So many great things are going on these days. The new cockpit is wonderful. We are finally eating outside in the shade of the new cockpit cover. The raised cockpit has also given us more storage area. For now the decks are not as cluttered as they used to be. It is so nice to be able to sail without having to fight our way around the decks.
Two days ago we were getting ready to head across to the Darian from the Perlas. Before taking down the Volleyball net Cassidy wanted to play a last set to determine the King of The Beach. I got to be team Bigfoot captain, and Cassidy was team Littlefoot captain. Being a girl she figured she should have first choice of teammates. She chose Courage. Now, it turned out, he was the only other player on the beach. Luckily I was able to draw my own boundaries. I made my field a few feet narrower and a few feet shorter than their side. The first game was a close 10 to 21. During the game I had to widen my field, and even make it a little deeper. Even with the bigger field I was able to hold my own, during the second game. But for the third game they shortened their field, and I had to lengthen mine. And to make it more fair, I brought my width the within two feet of theirs. By this time I was wearing them down enough they were making a few mistakes (like thinking a ball was out when it was not). To make this short story longer I will wrap up by saying I don't think they will back me up on my version of events, but they will have to admit I took the title of King of the Beach. Three straight games.
Yesterday 5 other boats and Lil' Explorers set sail for the Darian. A few were wise and left early to catch the morning wind, while others took some time to beach the boat and give he a nice wash before setting off. There was a nice northerly wind blowing about 10kts so up went the spinnaker. The wind held for about 4 hours, but eventually sails started coming down and motors started. The wise ones who left early were able to select prime anchoring spots, and guide the rest of us to a spot in the dark. With an overcast night, and no moon, it was hard to see anything at all. At one point Courage called me forward to listen to a sound. We could hear the rain approaching. Quickly we started closing hatches, and gathering clothes that were out drying. The rain hit hard, but only lasted a few minutes. Not even long enough to wash our new roof.
Around ten am the next day we all pulled up our anchors and started making our way to the mouth of the river. This time there were no nets to block our path. It was impressive to see the line of six boats all in a row heading over the mud flats. Two of the boats did end up hitting the bottom when the current pulled them out of the channel. It was had to tell but the current did not follow the channel. I jumped in the dingy with boat hook in hand and headed back to find the channel. It only took a few minutes to figure out what had happened, and Cassidy was able to get the message out letting everyone know where the channel was.
Once we were all safely anchored in our favorite spot, a few of the villagers came out to say hello. For the next few hours we had between 30 and 40 visitors stop by to say 'Hi' and welcome us back. As the afternoon progressed we shared war stories with the other boats and introduced them to some of the locals.
Tomorrow there will be a bit of a New Year’s party in town, and we are all invited. It promises to be quite interesting.
Happy New Year from Loyal, Mother, Courage, and the whole Lil' Explorers crew!
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