It is another gorgeous morning in paradise! We are all up at 6:30, with plans to do some exploring in the dinghy.
Yesterday was lovely,although there was quite a bit of wind and we had a load of boats in the anchorage! And we are talking BIG yachts! but this place is big enough to handle a number of boats, and even though the wind curls around and funnels through, it is still a comfortable anchorage.
Yesterday morning we started the generator and after a few minutes it did its occasional hiccup – stalled on us. After it was started up again, someone must have thought hard about it and went down to check something. Next thing I knew, Lawrence and Tom were coming out of the engine room carrying a water pump all wrapped reverently in a cloth… that didn’t look good.
But in this case, we had the tools, the spares, and the knowledge… one look at the destroyed impeller and I knew what was up. New one installed, the next job for Tom was to hunt down the bits and pieces that had been thrown off and sucked up… when all were retrieved, the generator was restarted and this time, everything was A-OK!
No generator with a wonky alternator would not have been good! Alternator is still lurking there, waiting to be fixed, but there are bays to be explored, which is why we brought the Grady along. We wanted to head up to see the sea lions and perhaps swim with them, but when we stuck our nose out and headed up we realized pretty quickly the water was too rough and it would be wet and uncomfortable and they are only smelly old sea lions, after all.. something we see enough of back home. I still wanted to snorkel so we anchored off the point of our bay at a small reef, and jumped in.
Heaven! At one point we were surrounded by thousands of fish! It was clear, and warm, and delightful. Unfortunately all I will have are memories, as the go-pro had dead batteries! RATS!
Eventually we climbed back aboard the Grady and headed home. There was still a lot of day to find something else to do so I pumped up the kayak and headed out in that to explore ( and get some exercise!) We had been spotting a big turtle swimming around us, and then disappearing, so I was hoping to see one up close. No luck! The shallows are pretty to look at, but there is not much life happening in there, although I frightened a herd of silvery fish into all leaping out of the water at the same time and flying through the air to get away from me – scared me as much as I scared them!
The rest of the day consisted of more puttering and organizing dinner, which was excellent I might add! Mexican chicken is delicious, yellow and flavourful, and we ate it barbecued ( thank you Tom) along with cactus salad and barbecued cactus.. and good old canadian potato salad.
It was a great day, problems were solved, others were ignored for now, the food was delicious, the wind made the heat more comfortable, and we got some great snorkelling in. Another wonderful day in paradise!