Once Around an Island

Yesterday was Sunday Funday at its best around here. Friends came by and picked me up off of the houseboat to take a little sea spin. I had no idea we would be doing a Culebra circumnavigation but that is just what happened. The sun was shining, the clouds were drifting along gently as we set out, getting a wonderful reminder of how incredibly beautiful is this place I call home.

I love this boat!

This classic beauty was coming in as we were heading out

Hello, St. Thomas!

Just a little place

The clouds were gorgeous

Lava, baby!

The geology of Culebra is varied and fascinating

I missed the exact moment these two sailboats on either side of this islet
looked like the hats worn by the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz. 

I noticed the line. Ann denoted the pyramid of Culebra.
I don't know where the door is.

This plane flew over us a couple of times.
If you were outside around here, you probably saw it,
huge, gray, low.

Hello, big island!

Hello, Vieques!

Kayaking snorkelers. I hope they all saw beautiful things,
stepped on no corals and fed no turtles. 

I've never seen so many boats in this harbor. Party time!

Love these rock formations

And these too.

We came in right behind Buddy John, who built and
sails one of the prettiest and fastest trimiran's ever. 

 After being dropped back at the houseboat, I jumped stepped into my dinghy and headed to town. A brief stop at Dinghy Dock and we were off again, to see friends at an end of the island we'd gone by in the boat only a little more than an hour before.

This may be a common sight, but I've never seen so many pomegranates
on a tree before. They look beautiful but I forgot to take one home to taste it.
Word is, they are as delicious as they are beautiful.

Are these the same two sailboats we saw earlier?
I don't think so but they looked very serene, gently going down the way.

Bidding adieus, we headed back to a good porch for watching the sunset. We missed the actual 'set' but we caught a whole lot of beauty.

At last it was good night to Sunday Funday.

Yes, there is grimness in the world, But there is also a lot of beauty and peace to be found. It all needs to be interwoven because people with their heads exploding is not pretty. I'm very thankful to have had the day I had yesterday, with good friends, doing good things.

Off my bucket list is my first trip from town back to the houseboat in the dark. The universe continues its kindness, with literally glass like waters. Without the moon it was dark and the flashlight needed a few hundred more lumens to be much use, but the possible obstacles were firmly in place in my head and nobody moved the chess pieces. Going about as slow as possible just in case I was wrong was not a bother at all; the stars were spilling out all over the sky, winking and blinking and mesmerizing, the water so still they were reflected on its surface. 

Home. That's a good word.

Have a make it all matter Monday. Do something mile-stone like.

Sunday Funday ~ a Quiet Wahooooo oh!

Sunday morning yard walkabout.  There it was, the first blooming of the mango tree. Maybe this will be the year I eat a mango off of my own tree. There have been baby mangoes but never the whole juicy delicious deal. Ohm shakalaka.

In the yard, the plants look happy,  with the occasional quick deluges of rain we've had. Everything but the three foot high baby cashew tree that I'm pretty sure a horse smashed, breaking the tree and the pole I had next to it for support. It wasn't horse proof, unfortunately. Ah well, I can't stay mad at hungry, if clumsier than me, horses. Key word, stay.

Remember the banana pepper I brought home a couple of weeks ago? First pepper and another bloom. Oh yeah!

This plant is constantly making art.

I was sitting in the gazebo cat playing and looked up to see that the fishing pole I keep tucked into the framing had somehow let loose of its hook. I don't know the significance of a prayer flag being hooked, it wasn't early or late enough for my brain to be on a cosmic plane. So I just enjoyed it...and then unhooked and set it free again. Only good all day so I'm thinking, it's okay.

Also crossing my mind while I was sitting there. Sunday Fundays out at Dakity and missing them. Then I got word from a friend, she was feeling the same. Always on a quest to avoid the *B word, we went into action. In minutes it was load 'em up (boat stuff) and drag 'em out (the engine and oil and gas tanks and water and masks and fins...it was like taking a 2 year old to the beach). The engine started on the second pull after not being used since last August and we were away.

The sun shone. The wind blew. The water glittered. It was medicinal. It was therapy. It was Sunday Funday renewal.

The first thing to do was find the old ground tackle and there it was!

The water felt chilly at first - and then bliss

and so were the views

It's always easier, for me at least, to get out of this than to get back in. But the second attempt was a success. I wasn't going to spend the night on the reef. No complaints; a few months ago I couldn't have helped do anything on this trip, let alone get back in the dinghy. Two working arms are fun!

As we were getting ready to leave there must have been six or more sailboats heading for the bay. It looked like a regatta approaching. I've never seen that many sailboats coming in at once, silently sweet!

There was a research boat out there as well. I have no idea what they were doing, but they looked pretty busy, so I'll have to find out another way.

A day before, at extremely low tide. I never see this without thinking myself into a 3 inch high person with this my homeland. Not much in the way of grassy plains though. My 3 inch self doesn't care.

Have a no margins Monday. Do something messy.

*Boredom, not Bitch, a totally acceptable 5 minute pass time or state of being

Catching Up is Hard to Do

For such a simple place, you might think there would be lots of time to show you most of everything here. Oh wait. There is and I do. Ok. Never mind.

This is from Sunday Funday. Since today is a bit overcast (translate, cool and lovely), a bit of bluesygreen is on tap.

I'm not sure what this bird is. Obviously a water wader but...? Any identifiers out there?

 There was a nice variety in the modes of transportation out to the houseboat.

Hey Sandra! I'm taking your photo of you taking my photo!

A canvas covered kayak (which is very easy to say three times fast)

Doug rowing his sail lofting fashionista woman in (Pose # 1)

Pose # 2

Come on over and tie right up (pose # 3)

We were hoping for a mating. What a wonder offspring that would be!

With the day sailer dismasted by fate and some tired rigging, more dinghies were employed for the incoming.

How to hold a line elegantly

The usual suspects

Experimenting with the kayak...go Mariel!

Ann working the paddle(s)

to an appreciative audience

Not an incoming, I just like blue hulled sailboats

The day turned to afternoon and time to head home

Paul, rockin' the boat

Have a taste of the tropics Tuesday! Do something tiki torchin'.