WE'RE BACK!!!

Well, most of us are anyway...

What an eventful trip we had. But first, let me apologize for the lack of e mails from me. This was very different than sitting on my own boat Mahalo, using my own computer with only myself and a few crew to worry about. Keeping track of nine other women with different interests, wanting to do nine different things was a challenge. It was a riot of fun, but hard to find a computer with regular keys, the time to use it without ten Captain Holly questions every minute, and a signal to send it. Or it was too hot to sit still inside an internet cafe where you pay by the minute and can't figure out how to make it all work. Next time I will bring my own travel computer and write as I go, then send them as I can.

Thailand is a beautiful country with really great people living there. They are so polite and friendly - they remind me of the great folks I met in Mexico. The commotion in Bangkok is terrible, but seems to be isolated as everyone we met went out of their way to be helpful and make us feel welcome.

We saw so many interesting places on our trip, it's hard to describe them all. I hope you have the chance to look and the pictures Betsy posted on the sites that Jo sent you. It was so amazing to be inside a cave full of stalagmites dripping, look through a hole in a rock wall to see the inside of a hollow island that is inaccessible unless you are a bird, sit on a beach with a monkey sitting next to you, to try to imagine the size and shape of the lizard that made tracks in the sand - whose feet are the size of my hand, and see so many jelly fish the size of basketballs.

On the beach where the lizard were, we found these clear blobs of jello the shape and size of a hamburger bun. They floated, had no tentacles and had washed up on the beach. After much discussion, it was decided that they were part of a shipment of breast implants that had fallen off a ship mid ocean. We were about to scoop them up and bring them home when Professor Yeomans suggested that they were probably some kind of jelly. Yea, whatever, they were still referred to as "implants" for the rest of the trip.

One night, we were all lying on the trampoline looking at stars. Well, trying to see them really. Somebody asked why we couldn't see them very well and I replied that it was because there was so much moisture in the air, it was reflecting the light... or some other intelligent sounding BS. We may have had several beverages at this point because we kept saying the word 'moisture' in various accents until we settled on a pronunciation from Ohio I think. (clamp your teeth together and just use your lips when saying it) As only silly girls can, we worked it to death getting more and more silly and using the word 'moisture' for every possible reason, with that particular pronunciation. There were plenty of opportunities as everything and everybody was very 'Moist' due to the humidity. Sherry didn't need any 'moisturizer', the rice needs soy sauce because it's not 'moist' enough, the AC made 'moisture' on the windows at night... and on and on it went. What a gift to just be silly!

The time of year we were there is a slack season between the trades so the sailing was pretty poor. We did have a few nice sails but we did a lot of motoring. Lesson learned - don't go in a slack season. As we didn't choose the timing of this trip, we were stuck with the lack of wind and the high heat. When we book our own trips, we will choose good sailing weather. We did have some spectacular lightning and thunder storms which were fun for the So. Cal girls. Anchor drills in a tropical downpour were more fun than normal and very refreshing. They taught us to spend the hot days in wet t shirts to keep cool. Yes, we said 'moisture' again. HA HA HA!

I like to snorkel but have gotten sort of bored with it over the years. It's nice to do but I wouldn't spend money on a special trip just to snorkel. Several ladies said that they would like to do some snorkeling however, so we stopped at a place that was supposed to have a great coral reef. WOW was it great! There was a strong current running over the coral so we loaded up in the dinghy and motored up current to the far end of the reef to get started. Everybody jumped in and we drifted over the reef looking at the most amazing stuff I have ever seen. It really was amazing and looked a lot like the old submarine ride at Disneyland. Except for the sea monster of course. We had to get moving as there was a big cigar shaped cloud rolling toward us with lots of black sky behind it. Like the cloud that forms over our Channel Islands, and the Coromuel in La Paz, it didn't look like anything friendly and we wanted to be in an anchorage, well dug in when it hit. We were, and it did. I think we were the only boat that didn't drag or have a close encounter with another boat. It went from a dead calm to blowing in the 30's in about 3 minutes - oh, and RAINED. (Moisture again) Another spectacular weather show. It was short lived but the anchorage was too rolly for me, so we upped anchor and moved to the other side of the Island for the night.

And so it went... really a great trip with a great group of fun gals. We had dances on deck with the other crews, quiet nights, crazy music-blaring-trampoline-jumping-in-the-rain-foolishness, great sightseeing and lots of laughing and moisture.

After we returned the boat, the girls hit the showers and then the streets, picking up last minute purchases, working out the details of replacing the stolen passport, the final dinner out and a big use-up- the-last-of-the-booze party in Sherry's room. (where else?) The toads (real ones, not fat people) who live as the hotel were having a love-in which we found rather entertaining after visiting the party. Yes, more comments about the moisture... There was one last shopping foray before leaving for the airport which caused us to fall behind our schedule, and then more at the airport to use up the last of our Baht. Some of us have over developed shopping genes!

Nancy, who's passport was stolen, and Kerele had to fly to Ching Mi to go the US Embassy there to replace the passport. They sent us a note saying that they really enjoyed their quick visit and got the passport replaced right away. They will head for home tonight. Jane stayed in Thailand for a few days to relax at a spa.

My thanks to Jo as always, for pinch hitting for me and the lack of communication. She can get pretty creative can't she? She swears she's not. It will be better next time.

Till then,

Captain Holly