A Productive Day

Today was one of those days to get things done. We sewed up our sail (breaking no less than three needles in the process) and were glad to get that done and not have it hanging over our heads anymore. It was in a lot of ways less hassle than I thought, except that my hands and fingers were not strong enough to get the needle through the many layers of heavy dacron and sunbrella fabric that was ripped. So Mike had to do most of the work and I felt bad about that. I think we need to start looking for a Sailright sewing machine - they are heavy duty and a lot of people have them. Maybe we can find a used one on Craig's List or ebay, who knows.

We also made water today and discovered that we are using a grand total of 12-13 gallons of water per day, and that includes drinking, cooking, washing dishes, doing laundry, and showers. We have made a concerted effort to learn how to conserve - for example, we wash the dishes in salt water and only use fresh water for the final rinse.

Last night Mike made the most AWESOME dinner ever - clam spaghetti with the clams we dug up ourselves. He did such a good job of soaking and cleaning them that we did not lose one nor did we get any sand in our food. It was even better than the clam spaghetti we love at The Venetian in Ocean Beach. And he also made artichoke hearts sauteed in olive oil and garlic, like at the Pomodoro in Point Loma. It was one of the best meals I have ever had. I think I may be the general cook and bottle washer, but Mike is the gourmet chef in the family.

Yesterday we were looking out to the shore and saw two coyotes on the beach, eating washed up fish and stuff from the rocky shoreline. They looked pretty healthy, which was sort of surprising as it is very sere around here and I didn't think they had much to eat except lizards. But they looked good, and after they ate, the lounged on the beach for awhile before trotting away into a canyon. We knew they were out there, because we saw tracks earlier when we took the dinghy to shore and hiked around a little bit. We both wish we could do more hiking, but it is really really hot for that sort of thing.

Today we had our privacy disturbed when at least 15 kayakers came into the bay and set up a camp on one of the shorelines, but they will probably be gone soon - most people who do that only do it for the afternoon. The weather has been cloudy and we even got a few drops of rain, but it is still hot. The water here is back to being warm again, unlike our last anchorage. It is still very refreshing, however. There haven't been any storms, although there was thunder and lightning yesterday all around us but not right here. We heard some people talking on the radio about 30 knot winds, but ours only got to about 16.5 or so, easily handled. We are really enjoying the calmness here, but we know that after today's party at Bahia de Los Angeles, there will be other boats here again with us. But that is not all bad - we also like visiting with other boats. So it is a win-win for us either way.

Again, as it has been ever since we got here, there is not a lot of thrilling things to report. We just take it day by day, enjoying things as they come. We like watching the boobies make their spectacular dives into the water, we like to see the seagulls come to the boat and beg for fish scraps, we like to see the rays jump high out of the water and do back flips, and we just never get bored with stuff like that. The sunsets are always worthwhile and the swimming is great. Tomorrow we plan to do more clamming and some fishing as well - we are due for a nice fish, hopefully a tuna. So all of you have a great day!

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