Picture this.
***
Lyric of the Day:
I wanna go to an old hoe-down
Long ago in a western town.
Pick me up cause my feet are draggin'
Give me a lift and I'll hay your wagon.
Love is a rose but you better not pick it
It only grows when it's on the vine.
A handful of thorns and you'll know you've missed it
You lose your love when you say the word "mine".
Neil Young
***
Throughout most of this sailing trip my feelings migrated between miserable, hopeful, seasick, way-too-hot, terrified, doubtful, busted, bored, elated, hungry, annoyed, adrenalized, confused, wary, bien-blue-balled, and exhausted.
Though lots was going in, concisely recorded observation came out effortlessly cuz I was, kind of, in control.
Now I find myself in an entirely different moodscape and while doubtless better, it's a lot of fucking work to keep my head.
Overwhelmed by emotion, changing priorities, and emerging opportunities, it's hard to draw a bead on what's really going on. As such, I'm left recording just the facts.
The little sailing vacation from my new life in Gigante ended as the rainy season finally took hold.
After three encounters with the Costa Rican authorities, including a late night search of the boat, Kass and I sailed back to Nicaragua. This suited us just fine; cheaper prices and looser restrictions do a body good.
CR wasn't all bad. I got to kite for the first time in months and we discovered a big flawless bay where one can anchor in crystal waters and kite from the boat.
With a little planning it'd be easy to orchestrate a 10 mile bluewater downwinder starting in Nicaragua and ending there.
In the winter it blows hard every day here.
It's not my cup of tea but that anchorage also served up perfect, crystal clear flatwater kiting.
Still no sign of good wave kiting aside from swirling, gusty offshores at Outer Reef Popoyo.
Someday. Maybe.
But back to reality...
We're calling it "Painter's Bay".
Anyone wanting to do some kiting in Central America should get in touch. I've got info and options.
We also discovered some incredible rock formations I've never seen photos of before.
See the face sticking out it's tongue. There's even an eye. What a funny hat.
It's a shame the light was poor or Kass could have really done them justice.
This is my other little kitespot on a calm day.
From a couple perspectives.
Here we met a badass one-handed fisherman who had swum over a mile to Secret Kite Island searching the reefs for octopus.
Yes, he has a little hook.
Yes, that's a collared shirt and cutoff jeans.
Yes, he made me feel like a fucking wimp.
He had a stringer on a buoy with a couple dozen octopuses on it. One would assume sharks would be all over something like that, and he assured me they are.
One would also assume a shark took his hand, but they would be wrong. Someone hacked his hand off with a machete while trying to rob him.
He was still smiling, so anyone reading (or writing) this probably should be too.
I'm up to about 55% smiling, with intermittent anxieties. How are you doing?
My greatest challenges these days stem from enrollment in Kass's School of ReCivilization.
Chewing with my mouth closed and remembering to bathe are the hardest.
Apparently eating these raw is Civilized. I used to know this but I'd forgotten.
I guess I still have a lot to learn about Civilization, which, for the record, I no longer think is going to end anytime soon.
Well, correction. I no longer CARE if it is going to end anytime soon.
Ahhhhh. Moving on.
If you've read the whole blog you know that bees took up residence in Sin Fin's mast when I stopped at Puerto Chiapas, Mexico. This happened again last week at a remote anchorage in Costa Rica.
We were sailing along when suddenly the whole hive decided they wanted to move into the cabin. At least 500 bees swarmed around us while we were 5 miles from land. Jumping overboard wasn't an option so we started killin' em'.
I got 574 and got stung five times.
Kass killed 26 and got stung once.
Maestra ate two and got stung in the mouth by both of them.
The spoils of WAR.In short, Costa Rica was pretty damn exciting, if not very welcoming.
We planned to head to northern Nicaragua but storms got worse the further north we went so we turned around and after a little rough weather made it back to Gigante in the middle of the night.
Now I'm back to work and "taking on more responsibility". More on this later.
Also interesting, I almost dumped a motorcycle in a two foot deep puddle/mudpit but saved it at the expense of my right leg. I made bacon of it on the muffler. I'd call it a 2.5 on the burn scale. So I'm out of the water for about a week. This is probably a blessing in disguise.
And, I got a pedicure. This on top of the shaving and the haircut and the new-to-me clothes.
Ohhh yeah, and, I finally figured out what Maesta's been trying to tell me for the last 8 months:
"Enjoy it. Enjoy it. Enjoy it."
If you meet her she'll tell you the same.
Toodles,
Max