Paula was up early this morning and went out in the cockpit to read while dawn approached. The forecast called for clouds and some rain today, and as the sun began to rise the sky already looked threatening.

Tom came up a little later and the morning routine of reading and writing with a pot of hot coffee commenced. Paula did some more cooking and then decided she wanted to try and make Bimini Bread for Glennis’ visit. This requires coconut meat. That meant another trip to the grocery store to buy a coconut which also meant a good reason to get a little exercise by walking the mile or so to get there.

Speaking of exercise – we’ve both really been feeling our bodies changing from the greatly diminished amount of exercise we’ve been limited to in the last couple months. Our bodies are well rested and we feel fine, but we’ve definitely become “de-trained” from all the running and swimming we’d been doing in St. Augustine.  We go for walks as much as we can and have managed to get in a little swimming and some short hikes on the Cays, but it’s a far cry from our previous activity levels. On the other hand, the cruising life keeps us fairly nimble, mentally engaged, and seems to improve our balance. It will be good to get back in shape again though.

Continuing what has been an unusually busy week of social encounters, we got a knock on the boat today and happily discovered that an adventurous sailing couple from Denmark that we’d met at a pot-luck dinner in St. Augustine last fall was standing next to C Ghost! They saw and recognized the name on our transom as they docked at the marina and came over to see  us. They were on  their way to the grocery store on foot with their backpacks for provisions. We had a nice mini reunion and arranged to have them come over later for snacks and drinks. We had a great time recounting each other’s boating adventures since we last spoke, and we then gave them a tour of C Ghost. We had a lot of good technical discussion since our boats shared a number of similar systems and in a few cases, some identical components. They are adept at repairing and also sometimes re-engineering their own systems, which we have a keen interest in as well. They are a lot more experienced and accomplished sailors than we are which is wonderful for us because they are also a wealth of knowledge. For instance, they entertained us with tales of sailing the treacherous and often frigid North Sea.  We heard how they anchored in bays in France where the tides are 30 feet. They described using the completely dry low tide, with their boat now sitting on the bottom “hard” as an opportunity to put in a new thru-hull for a depth sounder. This job was a race against the clock as it had to be completed and the new hole in the boat’s bottom made watertight with the transducer installed before thirty feet of water filled the bay at high tide. It was an unexpected and fantastic visit.

After we ate  a quick meal of some leftover beef stew with bread and butter for dinner (it gets better and better as a leftover), Tom returned a call to Glennis that originally came while our guests were here. She described for us her own nautical adventure: a boating trip to Monterey to see the humpbacked and killer whales! We are so excited for her to join us on Tuesday.