ShyDavid, November 1, 1998 CE.

Rain is pouring down. Thunder and lightening. I HATE SEATTLE. It's no wonder people come here to kill themselves. I don't blame them a bit.

An engine fired up and the guy doing the oil change below in the engine room started screaming bloody murder. "WHAT THE &$%# ARE YOU DOING UP HERE?!" he wailed, once he managed to scramble out of the crawlspace. Somehow he tripped the starter below. Golly. He could have been torn to pieces. And I'd be stuck with mopping up the mess.

We set off for Port Angeles tomorrow at first light. Third crew member has not presented herself. What a tastless bitch this is going to be! Maybe we will fetch San Francisco by monday.

"The unexamined life is not worth living." Bullshit. I think the unlived life is not worth examining.

Cpt. Ron called. He's sending a third for the crew. Diane couldn't make it, so Bob is coming. (There goes my fantasies about fornicating my way south.) Our departure time thus moves towards past noon tomorrow.

Crew member Bob just now joined us.

This morning I lacerated my left palm and arm. Golly. We have the suture kit aboard, but no local anesthetic! (Johann, you're fired!) I could do the job without pain killer if the palm didn't require internal sutures. I got the veins pinched off long enough for Johann to calm down. I think he's pissed at the blood all over his glossy, varnished deck.

I spent 35 minutes bleeding quietly to myself while waiting for the taxi to drive me to a hospital. Then the lady at the desk demanded that I hand over several hundred dollars just to be "admitted" into that great edifice of excessive waste and money. I declined and called another taxi. Waited 20 minutes and then called another. Waited another 20 minutes (bleeding all the while) before wandering off looking for a ride to the nearest walk-in clinic.

Finally got to the clinic, and waited for damn near an hour before seeing the doctor. Finally got some anesthetic and a dozen sutures.

What a waste of time.

I just stabbed my right palm with a dang kitchen knife! Bloody hell! Good thing I got the tetanus shot. I needed a tiny screw driver but couldn't find one, so I used a steak knife.... on a rolling, pitching boat. DUHHHH! Now my hands have matching bandages.

Refuled at Port Angeles. I have the noon watch. We fetched PA too late last night to go ashore for ice cream. Bloody hell!

We are making good time. Passed Columbia River one hour ago. We are doing 3-hour watches: 3 on, 6 off. Thank StarGoat and Cpt. Ron that we have Bob aboard! I was not looking forward to watch-and-watch (4 on, 4 off).

42N53.9 124W39.3 We are 6.3nm west of Floras Lake, Oregon. Johann has two tuna lures trailing, hoping to murder some fish for lunch. Course is 172 degrees magnetic. Northern latitudes sure feel weird.

Reading "Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors" written by Sagan and Druyan.

9 miles west of Island Rock. We had some dolphins leaping off the bow wave: they looked like small killer whales in color. A damn fine example of natural selection: from close up they look like killer whales at a distance. I imagine the surprise some tuna feels when one of these dolphins gobbles them up, when they thought the dolphin was a whale 100 yards away. Sneeky bastards.

We are 497 miles out from Seattle. Course 153 magnetic.

Johann caught and murdered a 20 pound tuna yesterday. He promptly butchered it: I have photographs of the ghastly crime. He and Bob then ate the barbequed carcass.

Swells on our starboard beam. Rolling quite a bit.

39N17 123W55 Still rolling. 18 hours to San Francisco. We are west of Big River by 6nm--- closer to shore than I like, but if we vear off, the swells will be more on our beam.

"No room for us in San Francisco," is the story we get from Johann. We refuled at Monteray harbor (400 gallons). I'm very tired. I get off watch in 30 minutes. Whew.

[LATER NOTE: John Denver died here a week or so later, crashing his aircraft into the habor.]

12 miles west of Pt. Buchon. The Coast Guard out of Long Beach reports a man lost overboard in the Channel Isalnds. The lost person is wearing a life jacket, but I suppose his chances of being found alive, if at all, are nearly 0%. We are too far north to help in the search.

I have the watch until 3:00AM. My next watch is 9:00AM.

Johann wants to go to Avalon Harbor, Santa Catalina Island. This means I have to do some plotting: the visability is about one mile, and the pass between islands to get there is narrow.

I'm here at the Marriot Marina, San Diego. We got here at 8:00AM, after motoring all night from Avalon. Bob and Johann have taken the train back to their lives, leaving me to the varnish work.

Why am I here? Nothing else to do, I guess. I am willing to put off "real life" for three months, just to see Cabo San Lucas, Costa Rica, Panama, and other places. Perhaps visiting these places will show me what other options for living I might have.

I spent several days stripping old varnish. No where near finished with the job. Hell, no where near started, to tell the truth. The job is too big for me to complete in two weeks.

A woman equates good listeners with good lovers.

More varnish work. Yeeeish!

Another week of varnish work. Goat, please shoot me!

I took the train to and from San Clemente. Had to wait several hours for the police to remove the body from the tracks (Mexican riddled with bullets). Damn inconsiderate of the murderer, holding up the train like that.

Johann sent two Mexicans (live ones) to me to help with the varnish work. (There is a Goat!) Jesus and Phil: they piss in the harbor in plain view of the harbor master's office, tourists, neighbors, and friends.

I've spent an entire month here in San Diego working on this Goat Biled boat. The "two weeks" Johann promised expanded by 288%. Golly.

Finally on our way to Mexico! Johann has increased my pay to US$1,000 a month--- twice what he was paying me last month. Almost whiteman pay.

Sunset, upper limb. No "green flash" noticed. 59.6 nm to go to way-point on the chart. We are at 28N48.4 115W27.3. Desired destination 27N51.9 115W06.7. Less than 9 hours to go at our current speed. I'd rather slow to 4 knots and get there at dawn instead of 2AM. I'll discuss it with Johann when he comes on watch in three hours.

We will anchor at Isla Cedros in three hours, thirty minutes, give-or-take. Johann came up before his watch and made a command decision. 26.3 nm to go to destination.

Bloody hell! We do not have a proper chart of Isla Cedros. I pointed to the village and told Johann that's where we wanted to go, but he thought the salt factory, a few miles to the south, was the village. He owns the boat, so off to the salt factory we went. Pitch black night, with no moon. We got to the salt factory and Johann conceeded that we had passed the village. Ah, well. One should never turn back when crusing, so we pressed on, heading south again.

Johann is resting. I am winding a course between Nativida Isla and Pta. Eugenia--- a tight fit!

Moonless night. Dolphins leaping off the bow wave. Bottle-nosed. The phosphorus makes their bodies look ephemeral and spectral. They are whistling at me while I lean over the rail. I'm trying to grab one, while still remaining on the boat. If I fall over, I'm dead. There are five of them: one tiny one, four huge ones.

Anchored in Turtle Bay. There are no turtles here.

Johann caught a wahoo--- I judge it to be about 45 to 50 pounds. 27N21.119 114W42.540 It's a pretty ghastly sight for a vegetarian like myself!

Sun-set. No green flash.

It is dangerous being out here. A certain risk. But the risk is rather small, if we watch what we are doing.

The Baja Ha Ha 1997 was in Turtle Bay on Sunday--- they left before we got here. Maybe we will catch up with them at Magdalane Bay.

Dolphyns on the bow wave again. Grey top, white bootm, long pointed nose. They stayed about three minutes. Some swam on their sides and looked up at me. It's almost dark.

Lone dolphin leaping off the bow wave. Large, all grey, short nose. She was on the starboard bow, and rolled over 360 degrees, i.e. on her back for an instant, then all the way over. She only stayed a minute. She looked up at me a few times.

Dolphins are messengers from Aphrodite.

We are here in Magdalena. Saw large orange fish, tiny bright blue fish, and puffer fish.

Finally here in Cabo San Lucas. Put a few hundred gallons of fuel aboard. We have a mooring (#15) off the beach. Rain is falling at the moment: okay by me for the moment, but I hope for some sunshine! The Baja Ha Ha is here.

We went to The Giggling Marlin for dinner. There was a young woman there that was so sexy and desirable that I had to tell her how beautiful she is. No doubt she has heard it a thousand times. After dinner, Johann and I went back to the boat, but I still wanted to party so I left Johann there and took the dinghy to "The Office" (a bar on the beach). But I didn't drag the dinghy up onto the beach far enough, since the ocean reached up, grabbed it, and hauled it away. I was lucky to notice. The dinghy was swamped with water and sand.

I want a margaritta with a chili relleno chaser. (smirk)

The mooring is very "rolly." A storm is making--- sky is grey and it has been raining lightly. Not much fun being south in November when the sun is being so lax in his job.

Johann wants to go to La Paz for a few days, then come back here to Cabo San Lucas. With luck I will be left here by myself for a month! Maybe even at a slip! That means PARTY PARTY PARTY every night! I will run out of money--- I'll ask Johann to sell some for me (i.e. give him a check for US$500 or so).

I wish the woman at The Giggling Marlin would follow me "home" (to the boat) and tickle my brains out all night every night for a month. She is soooooo cute.

We are on out way to La Paz.

We are anchored at Caleta Partida, in 25 feet of water. It's an anchorage on the south end of Isla La Partida, 24N31.976 110W22.799. I have done a lot of swimming (naked) and snorkling. Wind ENE at 12-16 knots.

Lyndelle wants to fly down to Cabo San Lucas and visit the boat for a few days.

I discovered that an oar is missing. I must have lost it when I swamped the boat at "The Office."

The bay here is very nice. Two sailing vessels and us. I caught a fish and tossed her back in. Must have pissed her off, being dragged into the atmosphere like that.

We have left the anchorage. Johann is on watch. I have loaded up the CD player with ABBA and Reba McEntire, and I'm ready to rock out from 11:00PM to 4:00AM (part of the dogwatch was added today). Johann is looking for a marlin.