Cathy Manuel

Today I didn’t want the smell of chemicals around me…. That was my goal.
We woke up, and I went to watch the sunrise while Brian went about the regular morning chores — empty and put away the clean dishes, empty the water tray below the freezer in the top fridge, use the Britta water to boil water in a pot for coffe and use the rest of the cold water in the Britta to top off our water glasses that had come into the aft cabin with use, before refilling it from the tap. We opened a new bag of coffee (Lavazza, that I excitedly bought in Bequia for $89EC 😵‍💫) and I read Kon Tiki… a great book and a gift from Brian.
Then wrote for awhile and made a big French toast breakfast with some gluten free bread I bought a week or so ago.
I called Kirsten and we chatted for awhile, got caught up on the chaos her life has been but hopefully she will have more answers next week as she has been having ischimec events and a doctor is finally “on the case.”
Then I tuned into the church service at First Baptist and caught the last 15-20 min and switched over to the service at Elevation Worship (in NC).
Brian has boat chores he was determined to do such as a final layer of gloss in the top, take the tape off, and then be decided to strip the starboard toe rail…. But we have crappy stripper and he did more then he could manage, so I hoped in to help while he went and chatted with his cousin Mark. He came back but thankful the rain started and that ended our work.
He had other boat things and I went about preparing food for the upcoming passage. I cooked broccoli, boiled eggs, par boiled sweet potatoes for super tonight and made date and peanut butter snacks that I freeze (good potion bites if the seas are rough).
All the power boats were clearing out and it was just a few boats left in the bay. We decided to go for a quick swim, and I bravely did not one, but a determined two, belly flop dives of the roof of the pilothouse (12 feet or so) trying to teach myself to dive. Ouch!
Then we headed to find a place to do a pastel…. I drove the dinghy for awhile but got nervous in the shallow waters and Brian took over and nestled us into a spot. I read and listened with amazement to all the bird and other animal sounds in and behind the mangrove. I felt like we had been dropped into the jungle in Costa Rica. The smell was also unusual and teetering on the edge of repugnant. Brian did a quick pastel… as the bugs had found us, he wrapped it up quickly.
Back to the boat and we started preparing dinner…. The sweet potato fries took longer then expected (I still struggle using the propane stove on the boat and finding the right temperature (with no gauge inside, only dials outside which I don’t think are correct). Food was great and again we were tired from a busy day. Brian did a sketch (in his new book) and then played the guitar for a bit, before we retired to both read in bed. Usually I am to tired, but the book was captivating and I thought I could finish it, but sleep got to me first.Lue lisää