Random Tangents

As I sit here in Banderas Bay at La Cruz in the warm state of Nayarit a series of thoughts have fought their way to the surface. The journey to arrive here has had several sides to it. From Portland to San Francisco was a really cold segment now, almost but not totally, forgotten. The dimming rear view window of the Baja Ha-Ha is still fresh enough to gather impressions from but it too is fading as the real cruising starts here in this fantastic bay. The things that we needed to remember to bring along for the Ha-Ha we mostly remembered. The extra lures resurfaced yesterday when we put the salon back together after using it as a stateroom for several weeks. That might have been useful when the fishing was so good between San Diego and Cabo but we had all the fish we could store. Now I look forward to catching more fish to refill the freezer and pop quickly on BBQ or make sashimi from an on deck specimen. Remembering to bring fishing gear is a big item on my list of things not to be forgotten. The warmer weather has made us rearrange the storage of our clothing too. All that fridged wind and water up north meant that we lived in our long underwear for most of the first quarter of the trip but it really needed to be put away south of Point Conception. The Ha-Ha folks kept commenting that this was one of the warmest or possibly THE warmest year ever so we didn’t need to have so much of that stuff available from San Diego on. Ah well, it was a good thing to have out even though it made the clutter factor go WAY up! Putting all that away was a significant plus in my personal morale adjustment here. The outbreak of shorts and t-shirts will likely continue for the rest of the cruise. Another thing that stands out now is the excellent choice of crew that Sandy made for each leg. Everyone was incredibly compatible considering the close quarters. It is not to say that everything was always smooth but the heartburn was definitely minimal. This is a difficult thing to judge before you leave the dock but the fact that most of these folks had sailed together before is probably partly responsible for this major plus to the trip. Each person seemed to have good things to offer for each leg. Parallel to this is that we have enjoyed similar music most of the time. There is a lot to be said for an iPod that can be passed from watch to watch. We had two audio books that have stood watch almost as many times as I have. Granted, we had two and sometimes three iPods going at times but it has been surprisingly compatible. I have also begun to add to my Latin music collection here… when I am someplace that has music I like I ask about it and sometimes try to buy it on the spot from the owner. In any event, this entire time has been filled with music.