Day 112, November 21st, 2009
It was a lovely morning. We were in no particular hurry so we got up about 7:00 and had a lazy breakfast. I went for a walk on the beach then and found Sue and Paul's dinghy on the beach when I got there. I couldn't see them anywhere so went off by myself with bare feet, paddling in that beautiful warm sea water! It was so lovely - watching the dear old pelicans, and the sprightly little terns. It seems so strange that those big ungainly birds just flap, flap, flap and then glide effortlessly inches above the water, while the terns, so tiny and perfect have to flap their wings frenetically to stay up there! The terns dive from great heights, the pelicans will slowly go up about 40ft and then splash down in the water but don't even submerge. I love to watch them. I loved the little plovers too, tripping along the beach in front of me, every so often sticking their beak into the sand to find whatever grub seems delicious!
Arriving back at the dinghies there was Paul and Sue chatting with a couple walking their dog.
This fella worked as a camp guide in Quetico Park, ON for 13 summers!! Small world. I told them of my one experience at Quetico - rain all week and mosquito bites! I'd never gone back!
We enjoyed talking to them about the local area and the wildlife. We were lucky and saw dolphins while we were standing there. They said they'd also seen Orcas before too.
We were just saying goodbye around 9:30 when the sky started to cloud over and the wind to freshen. It was time to get out of there and look for cover in town. When I got back to the boat I found poor old John. He'd taken the engine cover off and checked the filters etc., but when he'd put the cover back, he'd overlooked securing two bolt locks. When stepping up into the cockpit the engine cover slipped beneath him and he'd ended up skinning both shins. He'd done this before and it seemed to take ages for the one poor shin to heal up - now it was all open again and looked quite a mess! Old Nursy to the rescue! Patched him up with polysporin and band aids!!!
We got the anchor up and set off right away - had to go around a big sand bar to get back into the channel and that wind came up so quickly and so strong. The shallow water developed an uncomfortable chop right away and left us slapping the bottom until we turned for cover!
Carrabelle has a lovely protected little harbour and we had hoped to anchor right in the middle but the tide was down and we just didn't feel comfortable. The wind was strong even in there and were afraid we would ground. So, back to a marina unfortunately and pulled in right beside Sharpie's Dream. Safety the best policy! "Buddy" was on the dock to take our lines and proceeded to tell us that jumping from Carrabelle to Tarpan Springs was NOT a good idea. The weather has been so unpredictable this November that one cold front follows upon the next and if we tried it there was a good chance we'd be divorced at the end - best scenario!! Apparently Buddy has been helping people to do the crossing for 17 years. He recommended that we make a short hop to Steinhatchee and then to Tarpan Springs with the next weather window. Aha! Local knowledge! We will go his way after all! He spent sometime with us looking at weather sites on the internet and he will tell us when it looks a good time to go.
We had a lovely afternoon. We borrowed two bikes from the marina and headed into town where I got my hair cut. Met Paul and Sue at "Fisherman's Wife", a kind of chip shack with picnic tables where we ate deep fried shrimp! Yum! Yum! We had fun spying out the town and bought some postcards for the children at home.
Back at the marina, having written up the postcards, we decided to go and buy some ice for margaritas! It was on the way that John noticed a radio antenna homing device in the water under one of the docks in the inner harbour. He was just wondering what that was doing there when he realised it was attached to a manatee!! Our first! Now we have seen a manatee! Big slow moving old thing, apparently they like to spend time right there.
We enjoyed our margaritas and had some supper and went up to the common room on the dock
to spend the evening with Pat and Diane. We looked at the charts and planned a route and then Diane and I played a game of Scrabble. I won again but she got me back winning 2 of 3 games of pool! Well, actually I can't even claim the first game - Diane pocketed the 8 ball and told me that that meant she immediately lost the game. I did manage to get a few balls sunk over the three games. I was happy with that but was totally outclassed! Paul and Sue had arrived by then (they are staying at a marina just a block away) and we watched a movie together on the TV. Our first TV in 3 months!
We headed back to the boat very late for us after 11:00 p.m. It was already raining. I had my travel Scrabble, two wine glasses in one hand and a small pen in the other. (It was several hours since the last margarita, I promise.) Somehow or other I managed to trip on the dock and went straight into the drink beside the boat. It was a lovely soft landing in the warm salty water, christening my lovely new clothes from West Marina. I handed up the Scrabble game, the wine glasses and the pen to concerned hands on the dock. I'd thrown out the Crocs after the last fall and bought a pair of Sperrys - I was happy this time that they didn't fall off and managed to climb aboard up the ladder, laughing my fool head off! Poor old John, he'd had a bit of a scare this time. The story doesn't end there. I decided to take my dry pyjamas and go off for a hot shower. That went well. On arriving back at the boat, John met me with an umbrella and helped me back onto the boat saying "take little steps, take little steps!" That worked right till I got to the companionway where I promptly slipped on the first step and ended up sitting on my bottom on the cabin sole! What a case I am - my Auntie Llywella used to remark how she never saw me without a band aid when I was a little girl; my Mum and Dad reckoned I could fall over a matchstick and I guess I've never changed!!! Thats okay, all you good friends and family, I know you're laughing fit to keel over - I even woke up laughing in the middle of the night. I really should be on candid camera!!! John begged me to go to bed then (the V berth is rather like a padded cell) while he adjusted the lines and got us centered in the middle of the pilings.
It was a crazy night with high winds, halliards banging, boat slapping as the waves hit the stern, not too conducive to sleep.
It was a lovely morning. We were in no particular hurry so we got up about 7:00 and had a lazy breakfast. I went for a walk on the beach then and found Sue and Paul's dinghy on the beach when I got there. I couldn't see them anywhere so went off by myself with bare feet, paddling in that beautiful warm sea water! It was so lovely - watching the dear old pelicans, and the sprightly little terns. It seems so strange that those big ungainly birds just flap, flap, flap and then glide effortlessly inches above the water, while the terns, so tiny and perfect have to flap their wings frenetically to stay up there! The terns dive from great heights, the pelicans will slowly go up about 40ft and then splash down in the water but don't even submerge. I love to watch them. I loved the little plovers too, tripping along the beach in front of me, every so often sticking their beak into the sand to find whatever grub seems delicious!
Arriving back at the dinghies there was Paul and Sue chatting with a couple walking their dog.
This fella worked as a camp guide in Quetico Park, ON for 13 summers!! Small world. I told them of my one experience at Quetico - rain all week and mosquito bites! I'd never gone back!
We enjoyed talking to them about the local area and the wildlife. We were lucky and saw dolphins while we were standing there. They said they'd also seen Orcas before too.
We were just saying goodbye around 9:30 when the sky started to cloud over and the wind to freshen. It was time to get out of there and look for cover in town. When I got back to the boat I found poor old John. He'd taken the engine cover off and checked the filters etc., but when he'd put the cover back, he'd overlooked securing two bolt locks. When stepping up into the cockpit the engine cover slipped beneath him and he'd ended up skinning both shins. He'd done this before and it seemed to take ages for the one poor shin to heal up - now it was all open again and looked quite a mess! Old Nursy to the rescue! Patched him up with polysporin and band aids!!!
We got the anchor up and set off right away - had to go around a big sand bar to get back into the channel and that wind came up so quickly and so strong. The shallow water developed an uncomfortable chop right away and left us slapping the bottom until we turned for cover!
Carrabelle has a lovely protected little harbour and we had hoped to anchor right in the middle but the tide was down and we just didn't feel comfortable. The wind was strong even in there and were afraid we would ground. So, back to a marina unfortunately and pulled in right beside Sharpie's Dream. Safety the best policy! "Buddy" was on the dock to take our lines and proceeded to tell us that jumping from Carrabelle to Tarpan Springs was NOT a good idea. The weather has been so unpredictable this November that one cold front follows upon the next and if we tried it there was a good chance we'd be divorced at the end - best scenario!! Apparently Buddy has been helping people to do the crossing for 17 years. He recommended that we make a short hop to Steinhatchee and then to Tarpan Springs with the next weather window. Aha! Local knowledge! We will go his way after all! He spent sometime with us looking at weather sites on the internet and he will tell us when it looks a good time to go.
We had a lovely afternoon. We borrowed two bikes from the marina and headed into town where I got my hair cut. Met Paul and Sue at "Fisherman's Wife", a kind of chip shack with picnic tables where we ate deep fried shrimp! Yum! Yum! We had fun spying out the town and bought some postcards for the children at home.
Back at the marina, having written up the postcards, we decided to go and buy some ice for margaritas! It was on the way that John noticed a radio antenna homing device in the water under one of the docks in the inner harbour. He was just wondering what that was doing there when he realised it was attached to a manatee!! Our first! Now we have seen a manatee! Big slow moving old thing, apparently they like to spend time right there.
We enjoyed our margaritas and had some supper and went up to the common room on the dock
to spend the evening with Pat and Diane. We looked at the charts and planned a route and then Diane and I played a game of Scrabble. I won again but she got me back winning 2 of 3 games of pool! Well, actually I can't even claim the first game - Diane pocketed the 8 ball and told me that that meant she immediately lost the game. I did manage to get a few balls sunk over the three games. I was happy with that but was totally outclassed! Paul and Sue had arrived by then (they are staying at a marina just a block away) and we watched a movie together on the TV. Our first TV in 3 months!
We headed back to the boat very late for us after 11:00 p.m. It was already raining. I had my travel Scrabble, two wine glasses in one hand and a small pen in the other. (It was several hours since the last margarita, I promise.) Somehow or other I managed to trip on the dock and went straight into the drink beside the boat. It was a lovely soft landing in the warm salty water, christening my lovely new clothes from West Marina. I handed up the Scrabble game, the wine glasses and the pen to concerned hands on the dock. I'd thrown out the Crocs after the last fall and bought a pair of Sperrys - I was happy this time that they didn't fall off and managed to climb aboard up the ladder, laughing my fool head off! Poor old John, he'd had a bit of a scare this time. The story doesn't end there. I decided to take my dry pyjamas and go off for a hot shower. That went well. On arriving back at the boat, John met me with an umbrella and helped me back onto the boat saying "take little steps, take little steps!" That worked right till I got to the companionway where I promptly slipped on the first step and ended up sitting on my bottom on the cabin sole! What a case I am - my Auntie Llywella used to remark how she never saw me without a band aid when I was a little girl; my Mum and Dad reckoned I could fall over a matchstick and I guess I've never changed!!! Thats okay, all you good friends and family, I know you're laughing fit to keel over - I even woke up laughing in the middle of the night. I really should be on candid camera!!! John begged me to go to bed then (the V berth is rather like a padded cell) while he adjusted the lines and got us centered in the middle of the pilings.
It was a crazy night with high winds, halliards banging, boat slapping as the waves hit the stern, not too conducive to sleep.
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