Music and Friends

Apart from the hassles with the paperwork, we more or less enjoyed our time at the Shelter Bay Marina, in large part because of the other cruising friends we had there. We met the crews of many boats new to us, including, Chris and Anita from PADMA, Ellis and Lida from GIGI, & Daniel and Reylyn from TROPICAL DANCE, as well as hooking up with several folks we had already met, including Poul and Manfred from SURF SCOOTER, Terri and Lyman from SANS CLES, and Jan and Rob from TRIPLE STARS. Also, our good friends Tahsin and Rengin on DELFIN SOLO showed up during the week. But the highlight was when, on our last night in the marina, sitting at the bar having drinks and having just ordered dinner, we turned and saw at a nearby table Douglas and Mary, from FANDANGO, whom we had last seen in Barra de Navidad, MX, way back in January! We brought our drinks over to their table and shared dinner with them, catching up on old times and tales of friends and things that had happened since 10 months past.

Also somewhat notable during our stay in Shelter Bay was the fact that I got to play a little music here. I had been asking around, looking for other musicians, as I usually do in each port we visit. One night at dinner, after a few drinks, the waiters were giving me a hard time, asking me where my guitar was, since I talked about it so much, so I went and got it and ended up doing a set to about 20 people who gathered around and seemed to enjoy the music. Then Terri (from SANS CLES) said she had written some poetry that she thought might make a good song, so she came over the next day, and I put some chords to it.

The night before we left, Friday night, I brought an amp, mic stand and mic, and the guitar up to the restaurant and set up for an evening gig. It was great fun as everyone was listening and applauding, and was even more fun when Terri got up and we performed Terri's song - twice! First we did it as a quasi-reggae tune, then I spiced it up and did it as a fast country rock thing. Everyone really liked that!

Finally, after exactly two weeks in the Marina, it was time to go. RHAPSODY was all up to snuff, all of our boat chores were done, and we'd said our goodbyes, so on Saturday morning, October 25th, we cast off our lines and headed out of the marina, glad to be cruising again, and on to new adventures!