It’s April Fools Day and I managed to pull one over on JD Bissell!! He’s usually pretty sharp so I’m happy when I can manage to fool him. This time my story involved an email about smashed windows in our car in Halifax. I didn’t let him sweat too long, really. Just enough to start planning phone calls to our neighbour and the insurance company before I ‘fessed up.

We are loving being back in Cayo Quemado (Buenavista Bay) but frustrated about the poor internet availability. Everyone has cell phones here – even the folks in the dugout canoes, but computer connections are still iffy. We don’t want to take advantage of our resident friends too often – and even their tall antennas aren’t consistently picking up a signal.

We’re working steadily at the business of putting Madcap to bed for the season. While we were anchored near Bruno’s in Rio Dulce, Hector and Eddy came out to the boat to remove the dodger and bimini and the dinghy chaps for restitching and repair. We picked up a big tarp to protect us from the blistering sun until we get them back. (The thermometer showed 39.5 so sitting in the sunny cockpit is way too hot without some sort of covering.) In the mornings and evenings, we empty lockers and give them a vinegar/water wash down, sorting the contents into “use next year”, “take home”, “give away” piles. Very little actually gets tossed out, as folks here are into reusing and recycling in a big way. Mid day is siesta time/book time, and we jump in and out of the water several times a day. The water temp right now is 37 degrees so it doesn’t even feel cool until we get out and feel the bit of breeze on our bodies. Thank goodness the wind usually picks up midday.

The mainsail is at Tom the sailmaker’s in Texan Bay, and we’ll remove and clean the others at the end of the week. Jim is drawing up plans and checking catalogues for entirely reconfiguring the head and waste discharge system and he will fine tune them with Casey and Keith the plumber.

As for fun – because all work and no play makes us hot and grumpy – we joined a crowd at the Round House down river a mile or two for water volleyball on Sunday. What a good time! In the tiny pool, we played 4 on 4 with friendly rules. Good thing, since I haven’t played volleyball in a very long time. The pool is forgiving, meaning that a stumble results in a splash and not skinned knees, and the crowd was forgiving too with each of us receiving our share of cheers and groans. Joining the fishing families in their boats as we motored along at dusk in Martin’s lancha, stopping at Sarah’s tiny tienda for eggs and tomatoes, dropping off Keith at his boat, Liz at her home, and finally Jim and me at Madcap gave us an intense feeling of belonging to this part of the river.

I walked with Martine, Liz and Doris on Monday morning, (and that means going by dinghy or lancha around the corner and up the river to the tiny creek that heads back toward the mountains, tying the boat to a tree, scrambling up the bank and striking off along the dirt road past horses and cattle – complete with cattle egrets – to the road to Quebrada Seca). I could sure tell I haven’t been getting the cardio vascular exercise I was used to. Whew – back into training again!

Casey and Linda came for drinks on Monday. Jennifer is joining us tonight. We’ve heard the voices of several friends on the radio and know that a crowd of them came over the bar on the morning tide so we’ll be seeing more friends over the next few days. We were amazed to hear radio traffic from Livingston – way down the gorge – so the VHF must be working very well. Many of the boats stopped in Texan Bay so we are still alone here in big beautiful Buenavista Bay.

Off to town tomorrow for another overnight stop – to pick up our dodger and bimini, and check email, and then we’ll come back down and go on the dock at Casey’s place to really get down to the end of season chores.