Together Again At Last... or For the Last?

 Okay, so the title is a little sappy. But when the crew of Third Day arrived yesterday afternoon, the crews of Hotspur and Just A Minute were thrilled. It feels like it's been months since we've seen each other... the trifecta... all together. We were the three boats that last year went against the odds and headed north to outrun Hurricane Jimena. Jimena caused devastating damage to Mulege and to Santa Rosalia. Our decision was absolutely right for all of us and our friendship has been cemented because of it. Today, we feel more like family than friends.

 

Third Day has been in the US for over a month now. They were taking care of business; Rich has a watermaker company and is also now a rep for wind generators. Here's Rich's Cruise RO Watermaker link: http://www.cruiserowater.com/

 Just A Minute and Hotspur have been hanging out in Santa Rosalia enjoying the temperate weather, the wonderful people, and a game of Scrabble now and then. So when Third Day finally arrived yesterday, the obvious thing to do seemed like to celebrate.

 

Even though both Just A Minute and Third Day are in slips at the Singlar/Fontur Marina a couple blocks away and it would make sense for Hotspur to go there, instead the crews of the aforementioned descended upon the Palapa of Knowledge, the cruiser hangout at the Old Marina. The chatter was incessant and hugs went around to all. The laughter was reverberating and we chased off everyone else in the Palapa... except Jesse off Frances Lee who is used to our shenanigans by now. The kids ran off to play on the malecon and we adults caught up with one another while we waited for Patrick.

 

Now, Patrick's been a little under the weather the past week or so... not feeling up to par. I personally think it's been an excuse to catch up on some good novels. Nevertheless, we've not seen much of Patrick at all. With Jim busy and working like a madman on his websites and Patrick hiding out in his cabin, this has left Laura and me time to enjoy some awesome Scrabble rounds (I've beat her the last four times, BTW, and this little side note will really get her goat.. hee-hee!). But our reunion with Third Day must have been a good enough excuse, for Jim finally emerged from the bowels of Hotspur and took a break from his work. And Patrick even crawled out of his hidey hole... and bearing gifts!

 

Patrick was obviously feeling much better because he showed up with Carlos. Carlos is Just A Minute's luggage size, insulated goodie bag. In one fell swoop, Patrick had the blender plugged in and was pushing yummy painkillers: a frozen pineapple, coconut and Bacardi concoction.  So, we had a couple hours of good, pain-free conversation before it was decided that burgers lay ahead in our future. Patrick and Rich headed into town with the hamburger order and the rest of us selflessly offered to stay behind and finish off the libations. When the guys returned, they had pizza. Go figure? It was a very fun party!

 

The only serious topic we discussed were our future cruising plans. 

Just A Minute is heading south to Mazatlan, maybe San Blas. In early spring (April?), they will head off to Hawaii. 

And Third Day? Well, they will certainly spend the rest of the winter in Mexico, but in May they plan to return to California. 

And Hotspur? Well... with Jim initiating some money making websites, it seems ludicrous to abandon full-time internet now and to head south into the rain forests where it is "iffy" at best. After some heated discussions, Jim and I finally agreed that it would be smarter for us to stay in Mexico another year and visit some of the anchorages on the mainland that we haven't seen. In the meantime, Jim and I can continue to build income producing revenue.

 

Sadly by 10pm, our pizza and painkillers were gone. It was time to say good night. Just A Minute was scheduled to head south the next morning; they have a family member to meet. It was a somber moment. Maybe we were all tired or maybe we were all thinking the same thing.

 

We said our good-nights and passed around hugs. As our friends departed silently in the dinghy, Jim put his arm around me and said, "This may be the last time we see them."

"Yeah," I responded thoughtfully.

"No, I don't think so," I corrected.  "We'll see them again. I know we will." 

 

And I feel sure we will.