The night was dry, but the winds have been steadily increasing. Poor Zanshin (and crew) is being blown by the wind at Sandy Island today. The winds are constantly around 18 knots or higher. This means that even with the 2NM fetch there’s still quite a bit of motion aboard the boat.
The catamaran behind me left in the morning. The boat had been preventing me from moving, so I grabbed the opportunity. I weighed anchor and circled back so that I could drop the hook and chain in pure sand rather than in seagrass, as this is a national park. Of course the toll collector came around as soon as I’d finished and pried the daily fee of 53XCD from my wallet.
As soon as the National Parks launch finished collecting and departed, the folks in the catamaran next to me went into action. Out came the fishing lines. This is expressly forbidden and there’s not a chance that this was an honest “mistake”. In fact, after I’d noticed this and went up with my camera and took some pictures there was quite a bit of activity aboard. They quickly hauled in the fishing lines and departed the anchorage. Shame on them!
Afternoon
The guys on the Paradise Beach Club launch know their customers. They came by in the afternoon and asked when, not if, they should pick me up. I chose the 17:00 time slot and didn’t get much work done aboard. But it had been a long week both on the boat and in the virtual office, so I felt I had an excuse.
Getting ashore was a good feeling, with nice sand underneath my bare feet and no rocking or rolling. I enjoyed being there and sat at a beach bench and watched the sun (somewhat hidden in the haze) slowly approach the horizon.
When the sun set, I ordered my dinner and sat down at the table they had so thoughtfully reserved for me. The neighbouring table from the big boat next to me, Wildflower, invited me over to join them and I did. We had a fun discussion over drinks and food and ended up taking the same launch back to our respective boats. I’d let the dinghy painter out so that I could crawl from the launch into my dinghy and then pull myself aboard – this is easier and has less damage potential than using the transom. Zanshin was still being blown in the wind, although ashore it had looked very calm.
