Visitors!

Tuesday, my friend Carrie brought her friends Anya and Scott (a very nice couple from CO) aboard and we all sailed to Princess Creek in Hurricane Hole, caught a mooring, and snorkeled the local reefs. I discovered that the kayak does not do well with too much weight: it becomes very unstable. I also found that there are beautiful mounds of reef about 30' or 40' down that I should investigate, should I ever get scuba certified.
 

So, how did the snorkeling go? Well, not badly, although I should have brought us to a more sheltered spot for inexperienced folks on such a windy day. Eventually, tired, thirsty, and hungry from the long swim, we returned to the Dorado, climbed aboard, and they pulled out snacks and beer. I offered gin and tonics (my neighbor Peter has been supplying me with limes from this year's bumper crop) and soon stories and laughter filled the air, continuing until the sun dropped low and I raised the mainsail and we headed for home. I was certainly sorry to see the end of a fun day.

Limes

Monday morning I said goodby in the predawn darkness to another visitor, my friend Cynthia from Cape Cod. During her few-day visit we had swum in the warm harbor water at night, galaxies of sparks forming around our hands; she hooked two tail-walking tarpon in the north side of the island; she used her knife skills to open and clean four conchs we harvested and then cooked them up for lunch; and we sailed and swam by day and lay awake at night watching stars while warm winds buffeted us... or while mosquitoes attacked me and ignored her when wind died. We even got to snorkel at Flanagan Island when the winds and waves had died and rough places became accessible: wonderful corals and caves and fish! And we swam with four tarpon at Rob's mooring in Johnson Bay, watching as these huge beautiful fish swam within six feet of us, curious about these intruders into their realm.

More!!