Blue sky.
Sunshine.
Lapping water.
Morning at sea.

It’s going to be a hot one. Barely 8:30 and C and I have already abandoned the sun for some cool shade.

I did some laundry and putzed around. L worked on some book reviews, C worked on some knots and I fought with the outboard. After a while I thought I had it mastered but it conked out again after 10 or 15 minutes. I think I have officially given up.

Dave rowed over to say hello and we think we might spend the day on the beach, just walking and hanging.

So we floated on the water and enjoyed.

Sometime after noon Dave and Margaret rowed by and said they were headed for the beach. So I hustled and rustled the crew and we headed beachward. C and I decided to paddle. We got there. Eventually. We should so be a tv show…

Once on shore we beached the dinghy and tied it off to a big tree. We crossed over to the channel side and beachcombed for a while. I brought Leslie 4 rocks. Carmen brought 2 shells but wouldn’t share. She’s like that. I won.

A little while later Dave and Margaret joined us and we sat on logs in the shade and chatted. Soon enough though Margaret got antsy (I think she gets that from Dave) and prodded Carmen and Leslie into action, forcing Dave and I to have to choose between remaining comfortably in the shade and shooting the breeze or following along. We followed.

Along the way C spotted a big dog but thought its butt looked funny. That was apparently because it was a deer. A couple of deer in fact. She eventually figured it out, though, cleverly waiting until she was sure they were deer before pointing them out. Then not so cleverly ruining the cleverness by admitting she had originally thought them funny-butted dogs.

Tons of driftwood, shells and pretty rocks littered the beach and we eventually crossed the spit to the inside where tons of swimmers and picnickers were littering the other beach.

We snagged a picnic table in the shade and drank some water. D & M opted for healthy apples as their snack du jour; we had a bag of cheezies. Hopefully Margaret won’t think too badly of us. Afterwards we headed back along the park path up the spit towards our dinghies.

Back on board we eyed the water while R Shack’s crew went for a tour of Drew Harbour. Eventually the hot sun was too much and we (C & I) eased our way into the cold, cold water. There was some shrieking involved. What was even more interesting was the strength of the current. It was stronger than my lazy breast stroke; I had to switch to my side stroke to get back to the boat. When I let go of the bow, I would drift past the stern in 5 or 6 seconds.

Fun stuff and a great cool down. And I was smart enough to take off my underwear first this time! My swimming companion, however, was not. When we hauled ourselves out my drying time was half hers. Prior planning prevents poor performance, I always say.

Then it was beer time. We had rigged up our sheet to keep the sun out but I wanted to bake in the sun so I crawled out on the beam and baked. D & M motored by on their way back and offered the use of their dinghy.

After our beer C and I paddled over — much to Dave’s amusement — and switched boats. A long leisurely tour of the bay brought us back to the Shack and we dropped off the loaner dinghy. Along the way we saw an 80’+ sailboat called Celesteel and a couple of monster Ocean Alexanders.

Tomorrow we will take off for 10 if the wind is up and closer to 11 if it is calm again.

We said adieu to Dave and paddled back to Baraka Too. Another beer and some relaxing and C, getting restless, headed below to make dinner.

Dinner was French toast, with our imported French white pepper and a bottle of Joseph Faiveley red (Cote-D’Or). Delicious.

Mildly drunk, we hung out in the cockpit and enjoyed the cooling breeze as the sun slowly set.