Cast off

Final Days in La Paz


Verity brought Carnaval to an end with a late night mechanical bull ride. Can't remember whether that was before or after the shot of tequila?




With dawn we charter a dive boat to take us to Isla Islotes, some 50 kilometres north in the Sea, where we went diving with Sea Lions and other critters. Brushing the side a 250 kg brute underwater caused a small amount of terror, a large amount of memory.





Then put the girls on planes back to Canada, have a few cocktails with friends, wait for a weather window, and lastly head out on the run to San Carlos. Slowly pacing myself through all that busy-ness, some weeks later finally I cast off the bowline and head to sea.





There is something about being alone on the sea, particularly near day's end. To the side, I see - without my glasses - a rich dusk skyline. The light falls and night comes.


Middle of that night I pass over a giant fish-form, as long as my boat, illuminated by a beautiful bio-luminescence, slowly threshing through the water just off and below my port beam. Then it turned and undulated off into the dark depths, leaving a path of sparks. Must have been a whale shark.

A few days later I am at San Carlos under the twin peaks of what is called "Goats Teat". Take a look and figure it out!



And its back to marina life, at least for a couple of weeks. Then Anya is put up on the hard and I drive with a friend to Tuscon ultimately to fly on to Alberta and then Montreal for the summer.