catalina

twin harbors catalina is like another country. at a glance the palm tree speckled beach front could be anywhere in the world. after nosing our small boat into the small boat orgy taking place at the floating dock, we hop out and make our way up the big dock to the beach. it's around six thirty in the evening and we've been let ashore until nine. what we really need is a beer, but anchor watch prohibits that, so we're going for the next best thing; no not sex... icecream. thankfully it's a saturday and the market is still open. we stop at the book exchange cart to swap two patrick o'brien's and a gideon's bible for some paper back mysteries and a bodice buster as a 'joke' for the mate. armed with books and häagen-dazs bars, we decide to go for a walk, the road being brilliantly lit by the nearly full moon. we eat icecream and our fair share of dust as the wind picks up and blows grit eveywhere. we walk to twin harbor, chatting and looking for the fabled giant squirrels of catalina which we decide, must not be nocturnal. the walk back to the dock is faster with the wind at our backs and a night of anchor watch ahead of us. we all agree that every now and then it's nice to use our legs on something more than seventy feet long.

when you work on a boat you always appreciate theoccasionall day off. and then there's the time when your day off comes around and it's like mana from heaven. like the day after a weekend of sailing 40 boyscouts back and forth from catalina in less than calm conditions. it was fun, but for sanity i'm taking the much needed day off to drink coffee and see old friends who have also wandered into this part of the country.