Here we are again, happily getting a helping hand from Jeff. We last waved good-by to him after a wild night ride on an inter-island freight boat from Hiva Oa in the Marquesas to the neighboring island that enjoyed the luxury of an airfield where we could catch a flight over the Tuamotos to Tahiti. It was during that flight, 34 years ago, that James finally "came to" , having fallen from a cliff two weeks earlier. Jeff and Judy were there with us on "Dink's Song" along with Steve and Lee on "Leora". It's a sailor's tale that we participants can hardly believe ourselves. And here we are in beautiful Culebra, sharing drinks, hugs, memories and filling in the spaces between, still doing what we love the most, exploring new places, meeting new people, and making friends that indeed do last a lifetime. Quinn is the one who insisted we bash into the headwinds to get here. He spent a month in Portugal with Jeff and Jose as they were launching their catamaran, Stravaig, they had built themselves. Jeff had remained famous in our household, the guru of 12 bar blues, through Quinn's childhood years. He even took a copy of the teaching tape Jeff had made for James to Northwest School, working on it all through his high school years. So Quinn, of course, had to go to Mecca on his way home from Antartica. That was eight years ago chronologically, but somehow conversations with old friends never seem to stop. So here we are all happily toasting the full moon as it comes up over St. Thomas, an easy twenty mile sail away!
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Of course,she she didn't arrive when or where scheduled. Instead of 3 a.m. in Ponce, where we made sure would be in port to pick her up, she arrived at 9:30 a.m. in Aguadilla, 2 1/2 hours away by car. We have yet to track her luggage, but it's warm here, who needs clothes? Our schedule. Only thing known so far is we have reservations at Del Ray Marina near Fajardo on the 3rd, Ash flies out on the 4th, Quinn, James, Roni and Tilloo all fly out on the 8th with James & Roni return on the 17th to continue south.
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Jobs are hard to come by here, so we are freqenly stopped along the street being asked if we would like to go diving, go for a boat tour of the mangroves etc. So, when Junior asked if he could do anyhing for us in very American English, we asked how we could get our son from the airport in Aguadilla to LaParguera, since bus service has been stopped and taxis cost $170 he volunteered to drive us for $80.00. "A deal," we said, and there was Junior in his somewhat battered but very fast car, waiting for us at the Plaza at 7:30 this morning. Two hours later, having survived a mere half dozen near death close calls, we let Junior pick out which white guy piling off the plane was our son. "NO Problema, that's the one", he laughed and we were soon speeding down the highway to the "best ribs in the Caribbean. We had chicken, yucca and saffron rice first waiting for the ribs to cook. The ribs were free, but delicious. Lovely smoky flavor. The guided tour of Puerto Rico's west coast was great, a stop at the Supermercado let us stock up on fresh vegetables, not available in LaParguera, and tonight, after a refreshing swim off the boat, we are sitting in the cockpit, so enjoying having our son home again.
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