I've got a big week ahead of me next week and I was indecisive about going on this year's BYC cruise to the Bastille Day celebration at Bahia Marina. I decided that I would regret it if we didn't take the boat when it came time for that long drive home instead of a short dinghy ride to the boat waiting out in the anchorage at IOB. Bruce enjoyed the sail over... I enjoyed the NAP over!
We didn't leave the slip until noon. The winds were just coming up enough to make a delightful trip across the Bay. We arrived at the anchorage with 12 boats already there. We dropped anchor at about 3pm. The day was warm and beautiful.
We tidied up the boat from the trip over and joined friends over at Merlin for a float off the stern. Before long, many of the people from the other BYC boats anchored out had gravitated over to join us.
This is truly one of the pleasures of being in the BYC that we wouldn't miss for the world. Those lazy hours floating in the water dangling off a trailing float line telling stories with good friends. The world can't reach us. No crowds... another of those "wonder what the poor people are doing" moments.
We all scattered back to our respective galleys at about 5:30 to prepare our offerings for the Bastille Day Pot Luck scheduled for 7pm. I had made some bread pudding since it had gone over well the last time I brought it out here. There really was a LOT of food. I love pot lucks because you get to try other peoples favorites.
This year was much more fun because Bruce and I actually had a "place". We found other BYC people who had gathered over to one side of the dance floor area and had some tables bunched up. They welcomed us and sat us right down. In the early days, Bruce and I just sat around the fringes at these things. No more...
We got our plates loaded up and sat down to enjoy. Bruce had a fan in Cathy's dog Mona. She was doing some heavy begging before Cathy came looking for her and took her back to their table to leave those still dining in peace. She's a cute little scruffy thing. One of the things I always love about being in the islands is that you can eat dinner with animals at your feet. Bahia has that same "Island Feel".
The real draw to this event is the annual show put on by Larry Joe Taylor. We have a couple of his CDs and it really puts us in the "Island" mode. I love being able to sing along with the band.
The sun went down and it got really very nice out there. Bruce was making good use of the keg. I've been trying not to imbibe so much due to the extra pounds I've been unable to shake lately. I enjoyed the party thoroughly anyway! I even got my husband out onto the dance floor a few times. Once I even let him LEAD! But it didn't work out so I took over again. He's really a very good sport.
Just about the time Bruce was beginning to nod and the only thing keeping him awake was the mosquitoes chowing down on his legs... the Bastille began to blow! Every year Steve gets out there and puts on a fireworks extravaganza to signify the burning of the Bastille. It was another great show and we made it just to the end before we fled back to the boat to avoid the need for a blood transfusion. Many others dinghied back out to the anchorage with us.
I had feared a sleepless night with mosquitoes eating us alive. Not so. The screens in the new ports work marvelously and I didn't have but one tiny little pest that I quickly smacked. We slept well and awoke to another beautiful morning in the cove. We piddled around for a couple of hours. Bruce did some fishing to no avail while I lounged in the sun with my Kindle. All too soon, it was time to head for home so that I could get ready for my trip on Monday evening for work. I was very glad we took the boat over to Bahia.
No comments:
Post a Comment