| Saying goodbye and leaving for an extended
cruise is difficult. Colleagues and business associates think you have lost your senses.
Family wonders if you will get to your destination by Christmas to forward gifts. Sailor
friends are envious. Saying goodbye becomes a chore. You end up repeating yourself in
words that can be understood by the three different groups of people. |
| Paula and I have set sail for our third
cruise aboard TETHYS. As in the past, we quit our jobs, said goodbye, and
untied our dock lines. I can’t remember who suggested this idea, but I can assure you
we have discovered the absolute best way to say goodbye to friends and start an extended
cruise: leave the marina on departure day and take all your friends with you! |
| That’s exactly what we did. Eight boats
from our marina of 11 left with us midday Saturday May 1st. We agreed to raft up together
for an evening of revelry in Centre Bay, Gambier Island in Howe Sound. We spent the
weekend dining and carousing with our friends as if we were all cruising in some distant
land. On Sunday, our friends departed one by one to get back to their reality, and by the
middle of the afternoon, TETHYS was alone in the anchorage. |
| Our adventure
had begun. |