Whelp, connecting with friends has taken precedent over blogging. Once arriving in Puerto Escondido I helped Gato Loco get fueled up and rinsed off before a farewell lunch, sort of. From there I jumped aboard my old boat Strikhedonia (now Fly Aweigh II) and the new owners Allison and Allan who let me join them for the West Coast Multihull rally. It felt so great to see my baby again and the great care plus amazing upgrades that they had done.
It truly did feel like coming home. We tied off on a mooring ball and enjoyed a nice evening catching up and talking shop. The next morning Alison and LeeAnne (SV Juliet) headed to shore for a run and I joined them for a hike. Let me tell you summer is here, oh maybe it is just that my body is still catching up. Regardless I was HOT. An afternoon of boat projects, they never end, and then a fun kick off dinner near the marina office. It was an evening of great music, great food, and great reunions with cruising friends. And making new ones too. We closed done the party as the tents and tables were being disassembled, clearly a sign of a fun evening.
The next morning the fleet staged in a line with mainsails up for a drone shot of everyone sailing, err motor-sailing out of the harbor. The wind was light but we managed a few hours of sailing and more importantly, the landing of three skip jacks which we found of the next morning won us the fishing prize.
Scrolling back a bit, a few days prior I was in the air conditioned cruiser’s lounge and in came my good friends Jody and Randy (SV Free Luff) who I hadn’t seen since pre-covid. We’ve kept in contact but it just isn’t the same as face to face and getting time with these two was extremely special.
Back to day one of the rally… we got our anchor down, we had passage beers, and jumped in the dinghy for some snorkeling. The fish did not disappoint, from Yellowstone beach the diving has always been a consistent nice place to see fish and the highlight for me was the “Aquarium” I found with a lot of juvenile trigger fish, a few adults, lots of Angels and Sargent Majors but a big old puffer. Super fun. And I passed along my friend Vicki’s trick for backflipping into the dinghy to Allan and Alison.
Dinner was on the beach, which gave me a chance to make more new cruising friends and hear all of the tales from the season’s ups and downs. Another big surprise was running into Marla and Dave (SV CAVU). More stories of Covid living, water maker trials and tribulations (they shared their RainMaker with a number of boats whose watermakers crapped out). So much truth in the saying that cruisers pick right up where they left off the last time they were together. Warmed my heart to spend time with the cruising family. And hell we still have a couple more days of fun during the rally!
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