SailingKnitter

These are my feet in the hammock and this is the view looking west away from the island. That's one of the best parts of cruising - the scenic beauty that we have 24-hours a day from our home. Because we now have an unobstructed view of the west, we get stunning sunsets too as we watch the sun sink into the ocean!

The weather has been fabulous - in the low 80's during the day and the low 70's at night with a steady breeze. Although we are always ready for rain (close the hatches when we leave the boat), we haven't had any in almost a week. We are enjoying living at this higher latitude where it is cooler than down in Colombia and Panama. The water temps are still a little cool at about 79/80 degrees so we just bought another tropical light weight wet suit at a local dive shop so we now have one for each of us.


The next photo is the view towards the island (Roatan), and finally a picture of our mooring ball for those folks who don't know what one is. The ball is about 15" in diameter and we're in water that is about 12 feet deep. When snorkeling yesterday, I noticed that a large queen conch (shell with animal inside) was visiting the turtle grass by our mooring ball.

DUCKY RACES
On our last day over in the French Harbor/Fantasy Island anchorage, we were treated to a Rubber Ducky Race. Ted & Joan on the motor vessel Panchita have an extensive collection of these bath toys and have organized many events in the past. This one was a fund-raiser for the Fantasy Island Marina Cruiser's fund to purchase some new furniture for our "green" park area where we have our Happy Hour get-togethers and potluck dinners.

Jonesy and I each selected a duck and placed our bets. Then we had some time before the official event to prepare a large rum & coke for me and a beer for Jonesy at the "bar" set up under the thatch-roofed palapa. While we waited for folks to arrive, the local monkey family came over to check us out (and get a few handouts of food).

It was a sunny day following a solid day of heavy rain so we walked along the bay to stretch our legs. Then it was time to sit and get out the knitting.

Race time! The ducks were ceremoniously dumped into a bucket and transported to the starting point out in the bay. Go! The crowd stood on the shore in the shade and watched the ducks drift slowly to shore - kinda like watching the grass grow in the summertime. Yes - there are ducks floating in this picture. Really. Look closely.

Finally, they moved in closer to the finish line so we could actually see them. Within a short time, the first ducks rode the tiny little wavelets up to the sand and "stuck". Winners were applauded. Jonesy and I still had to wait for our duckies to drift ashore. Waiting, waiting...then my green duck arrived somewhere in the middle of the pack.

Jonesy's duck? Well, it was 2nd from last and only a few seconds away from being dead last which would have resulted in a boobie prize of $5! This stupid duck spent almost the whole race floating on it's side. Oh well, a lot of fun was had by all and money was raised for our group and future cruisers who arrive. The hot dog feed and potluck followed on the "green" making it a full day of activities; shopping in the morning, macaroni salad preparation, duck races, and potluck - whew! Finally we got back to the boat and it was time for hammock swinging and star gazing.