WHATTTT???  John has now joined us and we’re at the water’s edge and I’m told the ‘broker will bring a barge across and take us to the other side’.  Oh, okay.  Well…. this is when I’d like to pause for a second in my writing and ask you what image pops into your mind when you hear ‘a barge’?  I personally was thinking some nice little boat…nice and steady…. or not…… (insert those rolling eyes again!)

 Just then, a lovely young man, Darren Marriott, our broker from Specialty Yachts (link to Darren is on our website “People, Places and Things”) arrives at the dock with this little tiny ‘tug’ looking thing.  My sister-in-law, who weighs approximately 32 pounds soaking wet jumps on like she’s done this every day in her life. The bloody tug was rocking unbelievably!!!!!!!!!  I had been just about to ‘board’ and when I saw that and I instantly pulled back and looked at John.  Maggie took heed and put her little brakes on…no tug for her either!  John assured me it would be just fine - “just stand in the middle and hang on to the side rails”.  Hang on, the rest needs (deserves) its own paragraph.

I very cautiously stepped on to the tug…. outstretched arms barely able to reach the side rails in order to hang on…I’m slightly, okay, completely bent over forward…trying to do a balancing act…. ever so elegant my friends…ever so elegant.  The tug is rocking and I look up at this lovely young man in front of me (Darren) and as I’m doing that…. i said a veryun-lady-like word…veryun-lady-like.  He grinned and said you must be Helen!  Why yes, I am :(.   I’m thinking, ‘he must think this is hilarious, the scared one is the one that just bought this boat and is going to live on it’, just another happy customer J.   John, his brother and Maggie board the tug behind me, as I stand bent over forward clinging to the rails.  I’m writing this and shaking and holding my own head at the memory and the picture it must have been!!  We get going across the Harbor and as we’re in the middle, Darren says to be prepared that when we dock on the other side, there will be a ‘bit of a bump’.  Oh good!!!!  A bump!  No one else seemed phased by the rocking of the tug as we boarded and I was certain we were going to fall over sideways into the drink….and now he’s warning us of a ‘bump’!?!!!!  I ‘calmly’ ask John to let me know when we reach the other side so I can be prepared for the ‘bump’…that’s right - I can no longer see where we’re headed as with the direction the tug is going, I’m now, still bent over, facing backwards!  We reach the other side and the bump was so tiny I could honestly barely say I even felt a bump.  Thank heavens for small mercy’s!  I will assure you that when it was time to disembark from that tug, I think I went off of it in one big jump!  John, his brother and Maggie were already off having been behind me, and at that exact moment, I can honestly tell you that I gave no thought or care to those behind me.  Shameful, right?  Oh well.  

Just up the dock on the starboard side sat our new home, the ‘El Sueno’.  She was a beauty alright…but at this point, my nerves were very much on edge, I was so tired from everything that had been happening in our lives, this recent ‘tug ride’…. I was just happy to board our new home and I immediately planted myself in the cockpit, holding Maggie and I didn’t move again.  I have a tendency - not a ‘tendency’ - rather a stress mechanism (???) that when I’m overwhelmed or nervous, and especially on a boat, I sit down and wherever I plant myself, it’s unlikely you’ll see me move from that spot. Perhaps and sometimes for very long periods of time.  That’s exactly what I did this day. 

Our broker’s dad had joined him that day and he too was a lovely man.  We sat in the cockpit and chatted while John, his brother and Darren went below to double check the engine, fuel and so on before we left for Richmond.  Karen went below too and came back telling me how nice the place was and describing some of it to me and asking why I wasn’t going below to see it.  I told her I would in a bit but that right now I was giving the men space to do what they needed to do.  She agreed it was probably not a great time as the floor was all up (to expose the engine).!!!!!  My thoughts turned to…. I won’t tell you what my thoughts turned to but at that moment…I wasn’t impressed that she was touring my new house before I got to see it.  ‘Let it go…. this is silly thinking’, I thought.  During this time, John came upstairs at one point, was grinning from ear to ear and gave me a big kiss….and says, ‘we did it!  She’s beautiful’.   El Sueno; the dream; his dream coming true.  My love was realizing one of his dreams.  And as happy as I was for him, my confidence was shaking…. not shaken…but shaking.   I couldn’t tell him. 

It wasn’t long before Darren and his dad shook our hands and made their way.  John started the boat and we drove to another area in the marina where we stopped as the men were going to go to a Marine store to purchase fuel filters and such for our trip.  No one was sure how long the fuel in the tank had been there and it would be a possibility to experience debris in the fuel; thus, wise to start out on our trip with a few spare parts and pieces.    It’s early afternoon by this time…. it’s been a long while since our drive through breakfast at A&W at 0630hr!  The men didn’t think they’d be too long before they returned…. perfect.

 We’re now tied up to the fuel dock at Thunderbird Marina; my sister in law had gone downstairs to lay down, John and his brother were gone and Maggie and I sat up in the cockpit.  The scenery there truly was beautiful, but time was dragging on and Maggie needed to go out the bathroom and truth be told, so did I.  The little fuel station advertised hot coffee and oh my…. wouldn’t one of those be heavenly right now?!  It was chilly to start with, but the sun was reaching the end of its day and we were feeling it.  

Desperation finally kicked in.  I had to leave the boat to take Maggie ashore.   I was terrified getting off the boat by myself (afraid of falling in the water), but, tough times call for tough measures!  Maggie and I prepared to get off the boat - her with joy, me with my old friend fear.   We did it!  Asked at the fuel station if there was a washroom to use - they didn’t have one but gave me directions to one in the marina ‘yard’ just above us.  Off we went.  Maggie needed no privacy, conducted her business immediately and was rather pleased with herself and I was happy for her :).  I on the other hand had no such luck finding this alleged washroom!?!  Oh well…it wasn’t that bad and I’d hang on.  We went back to the little shop and I bought a hot coffee (heavenly!!!) and thought I’d buy a snack for everyone.  John had put some provisions in the car and now onto the boat for us…things I asked for and the first and foremost being water, and while I’d asked for a couple of things from Costco so that we could make a snack on board…he did get things from Costco but those three things were a) apple turnovers, b) two bite brownie’s and c) Lacey cookies.  lol.  I should have known - Mr. Sweet Tooth struck again…. but I don’t eat sugar. 

I bought four little (individual size) bags of chips and thought that once back on board, Maggie and I would explore our new home.  (I should mention my phone had died and I had no way of calling to see where John and Dave were - they’d been gone for a couple of hours at this point).  I go back and put Maggie on board and settle my purse and coffee where I know they’ll be safe from falling in the water.  I attempt to step back on board.  Nope.  Too high. Re-assess…. try again…. nope.  Not going to happen! :(*.  Good lord, now what!?!  I need a step.  But what? I look around the dock where we were…nothing to use.  I need to go back up to the main yard and search there.  But remember, it’s late Saturday afternoon and there’s no one around to ask.  Not wanting to leave Maggie wandering on the deck of the boat, I take her back off and up the two of us go.  I’m beginning to not have fun :(.   Finally, I find an old 3-gallon pail with a bunch of old anchor chain in it.  I look around for someone to ask; not a soul in sight. Resigned to what needs to happen; I dump the anchor chain and take the pail.  It was perfect!!!!  I boarded the boat with no problems at all.  I drink my now significantly cooled coffee and have my little bag of chips. I start feeling sorry for myself…sitting there all alone, don’t know where John is…. I had some food for Maggie and gave her that and I proceeded to eat the other three bags of chips.  I was in a mood.  And those chips were good.  And then realizing that I’d eaten all four bagsand I couldn’t admit that and now what was I going to do to get rid of the evidence!  :0).

We went downstairs.  Stop.  Full Stop.  It was so much smaller than I’d envisioned.  But it was pretty and the woodwork was wonderful.  But SO small!!!!  John said we’d have the V-berth for our room…. I stepped over to the v-berth and died inside. It was so short; I was never going to sleep laying down again!  :**(. Oh my…I mean it, I want this to work, but I’m shocked and I feel utterly deflated.  What have we done.  SMH.  Maggie seemed quite content with it all!

We weren’t back in the cockpit long and along came the boys…. with a platter of sushi and a bag of subs from Quiznos!  Food from heaven (even for the ‘four bag of chips girl’!). Turns out, they’d had to drive into North Vancouver to find a marine store open on a Saturday (check out the link on our page “People, Places and Things” for Martin Marine).   But! They got what we needed and now we would begin our trip to Richmond.  Sadly, we got away so late that most of it would happen in the dark. With sushi and subs and water for all, and under strict orders from me for John to put my 3 gallon pail IN THE BOAT! he started the motor started and away we went.  I had committed my first theft...

The boat was performing well and outside of Vancouver (near Stanley Park) we passed a pod of dolphins swimming by us!  My faith in the sea had been restored!!  THISis what it is all about. :).   Soon John went downstairs to check the gauge panel and give everything a quick once over….and turned on the navigation lights for our night journey.  Guess what!?!!!  Problem number one has been encountered!  We have no navigation lights!!!  I consider this and wisely ask if that means we’re stopping in Vancouver for the night. The answer is no, we’ll keep going. Internal voice, ‘are you kidding me???? HOW???  We’ll get hit!!!!’  I query this decision and ask if that’s not a safety concern…. I’m assured that no, we’ll be just fine.  Now, you’ve read enough already to just knowwhere my head is going with this new-found issue…. I’mgoing to have to be on the steady look out…helping the captain - no rest and relaxation on this trip.

Well, the trip went well, the boat was really quite impressive in how she handled through a bit of ‘chop’ in the Sand Heads...although it was pretty calm...but still.  We were happy (just not loving the ‘no nav light’s issue!).  Heading down the Fraser River towards Shelter Island Marina (our new home), it was black out...late at night and we were all cold (and I still had to go to the bathroom!) ... John’s driving and his brother is reminding him of certain sailing tips, general chit chat, Karen is wrapped in a blanket and John’s keeping a look out for other marine traffic.  At one point I looked behind us and told John that there was a bright light approaching and approaching quickly!  He and Dave looked and sure enough, a very large tug was bearing down on us.  John steered to let the tug by and at the same time shone a very strong flashlight out the back to alert the tug to our presence.  The tug went around us and there were no issues.  When going along side of us, they shone a light, basically saying, ‘saw you, thanks.  No biggie. At this point, when they’re shining the light, Karen pipes up and asks her husband if those were ‘the Federales’ and thinking we were in trouble for not having nav lights.   Seriously?!??  Now, please remember, I’m in a mood...things have been stressful, she’s seen my house before I did, she’s wrapped herself in a blanket and is covering the cockpit heater...it’s late at night.... I’m just in a mood and now she thinks the ‘Federales’ are in the Fraser River?!  Please....that’s right.  The Federales (Mexican police) came up to Canada and down the Fraser River to bust us for not having nav lights.  Quite the knowledgeable sailor!!!   I laugh now, but that night...when she stepped out to smoke off the side of the boat.... well, enough of that J  Don’t get me wrong, I quite like my sister-in-law.... but not that night. But, in all truth, there was little that I liked that night

The entire trip went smooth and the boat was perfect.  As we neared the marina, I declared that my intentions for the remainder of the evening (it was now midnite) were to go downstairs, go to the bathroom and crawl into bed and I was NOT getting up in the morning until I was good and ready. Finally, J  There was to be relaxation. I was ready to be happy again and face it all fresh in the morning.  My announcement was met with John informing me that his brother had used the toilet before checking to see if it worked.  So, not only did we not have ‘facilities’, the facilities were plugged!  words defy me at this point.  The result is that we now need to leave the boat and go to the marina washrooms... SO not happy making  sniff....

John pulls us in to the transient dock (our home for the next two weeks) perfectly and we tie up and his family go to their home.  Grateful to be ‘home’ and to have our boat to ourselves, I get off the boat and walk up to the marina washrooms.... on the way, I could no longer hide my frustration, mostly exhaustion and a few tears were threatening.  I let the tears transform into ... a bit of a miff.... know what I mean?  Why cry?! I’m just plain unhappy and I’m beginning to believe we’ve made the worst mistake of our lives.  I walk back to the boat; it’s 0100hrs and its staring to snow.... fantastic. It just gets better and better L  I stand on land staring down at the El Sueno and I admit, I stood there and cursed it. I hated that boat and the losses I suddenly associated with it.  Quickly deciding I was too cold and too tired to stand there on land cursing (exactly what I was doing L) it, I’d best just get on board, try and warm up and get some sleep.  I got on the boat, walked around the bow to get on and found my boots slipping in the snow collecting on the bow and railings.  I sat down on the ‘dog house’ and let the tears (exhaustion and frustration) come.   In no time, John pokes his head up and asks what I’m doing?!  I can’t tell him, so I say, ‘it’s slippery’.  He (I’m laughing writing this) offers, ‘well come inside!!’.   I go in and sit on the couch...he’s looking around, so proud of our new home and I’m barely holding the tears back....  He’s telling me all kinds of things about the boat and then suddenly looks at me and asks if I’m okay...  I tell him I will be.  And it's true... I will be.... I’m not right now, but yes, I will be.   Dammit...this has GOT to work!!!  I WILL be!!!!!!

And I was.  The next two weeks that I stayed with John (on vacation from my job) went quickly.  He fixed our toilet (god bless his little soul .... insert hearts - the guy’s a wonder), we had friends over and together we knew we’d make this work.

Maggie and I flew back to Vernon for the final month of my job there....and every day we longed to be with John in our new home.  Time flew again, not quickly enough, but soon John was with us and we prepared to return with him to our new home and January 22^nd, we did just that.

The last of Vernon is what we saw in the rear-view mirror.