Everyone knows Traveler

There is traveler, on the right with her dink.  She's getting reacquainted with her old Mazatlan buddies.

Pulling into Marina Mazatlan the boat seemed to slip into the slip like she was putting her foot into a well-worn shoe.   The lines leapt to the cleats and settled in nicely.  I noticed the waterline settled slightly and there was a soft sigh from the hull as the little fish started cleaning the through-hull fittings of their algae. Schools of fish congregated as the word got out that there was a fresh boat in the marina, chock full of exotic vegetable matter from LaPaz and beyond.  

Dennis showing Scott how to work the autopilot.

The brackish water in the estuary supports a different set of flora and fauna than the intensely salty liquid of the Sea of Cortez.  An equilibrium of sorts was in the making now aided by small fish and microorganisms.   

On the human side, we were welcomed also.  Not only we but she, the boat that is Traveler.  A woman walked down the dock, paused, and said, “I know this boat.  Wasn’t this Joan and Dennis Hadley’s boat?”  

I approached Ruben, the diver who cleans boat bottoms, and asked him if he’d give Traveler a scrape.  When I went to point out the boat he replied, “I know what boat you are on. That’s Traveler.  I’ve cleaned her bottom many times.”  And then he told me about the owner before the Hadleys and how he lived on land locally for a while and kept the boat right here in Marina Mazatlan.  

Tacking the headsail

A kiwi walked down the dock, paused and said, “ I know this boat.  I almost bought her in San Diego a few years back.”    In a couple of anchorages we’ve had people comment that they thought they’d know this boat before we owned it.   Yes, Traveler is a well know traveler of these west coast waters and we are only her current caretakers.   

We when we bought her, I felt that Dennis and Joan accepted our offer partly because we pledged to take her south from California and continue her journey traveling the warm Mexican Pacific waters.  “She’s itching to head south.  I can’t take her so she needs new owners who will.”  said Dennis.

So when the winds get up and the seas get rough we take comfort knowing that the boat has been there and done that before and it is only we who are anxious.