In La Paz

When I stepped on the dock to La Paz, my thoughts were all focused on what I'd do. Armed with my purse and laundry, I caught glimpses of restaurants, people, bathrooms, then the laundry.

The laundry required tokens which you can get at the  Dock restaurant. There are a lot of times I wish that I could speak Spanish. This is one of them.

The next week was a whirl of chores, parties, and people. The most memorable was the party at Victory Cat. Earlier, I volunteered to help Victory Cat. I did dishes, looked for ingredients, vacuumed the floor, brought up appetizers, set table, and helped to lift up her door. Ruth, first mate on Victory Cat and the only one on the boat till her husband got back, made a heavenly meat mixture.

Since the grownups talked about boring stuff. We watched the movies, Shrek 1 and Atlantis.

More updates on In La Paz coming soon.      

Mera Conger

s/v Don Quixote

The Crew, Clean, Chop Sickness

There is nothing worse than being on a catamaran in close-together chop. Every time you go on a wave, your boat and stomach pitch and roll. When you also have a cranky mother who is making noise about school work, it's nothing short of a nightmare. I'm sitting on a seat in front of our computer in said chop having second thoughts about my tuna sandwich. It's a sunny day with a beautiful, cooperative, breeze. And I want to barf. 

The only remedy to Chop Sickness is sleep. Instantly, the rolling, bucking, ship becomes the most vigorous cradle you've ever been in. Of course, if you are a light sleeper, you may need to employ the help of Melatonin to knock you out. Sadly, I can't go to sleep because I have to do............... School work. 

Being crew is a step up from swab, which is a step up from passenger. But, when you're crew, you have to do all these tiresome things called work. When I became Crew, I was doing watch with mom. The wind was good so we decided to put up the spinnaker. This would be the first time both of us would try to raise the spinnaker without Dad. Naturally, things didn't go as well as we hoped but it was alright. Mom proclaimed me crew as soon as it was up. I didn't feel like crew. My nose was running, and I was tired enough to consider sleeping on the trampoline. 

Unlike what some magazines might suggest, cruising isn't all fun and roses. I figured this out when I saw the pile of dishes I had to dry. Coming back to that general topic, having a clean boat is important. It's essential for my mother's happiness which is essential to our happiness. So remember kids, whenever you think the Goddess of the kitchen is being unfair, remember who keeps your belly round.

Mera Conger

s/v Don Quixote

Baja bored swimming

It is amazing what you can think and do when you are hot and bored. The boat was going very slow, I was very hot, and very bored. So were my sisters. We decided to do something about cooling off.

Swimming was always the first answer. But, since we were moving, we couldn't  swim. Unless ............................... We put on lifelines. My sisters and I strapped on to the transoms and plunged in to the cool/warm water. It is the most wonderful feeling. We were going 1/2 a knot and were being gently dragged forward by the boat. Of course, there was barely room for three girls on one bar so I was kicked to the other side.

I was fortunate enough to have the longest line. I tried twisting my leg around the line like the people in an acrobatic show and ended up face first in the water. I wasn't flexible enough.

Pretty soon, I heard Jaime scream. There were shouts of, "Shark, shark!" and a lots of splashing. 

When I cleared the water out of my eyes, I saw Jaime was screaming about a butchered looking seaweed. Poor thing.

When my lips were blue, I finally got out of the water and did my best to rinse off. No use, I was up to my hair in salt.I didn't sleep very comfortable that night I can tell you.

Mera Conger

s/v Don Quixote