Surprising Jean

Believe it or not, a bunch of talkative cruisers, gathering in one location from various bays and harbours, still managed to pull off a surprise 60th birthday party for Superted's co-captain Jean. The fact that the party was a month earlier than her actual birthday probably helped! But nonetheless – it was a great party and the surprised guest of honor seemed thrilled. The event, held at the Musket Cove Yacht Club's outdoor bar and grill, was Sunday night. Eight boats gathered from all over and acted like they just happened to be here. It was to be a potluck, bring your own item to grill, night. A crew gathered early to reserve some tables and Matt pre-arranged the bar tab! We decorated with banners, balloons and crepe paper. Two birthday cakes, homemade cards and gifts, and an "Ode to Jean" were part of the festivities. This gathering was fun because so many of us have traveled together for some time and at this point, many of us will be going different directions. In fact, it sadly may be the last gathering for us of many of these folks – some we may never cross paths with again. That's the hard part of cruising – making friends and then having them sail out of your lives – sometimes for a short time and at other times – forever.

The party was fun and festive and Jean, who is generous to all, deserved it!

We remain in Musket for a few days before heading off to the main island for some last projects and reprovisioning before heading on our next adventure. This is a nice spot – we managed a great tide-pooling walk on the sand flats/exposed reef near the boat. The tides are exceptionally low so a lot was high and dry and it was fun to explore. We scared up some eels, lots of crabs, puffer fish and some interesting small tropical fish.

The anchorage/mooring field also has boats coming and going – so lots of people to meet and its always fun watching the anchoring and mooring antics. In fact, one boat tried six times to grab a mooring after failing to anchor! This particular boat sells itself as a teaching boat for offshore cruising (no names will be mentioned) – so we were enjoying the fact that the teachers couldn't manage to secure the boat without help. Ah, but it happens to all of us!

The weather has been wonderful – and its nice to still be amongst our friends before a passage.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com