The choice of working on a boat or transitioning to 'Passenger Kingdom'

As I have mentioned on previous posts, I had been a 'pinhead' on sportboats out of Pierpoint Landing (Long Beach) in the late 60's - scrubbing the boat to get a free ride. I had also worked on some boats during my years in college (early 80's). When I was working on the sportboats and I had a day off, I went back on the same boat and fished. Given the virtually unlimited availability of engaging in my favorite hobby - I could not get enough. I had enough documented sea time to get an operator's license. I wanted to be a sportboat captain! But, after seeing the recreational fishing industry from the side of the worker, I decided that a career in fishing was not for me. I envisioned getting lucky at some point and owning a boat and operating a passenger fishing business. I envisioned spending my working life in the environment which I truly loved. However, as time went on - I began to see the difficulty of making a career out of your favorite hobby. There are people that can do this - the exceptional ones that made a career out of their passions. These are the people I envy. But there are not many - and I am certainly not one of them. I began to realize that at some point, being inundated in fishing would eventually negate my passion for this hobby I loved so much. I did not want my passion for fishing to wane. I have a small skiff now - with which I can be a mini-party boat captain! I love taking people fishing - and watching them catch fish. This past year, I happened to meet a guy at the local AAA. He was talking to some other guys about fishing, their sons and....life. When the subject turned to offspring pride - one guy says, 'my boy is in Harvard'....another guys says, 'yeah? Well mine is at Yale!'....I could see the irritation in this guy's eyes and he says, 'mine just bought me a new 750IL'. Pretty much ended the conversation. I started a conversation with this guy - he had recently moved up to the central coast. Retired, 72 years old and loved to fish. He talked about catching a white seabass from a partyboat out of Oxnard. I said - 'why do that? We catch seabass right here, and as a matter of fact there are salmon to be caught now!' He says, 'bullshit, you have to go to Alaska or something for those...what kind of salmon are we talking about?'. 'King Salmon!!' I said. His expression turned to complete disbelief. A week later, we went trolling out of Port San Luis and promptly caught two King Salmon!! He could not wipe the smile off his face. Sent the picture to all his family and friends. Awesome. Anyway, back to the subject. A few years ago....no, more than that, 30 years ago....Frank LoPreste called and asks if I wanted to work a trip - a 10 day. Steve Loomis ran the trip - Rich Rogers, Bill Lang, Reese and Rollo Heyn - what a character Rollo was. I was between jobs after getting out of college - so I said OK. Turned into a great fishing trip to Alijos - lots of 60 to 80 pound yellowfin tuna, wahoo and yellowtail. Interesting to note on this trip - one of the passengers looked familiar. His name was John. I asked if he'd ever worked on the Freedom out of the old Pierpoint. Turns out I was his pinhead! Anyway, taking my turns on wheel watch, deck watch, anchor duty, checking the engine room, serving meals and all the normal duties of a deckhand. Not being used the hours - I was completely wiped out. The last leg of the trip back to the docks - and we are pulling fish out of the holds. I swear to god, I thought I was going to die. Then, after we pull in to the slip, we had to throw fish from the boat to the carts. Holy Shit!!! After cleaning up and refueling, I go out to my car - and just as I was getting ready to pull out, a police car blocks me in. The officer comes to my window and says I am parked illegally. After 10 days in the same spot? Come on!!! I said - 'look, I just got off the RP after 10 days of working myself to death. So hurry up and write a ticket, take me to jail, or whatever you want to do because if you don't - I'm going to puke and pass out'. I must of looked like it too - because he just shook his head and walked off. I knew right then that Passenger Kingdom was where I belonged. No more working on a boat. A lot of the guys I used to work with on the boats became successful businessmen - owning their boats and generally being a success in life. Except for one thing. Most of these guys are just not crazy about going fishing anymore. Fishing is no longer what they want to do in their spare time. Fishing is no longer their passion. Fishing is their living! I remain crazy about fishing. Perhaps not as maniacal about it as I used to be, but definitely the activity of choice for me. Here it is almost Christmas 2014, and I am about three weeks from my next long trip. I can hardly contain myself. My fishing partner is not going on this trip. Quite bummed about it. Another interesting occurrence. I normally pay a deposit for these trips about a year in advance when I make my reservation. Out of the $4500 or so fare, I put in a thousand. About a month or two before the trip, I call the landing and ask for the balance - which I normally pay off. I have a good idea what the balance is - but I call anyway. Lori tells me I have a zero balance. I tell her she must be mistaken - I do not misplace $3500. She says 'no, I am not mistaken - someone paid off your trip'. WHAT!!!! This is not a tank of gas or a dinner we are talking about here. It is 35 hundred dollar bills. Then I think - perhaps my wife paid it off for my Christmas present. This is essentially a left pocket or right pocket of the same set of trousers routine. So I call her, and she says no. She does not even know which boat I am going on. So I proceed to call everybody I can think of that may possibly be a candidate for doing such a dastardly deed. I say 'dastardly' - because I do not have a $3500 'thank you' in my repertoire. Assuming this person knows me well enough - this person knew...one, I would be driving myself nuts trying to figure out who it is...two, I would be relentless in trying to pay back the deed. It has been over five weeks now, and I have no clue who did it. I mean, I'm not going to not go....and I could not be more thankful....but HOLY SHIT!! Neither Lori or Brian, the owner is giving up any info. Brian Kiyohara is one of those success stories in the fishing business I wrote about earlier. Having known him for a good part of the last 20+ years, I thought surely he would tell me who this culprit is, and put me out of my misery. But, nooooo. Well, in less than three weeks, I will be on the same boat with him for 14 days. Question is, how badly do I want to know?