Changes

It is 2:27am and I have just returned from the local disco. How I found myself there, is a long story, but the impetus that drove me to blog at all is some music I heard tonight there. More about that later.
The week has been great, kinda topped off by a wonderful party for St Patty's Day on Thursday evening, at the new deck at the marina green. Again, I played my piano for an hour and half or so, to start the cocktail hour, and was joined by Chuck - a Hungarian on a boat here - who plays a very decent sax. Also David came up and sang a bit and added his mandolin to my music. He is an extremely talented guitarist and entertainer, and we have played together several times going back to Christmas. Perhaps 3 or 4 boats total, prepared Irish stew for the dinner and it turned out that for 110 Limperas - about $5 - we had a great meal, and cheap drinks. The night progressed eventually to loud dance music, and I had the pleasure of dancing with a new lady here, my friend Norma, and the woman who organized the party. I should write here, that for anyone interested, Fantasy Island Marina, Roatan, Honduras, on FaceBook, always has updated and good pictures - now thanks to Joyce becoming a semi-official photographer' for the cruisers' activities.
For much of the last few weeks, life has been very easy and good. I wake at 8am, and eventually make my 2 cups of coffee in Anne-Marie's old French press - her Bodem - since the nicer one I had finally was dropped and cracked. Either crunches and push-ups, or a short jog on the beach get me going, or rather help get my heart pumping. Most often, I take a book to the beach, and read, and either sip a half and half mix of pineapple and orange juice, or ask for rum to be added. I most often take a good swim, for the stretching and exercise, but the dip in the salt water is always refreshing, and also, on many days, is my 'shower'. Back to AF for some dinner, or off to a local restaurant. Back home to read, or back to the bar for a nightcap. Would be - and IS for some - an easy lifestyle to become addicted to the booze, and I often laugh to myself about a line from one of the Godfather movies - repeated several times on the Sopranos series, about trying to get out of the business, but being dragged back in. Is the same for drinking, as many days, I wouldn't drink alcohol, but someone stops or invites me to join them and the cycle continues. Well, so what! I do not live this life, and have not for several years, aiming at longevity.
I heard from a friend in Baltimore today, commenting that I had not posted anything lately, so I called him and caught him up on my - can I say boring?? - life. (Is not at all boring, but, living in paradise can become monotonous, but, as I hear so often here, 'somebody has to do it.') Wes and I talked for 30 minutes, and it was good to hear his voice, and he caught me up to date with his life, and the scene at my former home in Inner Harbor, MD.
Tonight was the cruisers' BBQ but I chose not to go with food, having eaten earlier, but had a few drinks. Talked to Sue, who works on boats - half of a Canadian couple but she was raised in New Yawk. She has become, for me, one of the guys, and has filled me in on places to visit, hotels to spend a night, and things in Honduras that are worth my time. Since she is one of the guys here, I feel free now to 'lift a leg' more near to her proximity than I would normally, in front of a lady, and we always laugh about it. I was surprised and pleased to see that my friend Paul came back today, after his surgery in Atlanta. He says he is walking better and the pain is less. (It was a bit of a shock, although I was prepared via Joyce's blog entries, to see how much his stenosis has crippled him in only 2 years since I crewed with them to SXM.) But was great to see him back again. He brought their new kitty along - a - oops, I will not spell this right - Maincoon. My first wife and I had one, as well as my friend Bart and his then-wife, and so I have an attachment to the breed.
So, after speaking to a couple cruisers, and then Sue, I visited my good friends Jim and Norma, and their dog, Rico, and had a couple more vodka and tonics. Another very nice couple came by, and I used their checking on pork chops on the grill to make my exit. Looks like I am taking care of Rico while they return to the US in June. He and I will get along fine, even if he is a white poodle!
Back to the resort bar, and ran into Marcio, who is the 'money man' here at the resort. If you look back to New Year's Eve, I think there is a picture of Patty, and Marcio, and I at the Deck Cafe. He had a friend with him, who is a doctor, and making his public service to the government of Honduras, with a year of practice at the hospital in Coxen Hole. After a couple more, I was offered to depart the resort with them and head for the the local disco, or the West End. (Geesh, I guess I will get into a car with anyone - I thought we were going to the West End, but stopped, instead, at the disco at the mall - a place I have visited before several times.)
I danced with the owner of the Rotisseria Alamen - German rotissery - and saw 2 girls, and their dates, who work here in the restaurant. Have known each GIRL since I arrived, about 8 or even 9 months ago. Their boyfriends/husbands asked us to join them, and after Marcio and Mario had had enough, I decided to stay, and continue dancing, with the assurance that I would get 'home' safely.
So, as I said at the beginning, what drew me to write, besides what Wes wrote about my not having made a post for a while, was the music. Yes, is very loud, and the disco is just like any found back home, but with a Latin flavor, for sure. But one of the favorite 'mixes' here, starts with a World War II song that Mom and Dad would have danced to. It amazed me to watch these kids either trying to jitter-bug or, if the skills weren't there, dance some Latin salsa-ey steps to this music. The mix jumps to 50's music and then on into more modern and more Latin, but the start always seems to get the dance floor moving, and happy. (There is a group of private high school seniors here just now, and I saw the same reaction 2 nights ago to this mix of music as I saw tonight.)
Everything changes, and nothing changes.
Home safe, after turning down a ride with a fellow who works in the dive shop, and came up to me to speak at the disco, to 2 after hour places, 'where the girls are' but ready for bed instead. I will do the after hour thing one Saturday night, I am sure, having heard of it now for several months.
So, that is a taste of my life today.
Changes.....
Life is good.

A suggestion

I would like to recommend to those of you who follow here, a youtube channel just set up by my friend, Drake, from s/v Paragon. www.youtube/drakeParagon.com

I met Drake in Bermuda, where he, along with then-girlfriend, Erin, came to AF to assist me in removing the jib from the furler and folding it, so that I could take it in to the sailmaker. It was a task I had never performed, and the sail itself is bulky and heavy, and was difficult to handle alone. I could not have done it without their help.

Later, Drake and I had a rather harrowing experience late one night, searching for his tender which had come untied at the St George dock. At the time, we were both a bit scared, I think, as the wind and tide were blowing us out the cut in the harbor when my engine failed us, and we ran aground on a breakwater for a moment. We did not recover the tender, nor was it ever found in Bermuda. Drake was sick at his loss.

Drake's videos - 6 in all - document his trip from NYC to Bermuda. He enjoyed the same seas that broke my steering, and towed a sailboat in distress for a long way, towards Bermuda. The experience was not the most pleasant, as the captain of the boat in distress, had no money to reimburse Drake for spent diesel, allowed the 2 boats to collide causing damage to each, and seemed to me to prove himself quite a butt-head later when I met him in St. George.

At this time I have not viewed all 6, as the internet connection is fairly slow, but have seen No 1 and jumped ahead to No 4 and wait for it to load as I type this. So, if you would like a very nice look at what life is like aboard a boat being single handed as I do, take some time and check out Drake's videos.