. It has also become clear to me that there are many aspects of sailing that I never want to learn, such as lessons that mother earth may choose to force on a circumnavigator of a small ship in the southern ocean. I have learned that the sea is likely the most powerful force on this planet next to gravity and though beautiful and patient, it will work on a man's weakness until it makes manifest to him his limitations. I have been taught patience and many lessons of operating a small ship in large seas crewed by only two through stresses and exhaustion and I'm certain to learn many more. But I have also been blessed with beautiful sights, new friends and interesting acquaintances, peaceful sunrises and sunsets and time for reflection and introspection.
Desert Vision's journey has only just begun and yet I feel that even if I were to die tomorrow, I was not cheated in life. I was blessed with a wonderful family and children, abundant love and the opportunity to begin a dream that most will never know. All during my youth, I had never desired or expected to live so long anyway. But now that I have I have arrived, I am happy to recognize that I am blessed and there is much I can and still want to do!
So as long as our strength, agility and general health holds out we will be back on Desert Vision riding the tiny ship through seas to who knows where next.
Come back and see us again in January, 2013.
With love,
Michael