From the Captain's Consort

Sitting in Cook's Bay listening to the wind flap the tarp and bouncing around a little in the bay.  It was a rough night as Dad got up a few times to take down tarps, rescue stuff in the cockpit from getting wet (we had rain as well) and listening to the wind howl in the rigging.  It always seems louder at night.  The plus side is we can't hear the traffic or dogs or roosters on shore.

Mother Nature decided we needed a boat day and she's right.  We've both had a bath, washed our hair and done laundry which is drying rapidly in the sun and wind.  I've answered an hour's worth of emails, almost finished reading the book "Second Generation" which is set in WWII and feel somewhat caught up although I know I need to update the ham log and my diary is spotty at best.  With the wind the sun isn't too hot which is nice.

We had a fabulous day yesterday (or at least I did).  Dad got up early and rowed to shore before 9 a.m. to get more water and fuel.  I made breakfast and we had a leisurely breakfast before motoring out to the lagoon by 10 where we jumped in the dinghy and rowed out to the reef.  Saw more amazing reef life including some orange peel nudibranchs and dad collected a lovely conch shell (empty), a couple of empty clam shells and a weird shell like thing I'll bring home for identification.

Went to another snack bar where dad had an espresso and I had my scoop of ice cream (vanilla caramel).  I've just got to try lemon, pineapple and an unknown flavour before I'll be through their variety.  After, Dad went down to the lumber store to get some wood to build me a stair to get up the back of the boat.  We used the milk crate to climb into the dinghy again this morning but it was trickier close to the reef where the swell was strong and the crate kept washing away before I could step on it.  Also, I can't swim around the boat in the lagoon as the handy billy really doesn't work well.

While dad was at the store I visited "the White House", former governor's mansion turned into a store.  Unfortunately either because they built on boggy ground or the rain we had yesterday, the store was swarming with mosquitoes.  I got a dozen bites and gave up and went out to the street to wait for dad which was hot but not buggy.  I may go back to the store, though as they had some interesting local stuff not available in the stores in the little mall up the road.  I'll just make sure I'm covered in bug juice next time.

After we got back to the dinghy, dad rowed down the shore a short ways to the pharmacy where there is another fruit stand and got a half dozen limes, (I love lime juice in water down here), a giant grapefruit (apparently it was medium size!) and a dozen bananas.  They're regular bananas like the ones we get back home.  Not the neat tasting orange flavoured ones which we got at the little fruit stand near the mall.  Then we headed back out to the boat in the rain.

I tried to get dad to follow the local fisherman out through the rocks to the main channel but he could do it better so we spent 20 minutes crashing into one rock after another!  Finally he gave up and tried to go out where the locals had gone out guessing at where the channel was and we lost only a small amount more of paint and gelcoat.  That man is so stubborn!

Reminds me of a little girl paddling around the bay with one oar going in circles and insisting "I do it myself!"  Too bad he hasn't outgrown that stage.  I don't know if that ever happens.

Take care you guys.  Love you lots!

Love and hugs,
Mom
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At 12/07/2011 10:04 PM (utc) our position was 17°30.21'S 149°49.34'W