For the first time in 6 weeks, my feet are cold. I keep waking up at 0530 (0730 mexico time) and nothing moves right. I'm a fish out of water. I miss the smell of Wades Aweigh, the challenges...sound of dock lines creaking agains the surge at my slip...E-58, Paradise Village. I sleep with a fan on here, it reminds me of the fan on my boat, no sweating, no sticky clothes. A hot shower lasts forever, it doesn't get cold when some shmuck flushes the toilet and my soap doesn't stick to the top of the tiles. It doesn't take me 1/2 hour to get somewhere you could walk in 10 minutes because my boat friends aren't here distracting me with offers of beers/cold drinks or triumph's of the day with a new wired up light or some shiny piece of whatever that was dull. I miss my partime life as a worldsailor and fulltime life of being the dock goofball with some story of something happening the night before of night coming....truly I am a seaman, a sailor who has overcome the odds and survived...the bald headed "Pelon" who will be back, the young boy with a dream, the middle aged man who made the first step come true....the beliver, the follower of giants, the listener, learner, human sponge of greatness...may it please sink in...through intimate relationships with great people...God let me learn and grow...and give me strenght to endure the next 10 months to get back....back where I belong.

Ok, now that I have your attention, here's the 411 of the happepings of the past few days.

Picture is of our last day, right before lunch, right before heading to the airpuerto in PV. I was not a happy camper. The lump just could not be swallowed, but so would it be wrong if said lump wasn't there....I felt like it was years ago, Jenny Frey had just left for Oregon...my first love gone, I was alone. Really alone...what now? Keep breathing, you never know what the tide may bring! (thanks Tom Hanks). In some private time of reflection I have realized something Beautiful. I have attempted something great and failed....better than attempting nothing and succeeded! But failure it wasn't, just a different outcome than expected, this is huge. You see, NOTHING about this adventure since inception has gone as planned, but the finality of making the first leg has been a raving success!!!! Plans in sand, goals in cement I read once. Who wouldn't trade such a success potential for working all winter?....so damned what? I lost a dingy, spent more time a docks than planned, helped my Dad to spend some time in warmer climes and sail on the ocean for a few days. The silver lining? Friends forever, experiences nobody can buy (or steal from me) and just a little more vinegar within this newby ocean going sailor.

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