June 15, 2013--The boat, the boat, the boat & Baja Sharkees

June 15, 2013—No odometer reading—left vehicle at home

         Plans have changed. Instead of the Point Loma lighthouses today, we’ll be going to Oceanside and San Diego tomorrow, Sunday. So Jason is going to take us out on a boat ride along the Los Angeles coast. Sounds good to me!!!

         So after getting into the truck….believe me, this is no easy feat for someone with a bad knee and short legs, but thank goodness for a little boost from my service monkey, aka Roy…we headed out for the marina. It was a good morning. Marine layer was in, but it was warm and not windy.  We got to the boat, Jason hooked it up, and off to the dock. There was a couple in front of us launching their boat, a little 42' Lightening speed boat. Roy talked to them, and they were heading to Catalina. This is a huge boat and fast...said they could be there in 30-40 minutes. Wow...I'm impressed. The marina is so beautiful, and the apartments on the marina were amazing—balconies overlooking the water with planters of flowers  and other plants all loving the moisture in the air and the easy sunlight. I’d love living right there on the water, looking out at the boats’ comings and goings all day. What a life that would be. But alas, again like the 400x lens, will look into that when I win the lotto.

Once the boat was in the water and trailer taken back to the slip, we got in and headed to the fuel dock for fueling up.  Wow, $100 for 19.9 gals of fuel….guess I won’t be buying a boat any time soon!  And look at that equipment. I mean I know the salt water is tough on metal, but this is amazingly rusty, and even more amazing that it still works!!

         But alas, that was as far as our trip took us. When Jason tried to start the boat back up, everything was dead. He cleaned the battery cables, hooked up the battery charger, took other things apart, and no matter what he did, no juice was turning the engine over. Assessment?  Starter had gone out. So after working on it for an hour, he called for a tow back to the dock. The people at the fuel dock had already called harbor patrol, but didn’t know how long that would take.  So we waited. I felt to bad for Jason…problems isn’t what he needed, we were all just going to go out and have a good time and he sure didn’t need this disappointment and cost. But alas the harbor patrol arrived, hooked us up and took us back to the dock. Nice guys, and no cost. However, Jason did sign up for insurance for towing if you have problems, so now he has it. Kind of like closing the barn door after the cows get out, but at least he has it for the future.

         To help quell the disappointment, we decided
we’d take him out to lunch. So we headed downtown to Baja Sharkees. Been here before when we visited for Christmas, and the lobster tacos are amazing!  Margaritas are pretty darn good too, so we ordered up, got a table outside, and sat and drank, ate, conversed, laughed, and watched the people walking by. It was a great 4 hours spending time with Jason, something we don’t do nearly enough. He bought us each a shot of butterscotch schnapps and we toasted by retirement. With that, plus the 2 ½ White Shark Margarita Buckets, we made the decision that he wouldn’t be driving home. But he questioned by ability to drive his truck…huh???   Like I hadn’t driven 1 ton panel trucks, big ol station wagons, etc. when I was 15?  Dad always got us some of the nicest cars for me and Mom when we lived in Cornville!! So the keys were handed over, and Mom drove home. I was even able to get up into the truck from the driver’s side…my right knee works better, and there’s the steering wheel to use to pull up!

         So a day in the boat turned out to be a day at Baja Sharkees and some fun time with the son. The best 2 days of a boat owners’ life?  The day he buys it and the day he sells it!!!