Through the early morning hours I was up a number of times where the wind hung around the 30 knot range (+/- 5 knots). By 4:00am things subsided a bit and by 6:00am we were back to the 12-15 knots with gusts in the low 20s. Damn the past few weeks have been windy, windy, windy. And made me very thankful for our oversized 65 pound Mantus anchor.
Early in the morning our friends on Imagine anchored near us. Talking later we learned that they had been up most of the night. There is an anchorage between the big island (where we anchored) and a smaller north island, which is where they anchored. Evidently it was very rough with waves battering them all night long. Now in the calm seas (wind still in the high teens) they could get some much needed sleep.
We had tentatively scheduled a hike with Ted and CJ and around 10:30. As they dropped anchor near us we hopped in the dinghy and picked them up plus their two pups for the short hop to shore. It was basically the same as yesterday’s hike but in reverse with a bit of added adventure hiking up a solid rock water chute (dry now). Ted was formally involved in the mining industry and was able to give a bit of color on why the rocks were a certain color and what formed them. As we hiked, the wind dropped a bit lower and we managed to keep everyone dry on the trip back in the dinghy.
They dropped off the pups and grabbed lunch before we all returned to Strikhedonia. The afternoon drifted away in conversation. Oh and food too. Can’t forget the massive sandwich Jack made me. And a respectable and deserved one beer each (except for CJ who was skipping alcohol for a couple weeks). Eyes were getting heavy and mid-afternoon I gave them a ride back to their fishing boat for siesta time.
A short nap turned into two hours of sleep, clearly catching up from the previous night. Followed by a sesame sea crusted seared yellowtail (from the fish Ted dropped off yesterday) with rice and a salad. Oh and yellowtail sashimi too. Since this may be our last night at anchor we watched the documentary “Chasing Bubbles” about a guy who lived a life on the edge while circumnavigating, along the way making many friends and embedding himself with the locals. A great inspirational sailing story.
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