Just Drop It: July 2014

7/13/14

More bad news. We had a horrible last trip on the boat when we went to Catalina Island. I am in a good place about it now but let me recap…

We got ready and of course that is a ton of work for me. I have to plan the meals, do the shopping and pack everything for Oliver and myself and make sure Paul didn't forget things (he is getting much better I can't complain much). I know Paul does a lot to plan with the GPS and boat but I don't see that and he loves it so I don't think it counts. And since we don't want to be wasteful and buy more dishes and all that we have to pack all of that stuff too. So even when I plan meals I have to remember which pans I need to be able to make everything.

We head out and luckily we had people help us get out because of course, again, we couldn't get out on our own. We did have a guy give us some good advice but it will need more fine tuning and practice. The wind is blowing which is good and we get the sails up and that's all fine. The fridge also wasn't' working like Paul said so we had to get ice, not a big deal but just another thing to go wrong.

I kept Oliver up so he would nap on the boat so he was tired and once I could finally get him laying down and falling asleep water started leaking through the hatch above us and water was spraying in the window. I got that closed but then we were heeling so hard I kept having to adjust us and the pillows so he wasn't going to hit his head on the side…long story short he was unable to fall asleep with all the commotion. Then he wanted to stay below and read books and play which was fine but then I started to feel seasick since we hadn't been sailing in so long. I took a dramamine right away and tried to go up above but Oliver didn't want to and we didn't have the autopilot so someone had to be steering the boat. I still don't feel totally comfortable especially because we were heeled so hard on the side and it was pretty rough. I tried but it makes me nervous when it's like that so I am on baby duty the whole time.

So I am seasick, Oliver is tired and crabby, it's uncomfortable on the boat because of how hard the wind is blowing and the sea is choppy. It was nice that we were making good time but nothing else about it was good. I heard a joke once about being seasick which went something like there are two feelings of seasickness, feeling like you are going to die and feeling like you want to die. It is so awful. When we finally got there the anchoring was easy, we did a great job together, thank goodness. We made some supper, not for me I didn't want to eat and then decided to just stay in and deal with the dingy in the morning. Went to bed, all was good.

Next day they got up, I got to sleep in, and made breakfast. When I got up Paul blew up the dingy and got that all ready. Oliver showed me a fish that flew onto the boat overnight and dried up…I felt so bad, but he thought it was great. I will get a picture up. We got ready for a day at the beach which was easy since we do that most days in California. The dingy was awesome and we got onto the beach no problem. We swam around, the water is so clear and beautiful there. Once we were there a few hours we went back to make a real lunch. We decided then we should just go home that night because sailing over was so bad and all we were going to do was more beach time and we could do that back at home. It's hard when we go somewhere that doesn't have anywhere to explore. Whites is where we went because it is easy to sail to but all it has is a beach and two private camps. If we go to Avalon or Two Harbors there is stuff to do and places to hike so we have to go to those places so we at least have a little something to do. Paul thought the sail back would be a lot easier so I was relieved.

It wasn't.

It was just as bad but I wasn't seasick (so I guess it was better). Oliver was acting like a wild, caged animal and it was over 4 hours of trying to keep him entertained by myself since Paul had to steer and the boat was on its side. Half ways through Paul was even saying 'this is stupid, we should just sell it'. I was shocked. I didn't think anything would make him say that. I knew we weren't serious but a little of me was and I could tell a little of him was too.

So we got home late and then we have to pack everything up and put it in the car and then get home, where we have no parking and bring everything inside. Just awful but so glad we still had Sunday to get it all back together and hopefully enjoy that day, which we did but we were so depressed from having a bad trip.

So now our plan has changed. We will stay in California for a few more years. Yes, that is right…a few more years. I am going to take another sailing class with bigger boats, we will continue to sail on this boat at least monthly trips, Paul will take the classes he needs to take and we will hopefully be very well prepared by the time we go.

I really want to circumnavigate and I know if we go this year we won't be ready to do that. We are ready enough for Mexico but I think in a few years we will be ready to see it all and safely. Oliver will also be older and we can save some more.

I know Paul was really worried this meant we weren't going but it doesn't. I know we will go. We are having a good time in California so rushing to leave isn't necessary anymore.

I have been having a hard time thinking I haven't been to Yosemite or the Grand Canyon and all these places are so close. We have decided that we will also take a lot more vacations until we go. Travel is important to us and this delay isn't going to stop that.

We were supposed to sail this last weekend but we agreed that we wouldn't take any more trips without the autopilot and it didn't come in time. It did come today though so I am sure in the next few we will be heading out to take on another sailing trip to Catalina.