Permission to Board Granted

**imagine music

Chris invited her junkin' friends on a final cruise.  The Renewal has been sold but before the new owners cruise off into the sunset, Chris wanted to leave the dock with her friends.  I'm perfectly content to stay secured to the dock but no, not Chris.  She's crazy like that...

I took my motion sickness meds, separated my mind from my body, reread boating etiquette 101, said my prayers, said my good byes, and we lifted anchor. 

After asking permission to board, we were waiting for all passengers to board and I grilled Captain Paul on his education and experiences as a captain.  He told me that he had a copy of  Captaining for Dummies on board.  I asked about his experience as a Coast Guard, he told me he tried that but flunked out.  Excuse me, Captain, that isn't funny!  He's actually a very capable captain, with a good sense of humor.

While I scoped out the emergency life raft and fire extinguishers and questioned our captain, Chris set up a lovely sunset dinner in the galley.

 It was calm, sunny and still for our sunset cruise.  I kept one eye on the horizon and was just fine.  We had dinner on the upper deck after enjoying a drink and appetizers in the main saloon.

 T'was gorgeous scenery and delicious food and drinks with my junkin' friends.

The sunset was beautiful.  It's hard to capture just how beautiful on a phone camera so you'll just have to trust me.

 The captain was called upon for collateral duty as photographer.  Paul was busy with captain duties on the bridge or cockpit up on the helm, and was a good sport on a boat full of crazy.  Crazy, laughing, loud ladies on board!  In between getting the money shot he took the helm and kept the sunset as the photo background.  We went aft to the stern deck for the pics.  Aft? Aft daft!  Possibly an accurate caption for our evening while onboard.

Trisha took the shot of Shelly, Chris and I on the stern.

 Thank you Captain Paul and First Mate Chris for a fun, safe beautiful sunset cruise.

 *All BOLD are yachting terms.  I may have used them incorrectly.  I don't care. 

I made it without falling overboard, getting sick or otherwise embarrassing myself.  And that is all that matters in matters of the SEA.

Ship Ahoy Matey!  

**Sound track includes Gulligans Island theme song, Nearer My God to Thee, Smoke on the Water, Peace Like  River, Will Your Anchor Hold, Wipeout, Bridge over Troubled Water and Looks Like We Made It.

***Edited to add for people that don't know everything about boating...
Hairdressers, beauticians, and couturiers have salons; sailors have a saloon. The Encyclopedia of Nautical Knowledge defines a saloon this way: “In a cargo and smaller passenger vessels, the main cabin, or that serving as a dining-room, assembly room, etc.” The Oxford Concise Dictionary describes a saloon as a “public room for first-class or for all passengers on ship.”The only dissonant note is sounded by Webster’s New World Dictionary, which allows the use of both salon and saloon but then confesses that saloon is “specifically, the main social cabin of a passenger ship.” Nevertheless, whereas most sailors use the word saloon, most powerboaters seem to prefer salon.It’s possible that some boaters use the word salon because they don’t want their boats to be associated with saloons where strong alcoholic drinks are served and rough men indulge in fisticuffs.  - From Yachting Forum