The really last bit
09 July 2012
The last bit.
I'm calling it the last bit, but really it's the first bit because now we are lined up to begin our great adventure and a total lifestyle change.
So where were we?
I was riding the bucking bronco out on the edge of the moorings. Mystic had been groaning and moaning through the night as her sides were scraped up and down against the wall and I dropped some cushions on the floor and lay there exhausted. I left the hatches open to let the breeze blow through the boat and looked up at the night sky as the lightning flashed in every direction. I'd seen earlier in the marina the rows of other much larger sailboats and was just happy they had more chance of a lightning strike than me. In fact they were the ones that were protecting us from the worst of it. That was dandy, they had the insurance. The storm raged. The wind was just a solid wall that hit like a truck every few minutes. The lightning forked in every direction at once. No big single fork, it exploded and looked like a Tesla coil on overload spreading all over the sky. It was beautiful and powerful and humbling.
We'd set off at six the previous morning and neither myself or Mac had had anything to eat or drink since we set off. It was beginning to show so at six the next morning I was ready to go hunting him down. The storm had passed and the boat was pretty much settled just a bit sore around the edges like I was.
I'd not really got any idea where I was headed but assumed following the creek up I should come to the marina I was supposed to be at. As I walked along the road I could see all the damage the storm had caused. Tree limbs everywhere and the odd yard that has lost all it's fourth of July furniture.
I found the marina and found Mac. He was curled up on the drivers seat surrounded by all the bags and gear we should have offloaded when we got to the boat.
He gave a big,"HOLY SHIT and THANK FUCK" grin as he recognised me. I'd gone to the passenger side so I didn't catch a frustrated fist when he saw me.
He'd spent most of the night trying to hunt down a phone or a drink or at least something to give him a bit of hope. He got an invite to watch a game on tv but decided to spend the night on a patio lounger watching over the river in the hopes he would see me coming in. he'd eventually gone back to sleep a while in the truck when the storm got bad but when he looked out the windshield he was looking at a huge fir tree that was bending over him. He spent the storm waiting for it to crash right through the roof.
We drove down to the 7/11 and loaded ourselves with soda and crappy sandwiches. We got back to Mystic and I went to talk to the marina owner there. He wouldn't budge on the price and as it was still June thought I would be happy to pay for that month as well. Lovely as it was, with a bar, swimming pool and all the amenities I told him to blow it out his ass and we eventually got Mystic to our less desirable but more affordable berth.
The owner and the folk there were brilliant. They all came to listen to the story and are all waiting to help get Mystic rebuilt and back one her way to the Bahamas. We done good picking this place.
That's pretty much all there is to tell now, apart from the trip home all the gas stations were without power and gas due to the storm. We eventually got home and collapsed into bed. the next day another storm came through and knocked the house next door straight through our downstairs bedroom. It smashed the A/C unit straight onto the bed. The walls are full of asbestos so we have some issues with that. Seems someone is telling us,"Ok you got your boat where you wanted it now get the hell out of this death trap". Some days the Goddess sends less than subtle messages.
Next stop Florida. That trip was about ten miles so I reckon we might have a book in the Florida eight hundred mile trip.
We made our journey eventually down the icw but I was called back to England to look after my dying mother. We left Mystic and all we owned aboard. i may never see her again.
Now, in Portugal, I'm eying up boats. Life is far too short not to fill it with adventures right?