"And if I sailed on thru eternity, would it really never end?

Or would I just come out a younger man on the other side?"

-Kelly McGuire, Life's a Mystery

Island Time Jim has fled down south to leisurely return the boat up here from Rio Dulce Guatemala. I already miss my friend, but I know that there is high adventure and I am smug and quite happy (if not a bit jealous) of and for him. I have added the link to his blog on the sidebar. If you’re reading this pal, I wish I were there too….

And Captain Sean delivered Oceans 15 from there as well a week or so ago, took her outside the reef up to Isla Mujeres, flying back to Kemah. I stayed aboard his Pearson 365, Raven, this weekend in Kemah as I searched for the bigger boat that will take us down South quite soon…

Yep. We’re gonna need a bigger boat now that the twins are getting bigger, and there are other considerations as well. That doesn’t mean ‘Div will be ignored or neglected. Far from it. The goal is to split the time between here and the Western Caribbean, so Olivia will remain as our upper Gulf of Mexico boat. Perhaps some day I might consider her sale, but only to the right person. I have no need to sell her, and so can afford to be quite selective. She is a special and beloved vessel.

And so I began the great boat hunt.

I thought I had found the perfect vessel, spacious, and from outward appearances, quite lovely, but unfortunately, a commissioned survey (and even though I spent quite a bit, and didn’t end up buying the boat it was probably the best money I could have spent) revealed many problems beyond the scope of time, money and effort needed to correct, and so we abandoned the deal. Like you Holding Pattern, we are good people, and we hope this did not cause any hard feelings or caused the owners of this boat to view us any differently. The vessel as it sits just didn’t fit our needs.

So I kept looking, knowing full well that one usually doesn’t find a boat, rather, the boat usually finds its new owner…..

I spent a lot of time looking nonetheless. I searched Sailing Texas, I searched the dealers websites, I googled and googled with what I had in mind, over and over again……

Last week a Lancer 36 popped out, and I contacted the broker, who just happened to be the broker that Captain Sean bought Raven from, and he sent me the details. It looked pretty close to being the one…..so I decided to take a trip up to Kemah this past weekend and check it, and a few other boats out.

-However-

On Friday, when I called the broker, lo and behold, the Lancer had a prospective buyer who had made an offer.

I decided to go to Kemah anyhow, even though the rest of the crew stayed behind to attend to end of the school year stuff.

The commander and I left here before noon, and we drove directly to Houston, getting to Watergate around 1900. Gene was already at Ciclon, and so I took the van, drove over to dock 13 and stashed my things aboard Raven and relaxed for about 10 minutes before gathering myself up and going over to Pier17 to take a look at the Lancer. In the next slip was an old, but apparently immaculately well maintained Pearson 35, hard dingy mounted on the foredeck, little kicker on the stern rail, stainless windless, gigantic bimini and lots of things that just shouted cruise ready…..in fact, she seemed to shout “Hey, take a look at me…..I might be an old girl, but I’m solid, I’ll take you there and you won’t have to worry….”

Well, I walked the other docks and looked at everything available from Endeavors to Fontain Pajots and Formosas, and everything in between, but my mind kept returning to the Pearson……

So around 2000 I called the broker, who promptly informed me that the Lancer had sold. Oddly, I wasn’t much concerned. I was still thinking about the Pearson.

He said he’d be down in about 10 minutes.

Lou arrived, and so did the commander and Gene. We went to the office and got the key, walked down the pier to the Pearson and went aboard.

The lock was a combination lock, and so Lou went back to the office and got the master key, a big set of bolt cutters.

In the fading light I felt like I was in King Tuts treasure trove. Down below, everything was laid out in a business like manner, and I checked this and that, the big Westerbeke, the berthing, the head, the galley noting how everything was done just so. A 406 EPIRB was mounted on the port cabin side, and the thing was even wired for a SSB already. In the laz, a single lung Westerbeke generator, spotless occupied the space.

We went back to the office and I immediately made an offer, giving Lou the put up check…now it’s the waiting game. The owner is down island right now, so hopefully there will be a way to get in touch with him…..Who know’s? we could quite possibly as in any day be the owners of a very cheery tricked out Pearson 35, El Caribe (how’s THAT for the perfect name?).

The rest of the weekend I crawled aboard several more times, and the more I looked, the more I liked. Other great things happened, my dear friend Don (of Catatonic) who had carted the boat to Kemah to sell, as he and Linda moved back to Denver called and just happened to be in town, and of course getting to see Captain Sean and his lovely girlfriend was as always, a treat. All of these people are special to me, and make up the family of an only, lonely child. It was indeed a magic filled weekend.

The plan is temporarily store our things, move aboard here on the Island this summer as we find a new home port, then deliver her south for awhile, or perhaps do the Bahamas first.

Yep Island Time Jim, you made a believer of me.

Here’s a couple of pictures of the lady:

El Caribe's Salon....