Day 31 - 7/26/31
Today marks the start of our second month of our adventure. We all were up past midnight the night before and I slept until 8am. I always seem to be the first one up. Richard and I took Kona for a walk and enjoyed a little morning hike. When we returned around 9am our guests were starting to rise. Their first time sleeping at anchor and they were shocked they slept so well and their 7 year old had as well. Sleeping on a boat, at anchor, on a calm night is one really special experience. (Sleeping on a boat, at anchor, on a crazy weather night is also a really special experience! )
We made a large breakfast and eventually gave up on the shore kids for waking up before noon and took the dinghy to shore to wake them manually.
We had a lazy morning socializing and letting the kids swim, ride the the dighy around and watching many more boats come in.
In the afternoon we went for a little adventure on the rock islands between the two main islands. We went swimming in the natural pools and then we took Bert over to some big rocks where we had seen others jumping into the water. Some other folks were there to show him the way and he didn’t hesitate at all when it was his turn. Kona could tell he was going to jump and you can hear her freaking out in the video. She jumped in after him. Always looking after her people and also living the best dog life. I honestly think Kona has forgotten she has a leash and everyone we meet just adores her. I’m not sure what I did to get such a good dog.
The bay is full of boats today and my notoriety continues to spread like wildfire. Around 8:50 we had people in their dinghy’s gathering around our boat. I’m trying really hard to set aside my nerves as I seem to only play perfect at anchorages with no one around. I did well this evening and we all joked that even the people in the really huge yacht that we hadn’t seen all day (only their crew, while they sat inside in a/c all day??) came out to listen.
There was a time, a long time ago, where I dreamed of playing music. Either in a symphony or even better a movie studio. Those dreams are long gone and I’ve lived many lives since then. I put my trumpet down for nearly twenty years. Richard’s encouragement for me to give this these 2-3 minutes to everyone has been a journey for me, but he has always seen the bigger picture and believed in me. Never would I have dreamed that this would happen and for all the right reasons.
The adults are tired but the kids begged us for a fire We caved and said we could go have a small one for them. 4 hours later we were finally headed back to boat. So much for a small fire. We have met a boat with a couple from Ann Arbor. They were on the wall with us in Little Current and are anchored next to us here. They joined us for the fire. It was really lovely to get to met them. He manages architecture projects for the University of Michigan, managing the building of many of their buildings but the largest was the building of their stadium…the largest outdoor football stadium in the US. I’ve been in the big house, what a feat! They also really appreciate the trumpet playing saying how it is the highlight of their summer. I’m so glad that it means so much to everyone and leaves such a lasting impression. Our friends joked that Taps/Last Post is becoming so well attached to our boat that if Richard ever sells the boat they may ask for the trumpeter as part of the deal. I just asked to make sure he sells me to a cute new owner
I’m super tired, even “slow” days are epic. So happy to have spent this last few days with friends aboard. It’s been something none of us will forget for a long time and we are all making plans for seeing each other again, hopefully for many more summers.
Being a little over half way I’m happy to report my food stocks have lasted this long. We will finally need to stock up on meat soon but that is about it as we have plenty of dry and or freeze dried goods still. We have only used about 25 gallons of diesel, only having to run our generator once (today of all days because we valued ice for drinks more than charging the house battery with solar). It seems like time is running out before we need to head west and towards home. We don’t want to go. We miss our land family and friends, but the people and experience of this beautiful part of the world has quickly captured our hearts. We can easily see why many of the people here have been coming every summer for over 30 years. We can only hope we have that many years to gain unsalty (up epic) stories and memories.
