Chapter 45

The week flew by, with Sue and Mercy going to the boat almost every day, decorating it and getting it ready for the family to occupy for a long trip. Friday, Mercy came home from the boat with a huge smile on her face. She sat on my lap and showed me the pictures on the camera's display. She had a picture of the bow of the boat. In very large blue script was "Have Mercy."

"Was this your idea?" Mercy asked.

"I'm to blame. It is on the stern too?"

"Yes," Mercy said, with a little blush. "You made the letters too big. It takes up the whole front or bow on both sides and the entire stern. Thank you for thinking of me when you named it though."

"How are you guys doing on making the boat a home away from home?" I asked.

Sue said, "We took the kids over there today and let them play in the below deck lounge and in the salon off the main deck. We have the place looking good. The galley is perfect now the way it is, with the counter and built-in stools. We have room for some new high chairs that we bought as well. We're going to pick up a few throw rugs for the below deck lounge. The smaller dining room now has a table and chairs, but there is room to walk around it. We probably won't use it often, but it will be nice if we do. It will easily seat eight. We had some cushions made for the lounge seats by the helm and we picked up some pads so we could lie out on the deck to sun. All in all, I think we're set."

Mercy asked, "So when can we go, soon, please?"

Sue was smiling at me like I needed to hurry up and make up my mind.

Putting Mercy down, I used my cell phone to call Ben. "When were you guys planning on going back down to Costa Rica?"

Ben said, "Actually, I'm ready but Beth has been busy out at your place everyday. She says she's teaching the kids to talk."

"She's doing a great job of it too," I said and continued. "Would you like a sailboat ride down to Costa Rica? The girls are ready to go right now, so I guess we could get ready to take off for a while. We're going to go through the Panama Canal then go up the west coast. We'll stop in to see Mercy's folks on the way up to Seattle, or rather Friday Harbor, to see our friend Dewey up there. We'll drop you off in Costa Rica or you can stay with us for as long as you wish. Would you like to go along?"

Beth had been sitting with Sue, listening to my side of the conversation. She got up and took the phone from me and began talking, "We're going Ben, at least I'm going with them. We don't have to go all the way, but I'd like to at least go through the Canal with them. It should be a really special experience to do that."

Beth listened for a few minutes, said "Good," a couple of times, and handed the phone back to me.

Ben said, "I guess we're riding along with you until we get to San Diego or maybe even San Francisco. Sue said you guys have a satellite phone. I do have to stay in touch."

I answered him, "Ben, we have the phone and the internet on board. You should be able to relax, get a tan, and still stay in touch with your office."

"So when are we leaving?" Ben asked.

"I'm not sure yet," I answered. "The girls will have to make that decision. I can easily wrap up anything I need to do."

Sue mouthed to me, "Next Monday."

"Sue says maybe next Monday," I repeated what she had told me.

Ben said, "Well, that gives me a week anyway."

I covered the mouthpiece and asked, "Do you mean this coming Monday or a week from then?"

Mercy said, "This coming Monday dummy. I'm packing right now."

"Um, Ben, the girls mean this next coming Monday."

I heard Ben gasp, "Shit, I can't leave that quick. I have to make arrangements to be gone."

Beth took the phone back and said, "You can just meet us along the way then. We're leaving Monday morning. We were going to leave for Costa Rica late Monday or Tuesday anyway, so what's the difference."

Beth said, "Right, good, you better," then "good" one last time, and handed the phone back to me.

I said, "So?"

"Do we take a limo out to Dunedin or do we come out to your place?"

"Take a limo. We'll either do the same or have someone take us. There are five of us, plus all the kids stuff," I said.

As soon as I closed my phone, Mercy gave me a big kiss. "I'm so excited; this is going to be the best trip of my lifetime."

I said, "I'll go over to the boat tomorrow and make sure all the fluids are full and the holding tank is flushed."

Mercy said, "I had the fluids filled this week and the holding tank is clean. Both the water maker and the desalinization machine are working and the ice maker is working too. Between the water tank, and the water maker, we will have all we need."

"So you're telling me the boat is ready for me to just step on and take off," I asked the smiling Mercy.

"Aye, aye, Captain. That it is."

Sue and Juanita came and took Mercy by the hand and pulled her up. "Come on, Mate, we have some packing to do."

They were going to do some serious damage to the closet space on the boat.

Beth said, "I guess I'd better go home and begin getting Ben's and my stuff together. I'll need to pack all the way through to San Francisco, since I'd like to go see Merlin and Missy."

I did go over to the boat with the girls Saturday on one of their trips to carry clothes. They put a lot in the closet as they had some dress clothes for all four of us, along with some heavy clothes as it would be cold up the northern west coast. The girls had the place really looking good. It was a show piece now, instead of the cold, empty, boat that we had bought. The bathrooms all had lots of towels and toiletries in the closets. The galley was filled with various dried and canned foods, along with plenty of coffee, tea, and lots of powdered milk.

When I looked into the pantry area, there were at least six cases of beer there, with more up in the lounge. The liquor cabinet was jammed with every kind of booze you could think of, but it did have a couple of big bottles of Beefeaters, a couple of Dewar's, and four big bottles of Captain Morgan rum. The girls had definitely been busy.

I had a thought, and went below to check the bathrooms for spare toilet paper. With a bunch of women on board, we would need some extra. There were four rolls in each of the bathroom closets. When I asked Sue about it, she took me to the huge storeroom and showed me a big stack of multi-roll packs.

Sue said, "Women need toilet paper. Just like all those diapers in there. Babies need lots of diapers. We also have lots of plastic garbage bags for the dirty diapers. We'll make sure we dump garbage at every port we're in."

That afternoon, I went down to the gun store to ask the owner, "Do you have any vests. You know body armor. I'd like to have three for women and one for me."

"I have some military and some police issue. The military stuff is better but is more expensive," the owner said.

"Give me the military stuff. What I'd like to have is a grenade launcher, but I know those are not legal."

"I have the next best thing," he said, and pulled what looked like a shotgun from the rack. "This is a short, legal, 18 inch barrel Remington 870 12 gauge pump, chambered for three and a half inch shells."

He went over to a cabinet and took out a box of shells and said, "These are explosive shot shells. They have a slug that explodes on contact. They are the maximum length three and a half inch and chamber in the Remington. I think they are probably every bit as good as a round from a grenade launcher. You have to aim, and the range is going to be only about fifty yards or less, but that's about what a grenade launcher range is."

He showed me that the gun would hold a total of six rounds, including one in the chamber. He jacked them back out and put the rounds back in the box.

I figured it would probably do what I wanted if I ever needed it, so I bought it, two boxes of shells and a cleaning kit. I also bought another two hundred each of 9mm and AR-15 rounds. The gun broke down short, so I bought another case to put it in.

Saturday night, we partied at home and took a motorcycle ride to visit with a few folks. The ride was good for all of us and would put us to sleep for the night. I forgot about the bike making the women horny. It took a while to take the edge off.

Sunday, the girls made a grocery store run to fill up the fridge and freezer on the boat with food. I went to the sporting goods store and bought about five hundred bucks worth of fishing gear and some fish cleaning tools. We now had rods and reels, along with a gaff and a couple of big nets. The boat had some lockers up on deck, outside the lounge, that were built for tackle and life jackets. The front locker had an emergency inflatable raft in it, along with some other safety equipment.

It looked like we were ready. I watched as Stevie played in the below deck lounge. He seemed to be content on the boat. Lizzy liked crawling on the big rugs Sue had laid down. We would have to do this again when the kids were older, so they would have the memories of a trip like this. The patio crew held a Bon Voyage party for us Sunday evening. They all thought we were a little nuts to take a trip, this long and far, with little kids. Since we had Juanita, it wasn't going to be a problem at all. We were a tested crew.

Monday morning, I was up, showered, and dressed by five forty-five. I gently woke the three ladies so they could get ready before the kids woke up. When I turned the light on at six, Glenda was already waiting for me. She said she was going to miss us, but knew we were going to have a great trip.

I gave Glenda a hug and said, "Glenda, remember that you have a computer on the internet now and can e-mail any time you wish. In an emergency you can even call us on the satellite phone. We'll send you pictures of the trip as we go, and you can send us pictures of anything interesting here."

"It's still going to be lonely without my morning coffee buddy," Glenda said. "We all miss you guys when you're gone because you all mean so much to all of us."

Soon all of us, including the kids, were eating. Tiny was dressed, ready to take us to the boat. He was planning on taking a customer out on the cruiser today. He told me that all four of the charter fishing boats were committed today, and that he had been notified that the other four boats would be ready within the month. He had found some captains that were going to work the charters for us.

About seven thirty, we said goodbye to all of our friends and let Tiny drive us to Dunedin. The kids were very excited as they knew something was up. Tiny helped us carry the last of our stuff to the boat, including the five aluminum cases. The girls stored everything below deck, but left the cases in the main lounge.

Tiny said, "Good luck, Steve. Take care of yourself and your family. Meet lots of people and send us some business."

As soon as Tiny went to the big fishing boat, I went into the lounge and put together all of the rifles and the new shotgun. I loaded the shotgun and put fresh magazines in all of the Glocks and ARs. I took an AR and a Glock and put them in the cabinet next to the wheel outside. The rest of the arsenal was stored beneath the cushions in the main lounge just inside the door.

Sue, Juanita, and Mercy were all curious about the new shotgun. I explained that it was as close as I could get to a grenade launcher. I told them that it was loaded with explosive shells that could either cause a hell of lot of damage, or if nothing else, it would scare the shit out of anyone we shot at. The girls all laughed, both saying they had dibs on it if something happened.

We took the covers off the sails and stored them in the sail lockers, opened the generator vents, and started it so we could disconnect shore power and the other connections. I opened the engine vents and turned on the fans. The girls spread sunblock on each other and me, making sure we all had caps and sunglasses. I fired the engines, letting them warm up at idle while doing a final check of fluid levels.

At nine, Ben and Beth finally showed up. They were both surprised we were in a state of readiness to leave. As soon as they had their gear stowed below, the girls asked if I was ready. When I nodded, Mercy was off the boat and untying the stern line followed by the bow line and hopping back onto the boat. Ben and Beth watched as two of the girls coiled the lines while the third girl watched from the bow to make sure that we were clear of any small boats.

Tiny sounded the big air horn on the Hatteras at us as we moved toward the gulf. We were off.

Beth was sitting in the lounge with Mike, Lizzy and Steve, who were busy with toys. Ben was fascinated with Sue and the girls, watching the way they worked together to get the boat going.

When we were about a mile out, I began raising sails until we had a full complement of sail up. As the main sail on the front mast came up, I saw a giant S&S logo painted on it. I hollered, "Hey Sue, who painted my new sail?"

She came over and said, "We needed to have the company name somewhere on this thing."

I asked her, "What about Big Girls Clothes?"

She pointed to the front jib. I had her take the wheel and walked up to look. Sure enough it had 'BigGirlsClothes.com' in big letters, with the 'Quality' logo beneath.

"That's neat," I said, thinking that Tiny probably had a hand in the signs. "We can write off the entire trip as advertising."

Sue caught what I said and punched me. "We need to show off a little. Are we stopping between here and Panama?"

"Yep," I said with a smile. "We're stopping in Key West tonight, have dinner there and stay over in the yacht club, in the morning we'll head south and possibly stop in Puerto Rico. We don't have to, as there is a dry island a little south of there we can stay at, if we want to anchor for the night."

About ten, Ben came to me at the wheel and said that he had just looked up front and there were naked women up there. I couldn't see over the lounge, but I could see through the lounge and saw that Juanita was inside with the kids, so the three butts I saw were Beth, Mercy, and Sue.

"Get used to it, Ben, the water makes women want to take their clothes off."

He seemed flustered, "But what if someone sees them?" "What are they going to see Ben? Three naked women sunbathing on the bow of a big sailboat. It might get some guy off, but they probably have their own naked ladies on board."

He was shaking his head. "You put up all the sail yourself and didn't need a crew to get it done. How do you do all of that?"

I showed him all of the controls at the helm. He was mystified by the instruments, but was fascinated by the radar. I had it set out to fifty miles. I told Ben, "The curvature of the earth takes away low floating boats out at about eight miles, but we can see tall boats and ships out to fifty miles. The collision avoidance system alerts us if the anticipated paths are going to cross so we can take evasive action."

"You have so much more equipment than I did on the boat we had. The captain I had said we had all the equipment we needed, but you seem to know what's really necessary."

Lunch time was sandwiches at the wheel, along with some coffee and water. I let Ben take the wheel for a while so I could play with the kids. After lunch they were put down for naps. I turned the CCTV monitor on with only the kid's room on the screen. I really didn't want to show Ben that we could see into every area of the boat. He might freak out a little over that.

The four girls came strolling out, naked again, heading to the bow. Ben was funny, as he had to turn away from them in order to hide his interest in all the bare flesh. When Stevie began tossing and turning, I called to the girls, telling them a critter was waking up. They all disappeared below deck and reappeared with the kids. Sue put a life jacket on Steve and let him walk around on deck. Mercy took Lizzy and Mike, in their chairs, out on deck to get some sun and fresh air. I erected the canvas sunshade over the wheel area and had the two little ones with me, with Mercy on the lounger.

With the great wind, we reached the yacht club on Key West about ten PM. Once we were tied up, we all went into the club to have supper. The ladies, except for Juanita, were going to stay on the boat while Ben, Juanita, and I went to a couple of the famous bars on the beach. We each had a drink at three different bars, then headed back to the club and bed.

We were sound asleep by midnight.

Morning came with me buried under my wonderful women. I slid from beneath them, showered quickly, and dressed. I made coffee and began making some biscuits. Once that was done, I got some bacon ready and woke my crew. They all wanted to cuddle instead of getting going. I told them I wanted to escape from civilization quickly.

Soon, everyone was awake and moving around. Juanita took over making breakfast, so I went topside to find my Coast Guard officer and a crewman walking on the dock. I hollered and he came over, marveling at the new boat. We chatted about the box that had been found. I asked if there were any alerts out, as we were going to Panama to traverse the canal. He said he had not heard of any problems, but for us to be watchful as bad guys were always around. I told him I thought we were prepared and he smiled.

Ben had come up and heard the conversation. "How are you prepared if we have trouble with someone on the high seas?"

"Easy, I taught the girls how to shoot," I said thinking that would be the end of it.

"But you can't defend yourself out here with just a pistol."

I looked at him then went over and unlocked the locker by the wheel showing him the AR with the scope. "Is that better, Ben?"

"But you're only one."

"Ben, I have three ladies on board that all have one of these and can all shoot one. They have one of these and a handgun and they all shoot pretty damn good. Trust me, Ben, we will be fine."