In Port for the Winter

November 27, 2012

I never thought we would be sitting at home during a winter just three years after starting our cruise. We did live by the “no plan, no destination, no schedule” philosophy once we started but the things that influenced our decisions were beyond weather, currents or tides. Looking back, I am convinced that anyone that sews several years together without a major interruption or two is very blessed. So, we ended Phase VIII on a bit of a sour note yet we have been rewarded with the benefits of being home when it was needed most. We did not cast off after deciding to just go. We are, I guess, just casual cruisers without purpose and we did not sever all ties with land. Guessing here that we are a subset of the “real” cruising world.

Even had we decided to take Why Knot to the tropics, we would still be here now because that is what is needed to get the crew back to cruising shape. Bear’s spirits have benefitted greatly from being in warm air at home. I look at the weather where Why Knot swims every day. She is seeing 40 degrees these days and we have been in the 80s. Sitting broad to the wind and harbor waves, I try to imagine if the bottom paint on her exposed side will keep the slime cooties away. I wonder how the Troll is doing alone and in the cold below. I wonder if the batteries are happy and if the vodka winterization has prevented an organic growth in the shower sump. I never doubted that she has a soul of sorts and an awareness of human presence and enjoys the humdrum of hosting crew. What evil lurks in our absence? The universal solvent in which she sits is doing it’s best to claim her. Nawh, that is nutty thinking ----- or not.

Meanwhile, the crew is back to the kitchen remodel and the replacement of an exploded washing machine. We start to visualize Phase IX while we keep track of cruising friends that are aboard and heading somewhere.

The picture is of the Crew, less Scurv, taken a zillion years ago in Port Aransas, Texas