Today went by in a flash. Another blustery night, with a tiny spray of rain around 11pm, otherwise dry. The early morning sky was heavy with clouds that dissipated throughout the morning. The wind is still brisk. People in small boats were wearing jackets this morning.

Our starboard-side neighbor, a single hander in a Beneteau sailboat, came over by dinghy to visit. We had waved and smiled to each other, and now made a more formal acquaintance. As is usual, we exchanged some basic geographical and personal information and then spent a couple hours telling anecdotes: tales of equipment successes and failures, near misses and outright “ouches” as well as good times had. It’s also really interesting to hear and understand another sailor’s philosophy of boating. One is never quite the same as another’s and this provides a lot of food for thought.

After Bob left to visit some other friends in the anchorage, we had a quick lunch and took Poltergeist to Pirate’s Beach, where we climbed some trails to the top of Big Majors and were rewarded by a spectacular view of the three anchorages: Big Majors West, Between the Majors, and Top of the Majors (where we anchored for the first days of our stay here).

The trails were modestly technical, requiring one to climb on big pieces of broken limestone rock. On another note, we saw some Poison Wood trees, which can cause a poison ivy-type rash, so we tried to avoid touching those. Much of the shoreline is rocky limestone beach. At low tide you can clearly see where the water has carved out a shelf along the land.

When we emerged from the trails onto the beach, we met a family group, father, adult daughter and her friends, who had come to have a picnic lunch to ease their disappointment at being unable to fish today. They had a beautiful fast fishing boat, about 30’ and rigged nicely with trolling rods, but the ocean water is still too rough. We fell into conversation with the father, who owns marinas on the Great Lakes. He was interested in hearing how we had outfitted C Ghost for travel and living aboard.

Back in Poltergeist, we took a good look at an Island Packet 485 that anchored a bit behind us. We wanted to compare its transom details and swim platform ladder attachment with ours. We’ve never been all that happy with the placement and design of ours, and we have detected some attachment wear. Maybe we can think of a better arrangement.

By the time we got back to C Ghost, it was late afternoon. Tommy finished writing an article he was working on, and Paula did some “pre-cooking”.  A helicopter flew over the anchorage and hovered at not too much above mast height. It viewed the anchorage from several locations, then took off northward. One wonders. Photographers? Potential investors? Really rich sightseers? We will likely never know.

Since Tommy and I were pretty sweaty and salty from the trails and the beach, each of us took a quick boat-shower (meaning showering so as to conserve water). Then, feeling fresh and (hopefully) sweet-smelling we enjoyed dinner in the cock-pit. Tonight we had bulgur wheat mixed with chicken, vegetables, olives, capers, and feta cheese in a lime and olive oil dressing. The fruit compote served as side dish.

During the afternoon, the wind eased a bit, but now, at sunset, it is rebuilding. We expect 18kts with higher gusts for all of tonight into tomorrow.