It was just as windy today as yesterday so we decided to stay put one more day. It’s not that we couldn’t sail on a day like this; it’s fine for sailing. But we’re only going 14 miles and in the end we have to maneuver around a crowded harbor and either dock or anchor. There’s just no sense in adding to our stress by trying that in 18-knot winds. Tomorrow the wind is supposed to start to diminish by midday, so if it looks like it will, we’ll head on over.

Meanwhile, Bud suggested we see if Ed and Karin had any plans and if not suggest a cookout on the beach we visited with them two days ago. They thought that was a good idea. We set it up for mid-afternoon, and they asked us to call on the radio about a half hour before we wanted to go.

Bud wanted to make a Chinese salad, with cabbage and Ramon noodles, but a pretty main ingredient is slivered almonds, and we don’t have any of those. So he settled on macaroni salad. We had a couple of burgers and a piece of smoked sausage; we still had some hamburger buns. Both Karin and I got rashes that look like they might be from poisonwood. That made Bud worry about collecting wood to do the grilling (poisonwood smoked sausage is scary) so we took the grill off our aft rail to use.

We called them at 2:30 and at 3:00 they came by in their dinghy and we quickly loaded up and took off for the beach. When we were there the other day some folks in small boats had been having a party in an area that had a kind of beachcombers picnic ground. We went there. At first we thought we were going to have company, as some people in a small powerboat seemed to be coming right to the beach. It’s really shallow here though and their engine hit the bottom when they were still a hundred yards from shore, so they pushed the boat out a bit and then took off. We were just as happy for the seclusion.

There were a couple of counters made from plywood on frames attached to trees, a few plastic lawn chairs and a frame with a tarp for shade. There were two grills there, but our little cans of propane wouldn’t fit on them, so we set up out boat grill on some cement blocks, and that worked well enough. Karin brought placemats that we put on the wooden counters where we laid out the food. Karin and Ed brought Kielbasa and macaroni salad! They also still had some snacks aboard and brought some trail mix and some Pringles. Ed and Bud ate the two burgers. I had two kinds of sausage and two kinds of macaroni salad. It was good, though. Fuzzy had a great time as Karin and Ed brought him Pupperoni. He also had his supper while we ate.

I almost forgot to take a picture, so this shot isn’t great. That’s Karin and Ed picking up after the meal. Bud is bending over our grill, taking it back apart. You can see the shelter and what a nice spot it is. I was walking Fuzzy. When everything was packed up and we were ready to leave, Fuzzy was determined to go with Ed and Karin. I hope it was just that he was still looking for some Pupperoni.