An excellent day as I continue along my steep learning curve…

I had set one year as a reasonable deadline to accomplish several required skills for living on this island…

One unavoidable skill is to finally learn how to drive standard. The other huge one, is to learn to drive the boat. Living on an island with no other means of transport to and from the liquor store requires I learn to drive the boat…

Our first attempt to teach me how to drive standard was unsuccessful.

1.  E said .. “put it into gear”
2.  I said “what gear?”
3.  He said “first”
4. I said “I don’t know where first is”, burst into tears and jumped out of the truck.

That was two years ago at Papas house… We needed to begin again…

This time, I reminded my dear sweet patient E, that I know nothing, absolutely nothing about driving standard and this should not come as a surprise. He has been with me almost every waking moment since I was 22…  Once we established my ignorance, the lessons went more smoothly… Even my three-point turns are getting better and I have reduced my turn/stall ratio significantly.

Last week I drove the Iluka over to Boat Harbour and back and it went pretty well.. I drove it again today and I have to say that I brought it into the BH dock very smoothly. I imagine if it was an emergency I could do it alone, but I have a long ways to go until I could be considered trained. However, we are progressing at a great pace.. I am not disillusioned, we are still speaking and I am eager to continue my lessons. I am beginning with the Iluka because our Tinman is that much bigger and harder to handle.. I am starting with the easier boat.

I returned to the house this afternoon and decided to make my seamanship (that is a stretch) official and I went on line and spent the better part of four hours studying for and taking my Boat Operators License. I am now officially certified to continue my training. The great thing about knowing nothing to begin with is that I can only get better.

While we were at PC we ran into the CD’s. We hadn’t seen them since they were involved in the rescue of Bacardi from the bottom of the cliff.

Bacardi greeted them warmly, as she should..

CD and DY saved her life!.

We told them that we are going to town this weekend to see our J off on her trip to Machu Pichu and the Galapagos.. They were there several years ago and they were very enthusiastic in their assurance that it will be a trip of a lifetime and she is sure to love it.

We also told them we were heading down to the boat for another driving lesson for me. I lamented that my first docking in PC wasn’t pretty and the Y’s were there to see the mess I made of it.. They assured me that it is always the case even for experienced boaters.  When there is someone on the dock watching, that is the time the wind takes you askew for an ugly landing. But they assured me, it happens to the best of them and I should continue my lessons. The docking is considered a success if

no lives were lost

(answer to yesterdays anagram was miss a thing :))