Kate’s Blog #7

If you have clicked on the “we are currently” tab on our website, you can see that we have lately spent a good deal of time in one spot, Puerta Vallarta, Mexico. In fact, you can see that we haven’t moved for quite a while.  If there is one lesson I have gleaned from our journey over and over, it is the truth in the adage that when it comes to life aboard a sailboat, “most plans are made in the sand, and at high tide”!  While I like PV enough, I am more than ready to say “adios” to Banderas Bay and its environs.

I’ll back up.  About 6 weeks ago, we flew back to So Cal to get our Covid vaccinations.  With shot #1 firmly embedded in our arms, and while waiting for our second, we embarked on a road trip to visit family.  First stop:  Cool, Ca (yep, it’s a real place) to spend some quality time with my sister, Janet, and her husband, Ron….and their 9 horses, 11 dogs, and 2 outdoor cats! We fished, played cards, wine tasted, ate and reconnected! It was great!

From Cool, Ca we drove to Billings, Mt to visit Jeff’s older brother and his wife, Julie!  Our stay included the first live music we had heard in months: a face masked musical duo from L A whose playbill was titled:  A Trip Around the World With Two Guitars.  It was a highlight of our trip to be sure.  With music being the main theme, we fended off some pretty cold temps staying inside and listening to great jazz, watching obscure jazz videos, and indulging in evening meals cooked by Julie who has a knack of making spectacular food look beyond easy.

After 4 days in the really cold weather, we headed from Montana to Utah to visit Jeff’s younger brother, Tom, and his wife Cricket and our nephew, Tommy.  Met with a pitcher of Margaritas and delicious carnitas tacos, we enjoyed our time catching up and seeing how time has changed SLC.

The final leg of our journey found us in Zion National Park!  While really cold and semi closed in terms of services due to Covid, we were humbled and overwhelmed by the utter beauty of the geology. A stark contrast from our liquid world on board Samsara.

Then back to So Cal for shot #2 and to say a difficult good by to our kids who generously put us up while home.  We headed back to Mexico to resume our sailing adventure only have our plans thwarted by learning that a few repairs we thought were simple, actually required the boat to be hauled out on dry land. And then the inevitable wait for parts, some of which had to be shipped from Japan, UGH!  So, our initial 3-4 day expected down time morphed into 2 weeks  ( and counting) in a hotel across from the marina.  Sounds like a lot more fun than it actually is.  It’s agony really. And I feel like a 3 year without a nap most days and my husband can attest to the fact that I often act the same way.  

Yesterday, In anticipation of starting the repairs today Jeff made his daily pilgrimage to the boatyard to “pet” Samsara only to find an enormous swarm of bees attached to the underside of our canopy huddled together in a 3 feet x  1.5 ft wide wad..….a throbbing, buzzing, stinging hissing blob of thousands of bees.  

Also, we got news that French Polynesia had officially closed its borders to all tourism, including marine traffic, indefinitely along with Tonga, Figi (which has been pretty much open during the whole Covid crisis), New Zealand and Australia to protect their citizens against possible virus variants.  The news was pretty devastating and threw a significant monkey wrench in our plans to sail across the Pacific before the onset of hurricane season, and really get this party started.

So here we sit and wait, finally vaccinated, a cockpit full of bees, an engine in ill repair, and borders closed across the Pacific denying us the next step in our lifelong dream of sailing across the Pacific.  What next?

I’m having evil thoughts like:  I think I’ll just give up on this adventure. Maybe I’ve seen enough?  Maybe I’ll go home and work and make more money $$$.  I can see my friends that I miss so much, and my kids!  I’ll make good use of my time in an environment where I have more control.  And then I think a little more about the concept of having more control, and I come face to face with the reality that no one has much control over their lives.  Yes, I instinctively know that, but I am one who has a really hard time with surrender.  And like Buddha says, the lessons one needs to learn the most (like surrender) will keep surfacing until we get them right.  So,I n my case, I know in my heart and soul that when/if I can master the art of surrender, my entire universe will open up like the lotus on Samsara’s logo.  So, here I remain game for an adventure of a lifetime.  At least for a few more months…or years.  So don‘t sign off on our website yet.  There’s more to come, I promise!  

P.S.

Buddha also said :“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth: not going all the way, and not starting.”