A Different Surfin' Safari
Chapter 16

Copyright© 2010 by Frank Speaks

We left on time heading north up the coast. We would stay fairly close to land and had maps, though the book called them charts, of the coast. We wanted to see what might have changed from the earthquake.

We followed our plan from our land maps and sea charts. The coast was barely recognizable. We barely recognized Laguna Beach and Corona del Mar. The area of Newport Beach through Huntington Beach to Long Beach was different but we were pretty sure where we were. As we moved further north, the land became less recognizable and we used reckoning to determine our location. I had learned enough to plot our location within a mile or two though it made little difference. The maps and charts did not match the coastline any more. We continued further north until we came to the place where we had left the Humvee. We missed it on the first try but found it after looking in the area for most of a day. We found Felice's grave and better marked it for the future though I'm not sure why. It's location was in our hearts and she was there in our memories. We would maintain her memory for her son who we had adopted as our own. We named him Felix in memory of his mother. He was between our two in age. Three young ones kept Jennifer and me busy. We made a practice of keeping the children with us and talking to them as if they understood everything that was said. Anyway, we took all three to the grave and explained that their other mother was buried there after being killed by a big wave. The new island was named Felice Point.

We sailed back out and went further north noting that the destruction was worse and then began to slack off before we reached San Francisco. We pulled into Frisco Bay and could see that, while it may not have had a tsunami, the earthquake was there. The Golden Gate Bridge was missing and the opening of the bay at that point was wider. We could see the south side pylons of the bridge but the rest was gone. We returned to open water and set our bow south toward home.

We returned and gave out the news. Plans were already being discussed with our crews for a trip south.

A month later, we headed south. We would run the coast trying to get into Central America and the Panama Canal. We weren't going to take any crazy risks but wanted to make a lengthy trip since it was early in the year. If everything went well, we were thinking of making a run to Alaska this summer.

We left fairly early in the morning with the same people plus Rob and Terry and their children and another couple, Mike and Ann, who had no children. Mike and Ann were interested in being boaters and this was their shakedown cruise to apply what they had learned for their trips in the Ellie, the boat I had found. They had put most of the work into rehabilitating it and had proved they knew the boat mechanically at least. They were a nice couple and took well to being on the boat and compromises you had to make.

All of us were under thirty and in good health because of the exercise we all got just living in this time. We ate carefully on the boat out of necessity because we didn't have room to carry unlimited supplies. We had to watch our charts and the depth sounder mostly because we were paranoid. The water stayed deep and the islands in sight as we went south. The likelihood of rescue was not good and we did not want to test fate with our children on board.

The sun was hot and most of the guys stripped to the waist pretty quickly. Jennifer came out in a bikini as did Terry. Ann surprised us by coming out nude. She and Mike were young and probably still teenaged. She was medium height and slim to the point of being skinny. She made a fetching picture. I thought back and realized that she and Mike had a reputation of having an open relationship. They welcomed people into their relationship. Jennifer and I just looked at each other and smiled gently.

We continued south and came to San Diego. We found almost no recent damage of any kind there. From my memory, there are been deterioration but no other damage. We hadn't seen San Diego itself but the ocean side areas. We came to the end of the point at Cabreillo National Monument and slowly came around it intending to explore the area some. We entered the bay and saw smoke in the distance. To both our left and right had been Naval bases. I remembered San Diego as a great naval base where many Navy ships had been moored. To some extent, that was still true though a hundred years without maintenance had not been kind to them. We were motoring gently into the bay when we saw a splash to our left.

I was at the helm and, fortunately, decided to shy away from the splash. There was another closer and, this time, I thought I made out a trajectory coming from the docks to our left. I steered further to the right until the Marianne was facing back out to sea. We waited for another splash in vain. I saw a boat surging out from a pier and put on more speed. These folks were shooting first and not yet asking questions. I didn't want my wife and children under their power.

"Rob, take the binoculars and go to the stern. What's chasing us?" I yelled. "Ladies, everyone gets clothes on, now! Mike, Ed, get the grenade launcher set up behind me! Everyone, move!" There was a flurry of activity as everyone did what they were told. I pushed the throttles forward and the boat's stern became deeper as the motors took hold and our speed quickly increased.

Rob came forward with the binoculars and said, "You have to look. I'll take the wheel." I looked at him strangely but nodded and swapped the wheel for the binoculars and looked back.

We were being chased by a side wheel steamboat! I looked at the crew who were all men and dressed in rags. Jennifer came up dressed and carrying my sniper rifle. 'Loaded and ready," she said as she handed it to me and took the binoculars. I used the scope and saw that one of the chasers was aiming a rifle at us.

"Everybody down! They have guns!" I yelled. I took aim at the shooter who was on their bow and shot. He and the gun went backward. Either I scared him or it was an incredibly lucky shot. I saw someone help him back and he was able to move with help. I had hit something more by luck than anything else. Mike and Ed had the grenade launcher set up and Jennifer, Terry, and Ann all had rifles. Bill and Don, the rest of the crew, were also armed. We were as ready as we could be. We hadn't planned on having a shootout on the water.

"Everyone hunker down and be careful. Rob, slow down. I took the loudhailer and stood tall with it in my hands. Rob slowed the boat and when the other boat was about a hundred yards or so away, I hailed them. "Why are you shooting at us? We come in peace." I then added, "That's close enough. If we see weapons, we will shoot." The other boat dropped off. Rob kept us at about the same distance.

A man stood on the steamboat and hollered, "We are the Clipper of the Diegon Royal Navy. Surrender or die!"

I took the loudhailer again and said, "Wrong answer. Leave us alone or we will sink or capture you." Apparently, he didn't like my response any better than I did his. I saw the boat dig as they applied speed. "Everyone, fire at will. Rob, maintain our distance unless you see something that makes you think we should have more distance."

"Aye, aye, Captain." He said grinning. I noted he was watching the steamboat and touching our throttles. Ed and Mike loaded the grenade launcher and let fly. It landed short and exploded.

I was watching through the scope and Jennifer was watching through the binoculars. "That got their attention." She said. They were not expecting that I thought. I kept watch primarily to the bow of their boat while Jennifer looked to the middle of the ship. I saw activity at the bow again and prepared to shoot. Ed and Mike sent another grenade over and were spot on hitting the deck of the steamboat just behind the bow. I saw two bodies fly out into the water. The "Clipper" fell off the chase and I saw that it was on fire. Too much wood combined with our high explosive created a fast moving fire. Rob was watching and slowed the Marianne to hold position at the same distance.

I looked on debating on whether or not we should try to rescue any of those on the boat. Just as I was about to suggest it, the Clipper exploded though with little additional fire. It quickly vanished beneath the surface. "Jennifer, are there any survivors?" I continued to look through my scope searching the water for a moving person.

 
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