SS Pacifica

by Coleinger, Ronnie

  We finally set sail for the Falkland Island on December 8. I had a secret that I intended to keep from Becky. I normally would never keep anything of importance from her, but this one time, I made an exception. I hoped she would love the Christmas present I purchased just for her.

  Chapter 37 – Christmas at Sea

  We were just sailing along the east side of French Guiana when I heard Becky’s laptop make a dinging sound. I looked at the screen and discovered Susanne had sent Becky an email. When I returned to the deck to help clean up the lunch dishes, I told Becky about the email. I told her to go read the message before we lost cell service and that I would finish cleaning up. Once I finished cleaning, I sat my deck chair on the bow and watched the seagulls scavenging something floating on the water, probably a dead fish. I decided to fix some coffee and headed down into the cabin. As I fixed the pot and placed it on the camp stove to perk, I realized Becky was not down here with me. She must have slipped past me while I sat on the bow.

  When the coffee finished perking, I poured two cups and carried them up to the deck. Becky was not up here either. I looked over the stern and found her sitting down, leaning back against the hull. She was obviously crying. I sat the coffee down and climbed down the ladder. I did not say anything; I just sat down beside her. I knew she would talk to me about the problem when she was able, until then, I needed to let her think. In a few moments, she leaned her head against my shoulder and took hold of my hand. I could feel her warm tears dripping on my arm and knew something in Susanne’s email had upset her. Finally, she took a deep breath and said, “Susanne’s email was not good. I need to read the message to you. I need to speak the words out loud to my best friend. I need you to listen. I know I will cry while I read to you, but let me do this. My sanity somehow needs me to cry the tears and accept the reality of my niece’s words. Becky stood up and pulled me to my feet.

  Once we were in the cabin, Becky sat down at the communications desk and opened the email she had saved. She looked up at me and took a deep breath. Then she began reading.

  “It sounds like you and Stanley are having a great trip and I thank you for the offer to have Charlie meet you in the Falkland Islands, all expenses paid, so he could ride home with you to San Francisco on the Pacifica-Two. That trip would be something he would remember for the rest of his life.

  Unfortunately, the family has a medical issue that requires Charlie to remain at home. As much as I would love Charlie to be with you and Stanley right now, I think it is more important that he spend as much time as possible with his father. Becky, I don’t know how to tell you this without just saying it, Charlie’s Father has advanced brain cancer and only has a few more months to live. The doctors are unable to do much to help, except keep him comfortable with drugs. I have not told Charlie that his father is dying, only that he is very ill and will be spending a lot of time in the hospital. I will tell Charlie the truth when the time is right. His father may do the deed for me if he can work the conversation around to it.

  There, I have said the words. I am trying to type as the tears run down my cheeks. I have cried a river of tears and I hoped I could make it through this email without shedding any more. I will keep you updated with as much information as possible. Have a safe trip. Thanks again for the wonderful offer to have Charlie join you; sorry it did not work out.

  Love always

  Susanne

  As Becky closed her laptop, she had managed to dry her tears. She said, “Right now, I feel as if Charlie was my own Son. I hate what he is going to have to endure as his father’s illness progresses.”

  Becky said, “I need to not let this horrible news control my life. I cannot do anything to change the outcome, nor do much to help Susanne and Charlie deal with the heartache they will both endure. I need to get on with my life and try to remember the good things I know about Charlie’s Father.”

  When Becky stood up she said, “Will you join me on the deck for a beer. I think I need to stay near to you for awhile until this darkness I feel in my heart passes, if that makes any sense to you.” I pulled her into my arms and said, “Charlie needs your love and support. I suggest you pull yourself from that darkness and do it now, girl. I love you, Susanne loves you, and Charlie loves you. Remember to talk to me if the darkness becomes overpowering. I cannot lose you. My life would become meaningless without you in my arms.”

  As we started to climb the ladder back up to the deck, I pushed a bag with a box inside it with my toe so it was not blocking the bottom rung of the ladder. Becky giggled and said, “I will move that box after you are up on deck.” I looked at her with intentions of asking what was in the box, but the sly smile on her face told me not to ask.

  I headed up to the deck and chuckled over her secrecy. I was certain she had bought me a Christmas present. I could see the Christmas wrapping paper on the box. The girl still loved me.

  It was Christmas Eve and we decided to stop for the night. We had sailed a little closer to the South American coast in an attempt to find warm shallow water where we could anchor, bathe and fish. The spot we chose had water only twenty-two feet deep. We could see fish all around us, so we dropped lines and soon caught four fish. Once we had them filleted, we left the carcasses in a large pail on the deck. Then we took some time and took a bath. As we stood on the swim platform drying off, we saw an octopus stick his tentacles up onto the swim platform and slowly begin pulling himself aboard. We both began to laugh at the creature as it pulled its head up out of the water and appeared to be looking us over. We decided to feed the creature. We had no idea what octopus ate, but decided to give it the fish carcasses we had up on the deck. I brought the pail down and slid one of the fish into the water. The octopus quickly grabbed the fish and held on with one of its tentacles. I slid a second fish into the water and the animal grabbed it with a second tentacle. By the time I had all the fish into the water, the octopus slid off the platform and back into the water. We could see it below us, carrying all four fish across the sandy seafloor, probably taking them home to his family. Becky looked at me and said, “I hope that is the Father fish and not a baby. I would not want a big octopus on this vessel.”

  We decided to sail out into water a hundred feet or so deep and submerge for a few hours sleep. We never seemed to get a full nights’ sleep while we sailed. We were always taking turns standing watch and we never sleep a full six or seven hours. Tonight we would sleep together from dark to daylight before setting sail. It would extend our trip by another day, but the whole point of this sailing adventure was to enjoy the sea. Sleep made living aboard the Pacifica-Two a little easier.

  Once we found a place with a sandy bottom, we took down the sails, lowered the masts and settled to the bottom. I no more than had the vessel stable in the sand, when I heard a scream from Becky. I looked towards the bow, expecting to see her bleeding or injured. Instead, I saw her with her back pressed against the bathroom door, staring out the port viewing window. I walked over to where she stood and looked out the window. As I pressed my face up to the window to try to locate what had frightened her, a huge shark head appeared in the window. I know I screamed like a girl, I know I peed a little, I know my legs were shaking when I turned around to face my wife. She started giggling and said, “I wish I had my recorder turned on. You screamed like a six year old girl.” I inspected the front of my shorts and said, “Okay, laugh if you want. I think I wet my pants.” Becky sat down on the bed and watched me change my shorts. She tried hard not to laugh, but could not contain herself. I finally threw my wet shorts at her and asked, “Why did you not warn me about the shark? Sometimes, I just hate you.” She began to laugh all over again. Finally, she managed to settle down and said, “At least I didn’t pee in my pants.”

  I returned to the window, but kept a safe distance this time. As I watched, I could see at least two sharks on the port side and another one on the starboard side. They seemed intrigued by the Pacifica-Two, probably wondering if it was a predator or sim
ply prey.

  Becky put her arms around my neck and said, “To think, we swam in these waters just a couple miles from here. Those sharks may have watched us bathe and feed the octopus. They might have even had the octopus and our fish carcasses for supper.” I did not like her words, but I did realize she was probably correct in her assessment. I also realized that just because there was a shark in the water, did not mean the animal was intent on biting or eating us. Most often, they were simply curious.

  As we crawled into my bed and cuddled, Becky seemed unable to get to sleep. I rolled over and kissed her, then slid my hand down into her pajama bottoms. With just a little coaxing, she rolled on top of me and allowed her body to release the tension this day had produced. Twenty minutes later, my wife was sound asleep beside me, hogging the bed as usual.

  When I rolled out of bed, I felt an excitement in the air. I smelled coffee and saw Becky eating her breakfast at the little table. I could tell we were on the surface because the sun was shining in one of the viewing windows. I got up, went up on deck and peed over the side. When I returned to the cabin, I poured a cup of coffee and joined my wife at the table. She smiled and said, “Merry Christmas, my love.” I said, “Merry Christmas, Becky. I love you too.” She asked if I had bought her a Christmas present. I chuckled and said, “You know I did and you probably already sneaked a peek.” She giggled and said, “I promise you, pinky swears, that I did not peek. It was difficult, but I have no idea what you bought me, besides both packages are wrapped.” I gasp over her words. She put her fingers over her mouth, trying to take back the words she had just spoken.

  Then she got up and began rummaging around in the compartment under her bed. She produced the box I had seen earlier, nicely wrapped in Christmas paper with a red bow on the top. She sat the box on the table in front of me and said, “While you unwrap your present, I will get mine out from under your bed.” I began to laugh as she began pulling stuff out from under my bed. She put the smaller package on the table and then sat the larger one on the floor. I looked at her and said, “May I borrow this bow for a few minutes?” I took the bow off my present and stuck it to the smaller box she had sat on the table. She giggled and said, “Bows are optional. Only the present is important.” She leaned over and kissed me hard on the lips.

  As I removed the last of the wrapping paper and saw what she had bought me, I almost cried. She giggled and said, “That bad, huh?” I wrapped my arms around her and said, “That good. I love you. This is the best gift you could have given me. Now I can listen to BBC; I simply love that program.” As I looked in the box, I realized there were two rolls of wire for making an antenna. This would work out very well.

  I moved the small package over to Becky and watched her unwrap it. When she pulled out the knee length pink tee shirt, she giggled, pulled off all her clothes and put on the new shirt. I chuckled and said, “Wow, you look good enough to nibble on.” She giggled and said, “That later. Right now, I have one more present to open.” She slowly removed the wrapping paper, only to discover another box carefully wrapped inside the first. She giggled and opened the second box. This time she found what she wanted. The box contained a small boom box with a radio and CD player. In the bottom of the box were twelve CD’s by the music artists she loved the most. She looked up at me with glistening eyes and said, “How did you know I was looking at this CD player? You were not with me when I looked at it.” I explained that I had asked the sales clerk what she had that would be a good Christmas present for you and she had said, “ow about theHHow about the CD player your wife was checking out?” Since I knew you liked it, I bought it. The CD’s were easy; I know what music you like.

  Becky checked for batteries and opened one of the CD’s. When she pressed the play button, the sound of music echoed around the cabin of the Pacifica-Two. She giggled, picked up the player and headed for the deck. I followed her, only to discover she had taken off the long pink tee shirt and was dancing on the deck in her birthday suit. I joined her, but she said, “No. you cannot dance to my music with your clothes on.” I quickly remedied the problem and joined her again. After a few minutes of dancing, Becky turned off her player and put her tee shirt back on. She giggled at me and said, “Apparently, your male body likes dancing in the nude.” I chuckled and pulled my shorts back on.

  After we fixed a Christmas breakfast, we set the sails and got back underway. Spending Christmas Eve here in the Southern Atlantic and opening our presents this morning was wonderful. The weather could not have been nicer, it was eighty-six degrees and sunny. Today would be a wonderful day on the high seas. While Becky got the Pacifica-Two headed in the right direction, I ran a wire from a junction box by the stern hatch so Becky could plug in her CD player on the deck without running down the batteries. She already had the CD player jamming out music as she sailed us towards Salvador.

  Around noon, I cooked us our favorite food: Fish. Becky sat down beside me to eat our lunch. I had opened a bottle of wine to celebrate our Christmas dinner and I poured her a small glass. As we ate, she said, “What is it that I smell?” I said, “While you were jamming to your music on deck, I cooked us a special Christmas treat.” She looked at me and said, “It smells like brownies.” I chuckled and said, “Did you save enough room for desert?” She looked at me and said, “Yes.” She seemed unable to believe that I had cooked desert. I went down into the cabin and served up two large brownies. I carried them up to the deck and handed one to Becky. She giggled and said, “Holly crap, Ke-mo sah-bee, this smells incredible.” I blew the wine I had just taken a sip out my nose and all over my legs. As I cleaned up the mess, she giggled and said, “You must tell me how you made brownies this good on a camp stove.” I said, “I cannot tell you. I was sworn to secrecy.” She leaned over and said, “I will give you a very special Christmas kiss if you tell me your secret.” I giggled and said, “Don’t make promises that you will regret.” Then I explained that the recipe came from Kathryn. I had told her of your love for chocolate during your periods each month. She wrote down the recipe and I tried it this morning. I think it came out quite nicely.” Becky sat looking at me, considering the story I had just told her. She finally rolled her eyes and took another sip of her wine. When she tasted the brownie, she smiled and said, “As captain of this vessel, I proclaim that you now have an official title. I, by the power invested in me, do proclaim that you, Stanley, are the official confectionary for the Pacifica-Two.” I stood up and bowed to the captain. She giggled and said, “I am in awe of your skills. The longer I know you, the more I love the mystery about you.”

  When we entered the harbor at Salvador, Brazil, we decided to purchase some groceries and immediately head back out to sea. We had plenty of fresh water stored in the cabin, so all we needed now was some food and supplies. We hoped to be in and out of the marina in four or five hours at most.

  Once we anchored, we paddled the dinghy to the docks and tied it to a post. When we entered the marina, we discussed where we could purchase groceries and supplies. The Spanish-speaking lady at the counter explained that the market was two blocks down the street. We paid her for one days docking fees and began walking the two blocks to the market. We purchased what we needed and filled all four backpacks. As we slowly walked back towards the dinghy, we realized that we had packed more into the backpacks than we should have. We were struggling as we walked up the steep incline to the marina’s docks.

  Once we unloaded the backpacks into the dinghy, it only took us another twenty minutes to get everything stowed in the cabin. We decided to go back to the marina and have some lunch before leaving. When we sat down, the waitress only spoke Spanish, but we managed to place our orders. I was glad we both had taken Spanish classes in high school and again in college. Knowing the basics of the language allowed us to manage, albeit with difficulty, to converse in this southern continent. Speaking the language had been extremely important while crossing the Panama Canal. Many, if not most of the people we met spoke either English
or Spanish.

  As we motored out of the harbor and returned to the shipping channel, we set the sails and headed due south. The weather was warm and sunny with a slight northwesterly wind. We set the spinnaker and pushed the Pacifica-Two hard for the next seven days, until we ran into stormy weather just east of Rio de Janeiro.

  The storm warnings first came across the marine radio around six o’clock in the morning, startling Becky out of bed. I was standing watch and could see the lightning hundreds of miles to our east; over land, it appeared. When Becky stepped up on deck, three hours before she was to relieve me, she moved a deck chair up beside me and said, “We may have to find a location and submerge for a few hours. The storm that you see is rapidly approaching us. NOAA has issued an advisory for all vessels to seek shelter. The storm contains high winds, large hail and heavy lightning strikes. I see that the waves have gotten larger from the approaching storm. We are presently in water that is 1200 feet deep. I would like to find a sandy area in a couple hundred feet of water and settle in before the storm arrives. If you sail directly to the east, I will tell you when we reach an appropriate area with the depth gauge and fish finder. I will start the generator while I am down there so we have fully charged batteries before we submerge.”

  When Becky had left the deck, I began moving the deck chairs to the cabin and then took down the foresail. As I carried the sails and rigging down the ladder and placed everything into the proper cabinets, Becky said, “I believe we are in an appropriate location. If you turn and sail us due south for a few minutes, I will see if I can find a place slightly deeper.” As I sailed for another half hour, Becky stuck her head up through the hatch and said we should dive here. I quickly took down the mainsail and rigging and passed it to Becky. I lowered the two masts and brought our safety belts and lanyards into the hatch. Becky said the batteries were now fully charged and shut down the generator. Once we had closed and locked the hatch doors, we settled the Pacifica-Two a little deeper and looked for a place to wait out the storm on the sandy bottom. NOAA had predicted that the storm would run its course in few hours. Once we found a place where we wanted to be, we surfaced again. Our intent was to remain on the surface just long enough to gather sufficient rainwater to refill all our jugs.