Lazy days

Well, we're still at Cat Island. We discovered that none of us was so anxious to do the passage to Florida that we could resist having a few truly relaxed days. We have the island all to ourselves, you see, and the beach is nice, and the breeze is steady, and the stars are gorgeous, and we have dolphins around regularly, and... you get the idea. Our only complaints about this spot are that it's pretty rolly when the wind clocks around from east to northeast, and the water isn't clear. Frank says the Gulf in Louisiana and Mississippi is too muddied by the Mississippi River to be that beautiful blue-green we're all dying to see. But it's still a nice spot, and we've been such a long time getting here.

If Stan proves no threat, we'll spend tomorrow getting shipshape, and then jump off on Thursday. (To give you an idea of how relaxed we are, I had to check the calendar to see what day of the week it is.)

I had a little adventure today. Frank and the girls weren't interested, so I went ashore alone. I had a lovely time exploring the north tip of the island -- went wading, found a suitcase from New Orleans, saw a small ray in the shallows, and walked over to the eastern beach to look out at the wide expanse of water that we'll soon be crossing -- then got back to discover that the dinghy was floating away. (Lesson learned: No matter how far up on the beach you *think* you've pulled the dinghy, you still need to tie it up to something.) After a 100-yard sprint up the beach, I entered the water already tired. Fortunately, the water is about 3 feet deep, even just beyond the ZP's anchor 1/4 mile out, so I could walk when I got tired of swimming. I was still pretty whipped by the time I got up with the wayward Grave Tender. I walked it back to shore, then collapsed in the limited shade of the scrawny pine trees that inhabit the center of the island. Phew! Definitely got my exercise for the day!

Marjie remains diligently at work on her novel. She has more than 300 pages now. As have we all, she's also been working her way through our collection of paperbacks. She very much enjoyed the first 5 Janet Evanovich stories and is currently reading a medical thriller.

Chloe is doing her usual craft projects. She made quite a few Harry Potter-themed items, including badges for her improvement on Hermione's S.P.E.W. club, H.E.L.P. (House Elf Liberation People), and a bunch of sickles and knuts. This evening, she had a somewhat chilly shower in the cockpit, so I bundled her into a big green beach towel. She discovered how to drape it as a toga, so we've been digging out safety pins and talking a lot about Roman lifestyles. She draped her toga-draped self across the boom and said, "Venus on the boom."

As for Cap'n Franko, I think the quiet days are doing him a lot of good. He's been reading and napping and adjusting to the heat and taking care of his queasy wife, but mostly recovering from all the stress of recent weeks. We're all slipping into cruising mode, and it feels really good.

KQR