Catalina Bay, Catalina Island (still) Monday 9/4 7:00PM (Ginger)

The last week has been busy. We've been hiking twice. One hike was really a scramble straight up the hill complete with desert crevasse hazards, loose gravel and vertical sections that made me wish for glacier ice in case an emergency arrest was needed. The other hike was about 9 miles round trip on dusty roads to the top of the high peak at the north end of the island. Aside from black widow spiders and scorpions the only thing of concern here are the rattlesnakes. We didn't see any of those but lots of lizards; some so fast they're hard to spot before they're gone. Snakes make me glad I have my sturdy hiking boots on the trip. Friday afternoon we took the dinghy close to shore and snorkeled for a while. There are lots of fish and it's great to be in water this warm. Otherwise we've been swimming around the boat every day. We've been in town twice. Our first visit was Wednesday when things were relatively quiet. It was nice to sit on the snack bar patio and relax. Our second visit to town was Saturday afternoon when things were really getting busy. I've never seen a dinghy dock that full. There was a loud band, lots of people with their dogs (a great addition to the scene) and it was very busy. We were able to stand about an hour of that and retreated to the boat for dinner. Taking pictures of the anchorage this weekend doesn't really tell the story of how many boats were in the bay. There were huge rafts of powerboats, the group near us appeared to lose their stern anchor purchase and swung into the channel. We thought they were dragging but as the wind died they bounced back to their previous spot. Their 8-year-old son kept buzzing the anchorage in their huge fast dinghy with no adult supervision ever apparent so they were really on our radar! There was a boat near us with an entire floating playground tethered to their stern. They had an inflatable slide, a large dinghy tow toy "Big Momma", and a huge inflatable trampoline. As the wind came up every afternoon we were glad to be on our boat keeping an eye on things.

After our trip ashore Saturday we decided the town would be much quieter Monday afternoon as people return home. So, we celebrated Sunday of Labor Day weekend by working on boat stuff. Peter tightened the rigging; a project helped greatly by the stiff afternoon wind, and rewired the turnbuckles. He also made several loaves of bread and several hours of water. Our Village Marine water maker has been doing a great job and those solar panels are keeping us nicely charged! I cleaned the floors, worked on my bead log of our trip and cooked. Incidentally, I also did the laundry when we were in Oxnard, I'm doing more of the traditional "pink" jobs because there are plenty of "blue" jobs I can't do.
Peter finished the book "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and I've started it. Now I know why I don't eat land meat. It's a great book; it explains problems with agriculture in our country among other things.
We did watch a movie the other night but it's been even more entertaining to sit in the cockpit, sip wine, eat chocolate, watch the sunset and all the dinghy traffic back and forth. We had some neighbors for the last two nights here from North Bend, WA who are taking the boat back to Long Beach today and flying home tomorrow morning. The idea of heading back to work makes me appreciate this place even more! We've heard the Thursday night potlucks are going strong on K-dock and wish we could have a K-dock BBQ here!
It's strange to be here still when everyone has returned from summer vacation to their regular life. School is starting soon and everyone is back at work. I'm still getting used to the fact that my job is getting us places and seeing new things for now.
As I write this our neighbors are yelling that a dinghy has gotten loose. Peter has taken off to get the boat before it blows past ours. At this job, for a few minutes work, sometimes, you get a cold beer! They were happy to get their dinghy back..