Hello loyal and occasional blog readers, after a couple of weeks of dead air and unexpected change, we’re back (!), this time out of the Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard. Here’s a quick recap of the last two weeks:
While in Cat Harbor, I got a call about a job interview and scheduled a ferry home. I spent a couple of days in San Diego before heading up to Thousand Oaks where my Uncle Denny and Grandma Jean live. My grandma had had a pacemaker surgery the week before so I wanted to visit with her and see if I could be of any help in the recovery process. I ended up staying in Thousand Oaks to help out with my grandma, leaving Adam in Cat Harbor for 11 days, 4 of which were Buccaneer Days, during which time I received the following texts:
“OMG there are pirates everywhere”
“I’ve seen 17 nipples so far..is it weird that it’s an odd number?”
“Went to shore to check for mail and got thrown into the brig for not drinking enough…had to bribe a kid ten bucks to get me out”
“Pirates dance funny”
Perhaps it was because the air at Two Harbors still carried a hint of vomit a week after Buccaneer days, or because Adam was eating meals of quinoa and Tabasco sauce three times a day, or possibly because he was awake most nights while I was away watching the anchor through squalls and Santa Ana winds – but he brought the boat to Oxnard on Friday so that he could be near me, while I could be near my grandma.
As luck would have it, we were assigned a temporary slip on “H” dock, which we soon learned was the friendliest place in the world. As I stood on the end of the dock waiting for Grand Slam to arrive, I was joined by two super chatty older men (one of them who (of course) goes by the name of “Skipper”) who helped me tie the boat off as Adam pulled it into the slip. As they welcomed us, they proudly explained to us that “H” dock was the party dock and that the whole crew gets together every Saturday for a BBQ, which would account for the full sized propane grill and several folding chairs permanently stationed on the dock. They even have their own website! One of the men told us he had some personal items in our dock locker (a small storage area available for each slip) that he would clear out right away. I told him not to worry about it, that we wouldn’t be staying long, but he insisted (did I detect a wink?) that he remove his things from our space right away. What a nice guy! Later on, when a recognizable scent wafted through the air and several of the ‘H dock’ members passed around a joint, I realized why he was so eager to remove his ‘personal items’ from our dock locker.
We’re excited to be in the Santa Barbara Channel surrounded by mountains and a few short hours from the Channel Islands. Our stay here could last anywhere from two weeks to a month. In the meantime we have family to spend time with, exploring to do, and neighbors to get to know.
Adam and Molly Go 
