MV Poseidon’s current home base is Ventura, California, a harbor ideally located to explore some of the most spectacular island anchorages to be found anywhere.
Click here for Brief Specifications of MV Poseidon
Let me back up half a day or so from the end of Part 3, in which we had actually arrived in Ventura Harbor and successfully docked the boat.
Several hours prior to our scheduled arrival in Ventura, I had called Mama over the VHF radio to let her know our estimated arrival time so that she could be at the dock to share in the festivities and to watch what could have been a disastrous docking maneuver by her favorite son, which by the way, always happened to be the son who was present. As I have written elsewhere, Mama was larger than life and was – still is, despite her passing – an inspiration for many wonderful, outrageous, surprising and funny anecdotes. A shy rose she was not and no matter how independent, successful or strong her sons were, she remained Mama and (in her mind, at least) the Italian equivalent of Rumpole’s ‘she who must be obeyed.’
Unfortunately, I neglected to let Mama know that our arrival would be delayed. You left Mama out of the loop at your peril and so, the moment we were in VHF range, she called to tell me so. Now we all know – everyone except Mama – that broadcasts on VHF are open to all the world and as she berated me publicly I could only reply in short bursts of “but Mama….. but Mama ….. but Mama.”
When she finally let me speak, I very calmly said “ I’m sorry. I should have called sooner. I got caught up in the excitement – but you‘ll be pleased to hear that now every boater in Southern California knows what a Mama’s boy the new skipper of Poseidon is”. Of course we have laughed about this for many years and even now when I discuss something nautical with my friends, they will often respond with” but Mama…. But Mama”.
With Mama’s blessing the welcome home celebration went well into the night and with each successive tour of Poseidon, Linda and I made mental notes of the changes and improvements we would make to Poseidon during the next few months.
‘The next few months’ was the expected term of all such work. How wrong can two boat owners be?
With Poseidon safely docked, we parked our then current liveaboard, the Amore Mio, in the next slip and started transferring our belongings. We had agreed to sell Amore Mio to our dear friends Bob and Cynthia, who had always loved the boat. We were very happy to be turning her over to friends. It would have been hard to sell her to strangers.
The Amore Mio had a great history for our family. Many years ago, when I was involved in the Yacht Brokerage business, our company had bought the 43 foot sportfisher for our inventory but due to the then energy crunch powerboats were simply not selling, so we decided to take our losses and sell the boat cheap. Well, there is nothing that Mama understood better than a bargain, even though she insisted that she and my step-dad Wayne were really doing me a favor by taking this “ dog “ off of my hands. And of course I would have to make modifications to suit them as part of the deal. They used the boat in the San Joaquin River delta for many years, and, as boats can do, she became part of the family.
Mama loved to have her grandkids out on the water for extended trips and some of the fondest memories are of Grandma and the grandkids swimming and fishing. Above and beyond that was the wonderful eating aboard Amore Mio, a tradition we have preserved and extended on MV Poseidon.
We eventually brought the Amore Mio to Ventura, for Mama and Wayne to use as a condo while visiting us. A few years later, when we were between boats, we temporarily moved onto Amore Mio while we searched for our dream boat. Four years later we found Poseidon.
The rebirth of Poseidon follows in Part 5.
