Dinghy Surprise and Cocktails

Monday

At 6:30am we were on the sailboat Honu listening to the forecast by Chris Parker.  Honu was trying to decide whether to shove off tomorrow or change directions to make it possible to go somewhere other than here.  They wanted to get some sailing in as all four people on board had finite time limits before returning to work.  They will be one of the few leaving on Tuesday as most of the sailboats will wait for better weather on Wednesday. 

Bob got in his morning beach run and dip in the ocean all alone this morning while I hung around the boat, answered emails, etc.  

The sun was out today!  Temperature was in the 80’s which was much nicer than the last few days of 70, overcast and windy.  It’s still windy of course.  Ed and Maureen from Manatee went at low tide and collected three large conchs.  We took the dinghy out to the island across the channel just after low tide.  The island is so covered in conch shells, all harvested, that I called it Conch Shell Island.  Then we ran up the harbor to the resort and back and discovered that one pontoon of our dinghy was leaking air.  After a filling it still leaked so it will be put on the list for “Things to do Tomorrow.”

We hosted an appetizer night at 5:15pm for all the boats and got a pretty good crowd and some fantastic food.  Summer sausage is an item we need to add to the cruising list.  Maureen and Ed brought their freshly caught, deshelled and chopped conch salad.  Some people left to attend the 6:00pm  Christmas Tree Lighting in front of the police station but some stayed on into the evening.  Reports were that the Tree Lighting was on “Island Time” and by 7:30 had still not happened.  About 150 people were in attendance and having a great time singing and otherwise making merry with each school grade 2^nd through 6^th having a turn.  It was reported to be terribly disorganized but everyone was having fun which is the point of it all.