A poster on the wall......

"Watch your thoughts, for they become words.

Watch your words, for they become actions.

Watch your actions, for they become habits.

Watch your habits, for they become character.

Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny."

 

....Source unknown

 

 

Cruises and Ports of Call

 

Main Hawaiian Islands and Northwest Hawaiian Islands to Midway Atoll and Kure Island; San Diego, California; Panama Cannel;

Tokyo, Japan; Northern Marianas; Marshall Islands; Cook Islands; New Zealand; Wewak, New Guinea and stations form Lat 40 N

to 40 S; long 79 33'W to 139 46'E.

Made it through the night, lots of fun but nothing outstanding.  Met a few friends and toasted a few, just another night.  Called it a night at 2 am.

Holidays approaching, wonder when those sobriety checkpoints go up.

Saturday night, and the full moon beckons.  It's time to step out... strangers to chat with over drinks, visit a few hostess bars to meet friends.  Fifteen miles to drive, 30 minutes later, and I'll be there.  I wonder what the night will bring, let the good times roll.  Hope I don't get DUI'd, that's the pits. 

     Awakening, felt the chill in the air as I got out of bed.  Staggered to the kitchen and brewed coffee.  Stepped outside with mug in hand, lit a cigarette.  The chill wind blowing, I look up to see the moon and some faint stars.  I miss the sea, the chill stepping out into the dark to greet a new day as I have done so many times before.  I remember the pitch black nights when the stars filled the sky.  The moon beams sparkling on the water and steady melancholy beat of the engines cutting through the following seas on calm nights and everything was well.  The agonizing pitch and roll of the ship during stormy weather, the endless toil of men.  The names and faces of those I sailed with have all but slipped into obscurity, but those I recall are just snapshots of the past.  The ships that I boarded are still impressed on my mind.  I wonder if they are just ships of a faded era.  R/V Charles H Gilbert, R/V Townsend Cromwell, F/V Easy Rider, F/V Shaman, F/V Anela, F/V Sea Verse (Honolulu, Hawaii); F/V Anne M, F/V Mary Elizabeth (San Diego, California); R/V Hai Kung (Keelong, Taiwan); F/V Ryuyo Maru No. 2 (Chiba, Japan); F/V La Takenal (Majuro, Marshall Islands).

     I wonder if anyone would be interested in reading about an old mariners advantures.   Last year, I met a shipmate who I havent seen for a long time.  I told him, boy are we getting old.  He looked at me and said "we are old".  Aging sure sucks...A young mind in an aging body.