Letters As I gunkholed south along the Baja, my life got better
day-by-day. I’ll spare you the travelogue and jump to the end of my tale at one of the islands outside of La Paz. I don’t remember the island name and it doesn’t matter. Every morning the radio net would crackle, as usual, with, “Who has an emergency? Who needs what?” For the last four or five days this one S/V was trying to get a certain part, a 9/16 widget of some kind or another. Each day they seemed more pissed off that no one could find, or tell them were to get their widget. Their language got worse each day and their frustration level was going off the scope. Whatever this part was, it was sounding like a life or death matter.
What could be so bad? They were on a big beautiful boat easily five time the size of my little sloop, (a Lancer 28) there were several good looking ladies onboard (I had a dog), the sun was shining and the water was clear and warm, winds were light, the Aztec Gods all were in their temples.
Then, one afternoon as I sat in my tiny cockpit sipping tequila and warm beer, the folks on that nice boat had had it. After all the pleas for that widget and a trip to La Paz in their tender powerboat, and still no widget, they announced to everyone they could not stand it any longer. They were cutting short their vacation and were going back to L.A. Their icemaker was not working. To that I raised my can of warm beer to chase the last
sip of “Jose,” and wished them all the happiness that they could get from an icemaker in L.A. Seven months on the Sea of Cortez cured my ills and
organized my priorities. My wife and I got back to business and started a new business. Life is good, with or without ice if you want it to be.
Tom Dodd West Bay Marina Olympia, WA
Tom Dodd is a frequent writer for periodicals in the western US, dealing with western themes, family humor, and cowboy experiences. His life has changed to salt water ventures.
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