getting ready to leave port tortured in the morning.  excited about hitting them locks and heading north.   it's been rainy and miserable and i'm so looking fwd to it being at least rainy and beautiful.  am psyched about this season.  the crew are all good people and endearing in their quirks and individual ways.  we are learning as we go and not feeling behind or rushed.  there's still a lot to pick up on, but at least the cranes have been fun, the boat is stacked, and we are ready as ever to guide and fish and fend off grizzlies in the great (to me, at least) unknown.

am also realising how blessed and lucky i've been boatwise in terms of timing.  so far, just about every boat i've been on for one of its golden seasons.  full of crackerjack crew that just gel together and get stuff done and go places and the programming and itinerary were just so and it's been wonderful.  sadly, i'll keep tabs and sometimes it's not so fun the following season, or they've had a rough time the year before.  even the yacht i was on got to go some cool places and it was her final hurrah before things fell apart, but that was only because we stopped sailing. 

again continuing to hop trains, cross my fingers and call on fair winds, higher powers, weather windows and luck.

al