SS Pacifica Read online

  As we stood talking, Jim said, “I need to clean up my stuff and get going. My son’s birthday party is tonight and I need to help my wife get things around for the kids that are coming over.” I shook Jim’s hand and said I would help get his tools and equipment to his truck so he could load them in the proper places. Thirty minutes later, the truck was loaded and Becky had counted out a large amount of cash into Jim’s hands. He thanked us and headed off. As I stood inspecting the new ladders, Becky put her arm around my waist and said, “Shall we go to town and do our shopping. The most important store closes in a couple hours.” I leaned over, kissed her cheek and said, “I hope you are talking about the jewelry store.” She giggled and said, “I was hoping you would remember that little detail.”

  We changed our clothes and headed to town. We stopped at the jewelry first and left with two nice gold wedding bands. I paid for them and tucked them deep down into my pants pockets. I guarded them with the same care I did with my own family jewels. As we stepped out of the jewelry store, I saw a smile on Becky’s face that made me feel good inside. I put my arm around her as we walked and I listened to her talk nonstop. Her excitement was infectious.

  When we had purchased everything we needed at the marina, I realized that Becky had spent a lot of money today. She had paid Jim well for his hard work, materials, and his skills, and now the cash resister was showing that she owed the marina over $1600.00. I watched Becky count out sixteen one-hundred dollar bills, and hand them to the check out lady. I decided to keep my nose out of Becky’s financial affairs. She had already told me that she had received an inheritance after her father’s death, and she said she had saved up the money for this project. I decided she would probably include me into her finances after we were married. I would then show her my finances and put her name of some of my bank accounts.

  As we walked out of the marina and put our merchandise into the van, I made a decision to sell my condominium in New York. I would ask my brother to clean out what little remained of my belongings, and then sell the place. He was a well-respected real estate broker and would have little difficulty selling the condominium. I would pay my brothers brokerage fees and put the remaining profit into a money market account. I would have to pay income taxes of the profit unless I carefully invested the money. A voice returned me from my thoughts and asked if I was all right. I turned to Becky, and told her that I was thinking about selling my condominium in New York. She giggled and said, “You might need it later if you quickly tire of my nonstop talking.” I pulled her close and reassured her that I enjoyed her company and would never tire of her words. She asked where in New York my condominium was located. I told her it was a few blocks from Central Park. She whistled and said, “Hell, you could have paid for the building of the Pacifica if I had been smart enough to tempt you into marrying me a few years ago.”

  When we got into the van, I asked if there was a bookstore close by. She said it was a mile or so down the road, then turned to me and said, “I am starving. Could you eat some supper after we visit the bookstore?” I told her that I was also hungry, and that if I remembered right I owed her a dinner. As we sat in a quiet restaurant waiting for our food, we looked through the new fish book we had purchased. It had all kinds of fish in it, but also had a listing of which fish inhabited the Pacific Ocean. As we turned pages, Becky said, “I guess you are going to have to deal with a stinky wife. I will never again get into the ocean with those toothy creatures swimming under the Pacifica; they look to be just waiting to nibble off a toe of two.”

  After we left the restaurant, we went to the mall and I purchased a suit and some good shoes to wear to the wedding. I had not brought anything nice enough for my own wedding with me from New York. As I carried my purchases over my arm, I found Becky still wearing a nice white wedding dress. She turned around in a circle and asked if I liked her choice in dresses. I walked up to her and kissed her hard on the lips. The seamstress helping Becky giggled as I said, “You look simply stunning.” When we got to the checkout counter, Becky took out her credit card to pay for the clothes. I turned to her and said, “I will not often interfere in your finances, but I will not allow you to pay for your wedding dress or any of these clothes. You will simply have to accept the word, no, from your fiancé.” I heard the clerk giggle as I took out my wallet and counted out cash for our clothing. When I looked over at Becky to see if she was angry with me, she was smiling from ear to ear.

  When we arrived back at the house, it was past eight o’clock, but Becky said she needed to clean the places on the hull where Jim had welded and put a coat of resin on them. I asked her if she wanted some coffee while she worked. She told me that she was not going to get any sleep anyways so she might just as well have coffee. I walked up to her and asked why she would not sleep tonight. She put her arms around my neck and said, “How can I sleep when my wedding day is only two days away.” I hugged her and asked, “Are you that nervous over the wedding?” She looked me in the eyes and said, “No, I am just very happy about getting married to the man I love.” She quickly turned and headed out the door towards the boathouse. I could see her wipe her cheeks with the sleeve of her sweatshirt as she walked. I hoped the tears were happy tears, but being a male, I was not always certain. Once the coffee was ready, I poured it into an insulated pitcher, grabbed two mugs, and headed out to the boathouse to work on the new sonar system I had purchased.

  As I dug through the items we had purchased, I began carrying them down into the cabin where I would install them later. I opened the box for the Lowrance sonar system that would give us a view of the oceans bottom, but would also display the waters depth. The designers of the unit provided programming so I could set a maximum depth alarm into it that would warn us if we approached the maximum design depth that Becky had given me of 100 meters or 328 feet. I mounted the sonar control panel beside the large compass and ran the power cable to the batteries. Then I ran the cable out the new pipe Jim had installed, and mounted the sonar on the rail of the starboard swim ladder. I powered the unit and figured out how to program and operate it. Within just a few minutes, I discovered that the programming was straightforward and very user friendly.

  As I looked carefully at the display, I saw fish swimming in the dry dock canal. I went down to the edge of the water and tried to see what was under the Pacifica. Finally, I located a bright flashlight and shined it down into the pit. I was stunned with what I saw. Hundreds of fish, ranging in length from ten inches, to over three feet long had made their home under the boat. I called Becky to me and turned on the light. She squealed, and clapped her hands over the discovery. She looked at me and said, “Those are Pacific Salmon.” I doubted her observation, but hoped she was right. One or two of them on the grill would taste good for lunch tomorrow. A couple of minutes later she stood beside me with a fishing pole and a fresh earthworm she found under a rock outside the boathouse. She carefully did an underhand cast and the bait settled down towards the bottom. As we watched, the line took off and Becky set the hook. The fish fought hard, but Becky won the battle and soon had the fish up on the concrete boathouse floor. She stepped on its tail so it would not flop back into the pit, and then picked it up by the tail and carried it to the workbench. She shouted to me to come and look. When I got to her, she had the new fish book open and pointed to a picture of the Pacific Salmon. She was correct; she had in fact caught a salmon. She looked at me and asked, “Lunch tomorrow?” I said, “Yes,” and she held out her catch to me. She said, “Could I ask you to show me how to properly fillet this fish? I always make a mess of the job.” I told her I would, but we might need another one about the same size. She giggled, measured the fish I was holding with her arm, and headed towards the back door to find another worm. I got my fillet knife from the cabin and sharpened it. When I walked back to where she was baiting the hook, she smiled and casted the bait into the water. She hollered at a larger fish to get the hell out of the way, and finally hooked a second fish. When she la
nded it, it was almost identical to the first one in length. I took the fish by the tail and told her I was impressed with her fishing skills. She looked at me and said, “I will not let my man starve to death while we are at sea.”

  I helped Becky fillet the first fish and she soon had the process under control. She wanted to force the knife, and that only made her job difficult. As I showed her how to feel the bones with the knife blade, she ended up with a perfect fillet on her second try. I stood back, let her do the second fish without talking to her, and she did a very good job. She looked at me and asked, “Is this the only fillet knife we have?” I told her it was and she said, “I will purchase my own knife next trip into town.” I took the fillets to the house and put them in the refrigerator. When I returned, Becky had put the last coat of resin on the welds and was cleaning the small brush she had used. She told me she would put the first coat of paint on in the morning before breakfast. I went back down into the cabin and finished with the sonar unit, remote controls box, and the photocell for the lights. Then I tackled the bilge pump piping. Within an hour, the bilge pump was installed and working.

  Then I put the new 5/16 inch rope in the cabinet and attached one of the lead weights to the 3/8 inch fathom rope. I laid the rope on the concrete floor of the boathouse and began tying a knot in it every six feet (one fathom). Then I spray painted the third knot up from the weight with red paint and hung the rope on the ladder to allow the paint to dry. The red know would show me the minimum depth allowed for the Pacifica.

  I was very excited to test out the new diving masks, snorkels and fins. I found the ones that fit me and put them on. When Becky walked out of the bathroom and saw me standing there in my shorts and diving gear, she laughed at me. The woman laughed at her mighty scallop, crab, and clam hunter. When I had finished checking out the diving equipment, Becky looked at me and said, “I am going to bed, are you coming in?” I told her I wanted to put the charger on the batteries and finish a few more things before bed. She kissed me and headed off towards the house.

  I heard a noise that startled me, and was instantly on my feet. I heard Becky say, “Calm yourself Stanley, I did not intend to rape you or anything. I just wanted to find out why you slept here in the Pacifica.” I sat back down on the edge of the bed and remembered that I had been reading the new fish book and had fallen asleep. I asked Becky what time it was and she said, “twenty minutes after five in the morning.” She sat down beside me and said, “When I got up, I went to your bed to join you and found you had not been to bed yet. I feared you had changed your mind about this marriage and skipped town.” I looked at her and reminded her that I loved her to much to skip out. I lay back down and said she could join me for a couple of minutes right now. She snuggled down beside me and whispered, “Do you know what tomorrow is?” I said, “My birthday.” She punched me in the chest and said, “It is our wedding day silly boy.” I laughed and said, “No, really. Tomorrow is also my birthday. Did you not notice that date on the wedding license.” She thought a moment and said, “Lucky boy. You get two presents tomorrow, one for your birthday and another for your wedding.”

  As we lay talking, I asked if we had any projects left to do other than the paint on the hull. She said that I could cut the bronze screen and install it in the four wooden frames now that the varnish was dry. I told her I would take care of that after breakfast. She asked me if I was afraid of drowning inside the Pacifica. I thought about her question a moment and told her I would hate to die trapped inside the Pacifica. She told me she had awakened from a dream during the night and found herself trapped in the cabin without oxygen. I moved a lock of her hair away from her eyes with my fingers and listened carefully to her story. She told me that she wanted to purchase two diving tanks and regulators just in case something should happen. I told her we would take care of that as soon as breakfast was done, the painting was complete, and I had finished with the screens.

  I got myself up off the bed and said, “I am going to go do the screens now and then eat breakfast. I am so excited about the wedding and finishing the preparations for our adventurer that I cannot sit still.” Becky stood up and said, “I am going into the house and put the rings and marriage license with my wedding dress so we don’t forget them tomorrow in the excitement.” I started to kiss her and changed my mind. She said, “I will expect you to give me that kiss later my love.”

  Chapter 10 - The Wedding

  As I sat beside Becky during the church services, I could not sit still. My legs wanted to move, my hands twitched, my toes wanted to tap on the floor, and the sweat was beginning to run down the crack of my ass. I chided myself for being so nervous. I was a grown adult male and had faced many stressful situations in my lifetime, yet the simple act of marrying the woman I had fallen so dearly in love with made me nervous. I looked at Becky and realized she was staring at me. She leaned over, whispered that she was also nervous, and took my hand in hers.

  As I sat, I heard the minister tell his congregation that immediately following the service he would be marrying two wonderful people, and that they were all welcome to stay for the ceremony if they wished. I could hear the chatter of the people as they now realized why the woman in the front pew was wearing a wedding dress. As Becky and I sat holding hands and looking into each other’s eyes, I realized that Becky and I were the focus of attention in this large church. The minister spoke again to his congregation and told them that anyone who needed to leave could do so now. Only a few people left, most everyone remained seated. The minister looked to Becky and me and then motioned for us to come to the front of the church with him.

  My legs now felt like rubber, but I gathered up my nerves, stood up and offered my hand to Becky. As she stood up beside me, I saw a smile form on her face that I had never seen before. She was simply stunning standing here before me in her white wedding dress. I checked my pockets for the rings and heard her giggle. I helped her out of the pews and we turned towards the minister. As we walked, I felt my emotions calm, and smiled to myself over the thought of marrying this beautiful woman at my side. As we arrived at the bottom step, the minister asked us to turn and face the audience. When we did, the entire room full of people stood and honored us with a song. As we turned back towards the minister, we spoke our vows and exchanged rings. I felt Becky’s hands tremble in mine as we turned and faced each other and kissed our first kiss as husband and wife.

  ***

  Becky and I had decided to leave on the fourth day after our wedding, and there were still a few things left to do before then. Becky had a doctor’s appointment for her yearly physical on Monday. She needed to get her birth control pill prescription renewed and filled. The doctor had written the prescription for a full year, and then called the pharmacy to explain that we needed the entire year’s worth of pills to take with us on our voyage. The pharmacy had to order such a large quantity, but they were due in on Tuesday. I had mentioned I would like to get my teeth cleaned before leaving, so Becky scheduled both of us to have that done on Wednesday morning.

  The owner of the marina called and said our scuba rescue tanks and regulators would be ready for us on Tuesday afternoon, and we planned to purchase some good knives and sharpeners for Becky while we were there. Then there was the issue of installing the seawall in the boathouse pit after we moved the Pacifica outside and moored it to the dock. I knew that that task would take us a few hours at best.

  We decided to move the Pacifica out of the boathouse and tie her up to the wooden dock at the end of the boathouse canal later today. The dock had been in place for many years and the poured concrete pillars would keep the Pacifica stable and secure. With the new swim ladders, it would be easy to access the Pacifica, and we had already loaded most everything inside that we planned to take with us. Just before we moved the vessel outdoors, I realized we had no way to lock the two hatch doors when we were not around. I carefully studied the problem and then decided we could drill holes through the hatch door and the lip of the
mating surface mounted to the hull. We would have to paint the drilled holes to provide corrosion protection, but it should provide a very secure method to lock the hatches with padlocks. The hatch doors had locking mechanisms on the inside that helped hold the seals tight and waterproof, and provided protection from intrusion by pirates. Becky showed me how to mix the resin-based paint and then she headed off to town to pick up her pills and two high quality padlocks and extra keys. It only took me thirty minutes to drill the holes, file off the sharp edges, and apply the special paint.

  We needed to close up the boathouse and the seawall before we left on our adventure. I found the flashlight on the workbench and checked to see if the fish were still in the pit. I only saw small fish and a few tiny minnows. We could dip them out when the pumps had lowered the water level. I opened the large rollup door and felt the warm air blow in from the ocean. The breeze also blew in swarms of tiny insects. I could not do anything about the bugs, but did put the new screens over the hatches to keep the pests outside. While I waited for Becky to return, I looked over the boathouse to make certain we had not left something important lying around. We would be away from home for almost a year and I needed to insure everything was unplugged and safe. I knew that Becky’s niece would be caring for the house, but doubted that she would come out here very often.

  When Becky returned, she pulled the van inside the boathouse and up near the back door. When she stepped out, she kissed me hard on the lips and said, “Here is the deal Stanley. I purchased the padlocks and had extra keys made for them. I also stopped at the marina and checked on our scuba tanks. The owner had already filled and checked them, and he loaded them into the van. I also stopped at the sporting goods store and picked up the knives and sharpeners I wanted. I have a small hunting knife that straps to my leg or on my belt. My lab reports came back and I am not pregnant, do not have cancer, or any STD’s. My doctor checked every orifice in my body and found nothing that surprised him, and I now stand in front of you with no more reasons to postpone this trip other than our dentist appointments. I had put us on the standby list when I made our appointments and they just called and said we can come in at three o’clock this afternoon. We have just enough time to unload this van, brush our teeth, floss, and drive into town for our appointment. Do you understand my words husband? WE CAN LEAVE TOMORROW!” She grabbed my hands and danced me around the boathouse.