Found this while muddling through an old laptop. Just a few weeks ago we were back at Rudder Cay. Madison is now 18 and we are short one hull (Catamaran Pun, please forgive).

The rhythm felt the same, right down to the dinner :-) The pic above is from that night fourteen years ago and of the "plastic chairs" we found on the beach.

Enjoy!

May 23, 2003

5:30 Awake, check position and remember to turn off anchor light. Indicator light burned out so placed post-it with big A on it to remind me. Read “Prey” until…

6:10 Kelsey cries, wet diaper. Changed and made a break for my book. Had large glass of water, neglected to put coffee on.

6:20 Kelsey up, book over. Asking for mama but wants me. Played on settee and brought her down to help wake mama up.

6:30 Madison awake, wet her bed which I discovered earlier. She informs me of the same and apologizes. Hard to get mad at her. Making plan to clean sheets using washing contraption.

7:00 Clifford, big red dog playing since 6:35 while I tried to sneak in a little more book before Becky awoke. She’s up now and wondering where coffee is and why the dishes are not done. Put coffee on, should boil over within 5 minutes.

7:05 Boiled over.

7:06 to 8:00 Made breakfast for self and did dishes. Cleared deck from previous day and made dinghy ready to be lifted. While lifting took the time to spray out the sand. Checked both bilges and pumped port.

8:00 to 9:00 Talked about future plans and summer housing. Also plans for the day and where we would like to go. Declined offer to go spear fishing, anxious to get moving north. Decided to sail inside of islands, read up on route and made ready. Started engines to make hot water for Becky’s shower and charge batteries. Also turned on watermaker and checked its output. Had Beck bring up the anchor as a drill. She also took the time to raise the main but I finished the heavy lifting.

9:00-10:00 Beautiful sail from Rat Cay to Adderley. Shallow area, on high alert! Crystal clear water and perfect wind ghosting along at 6 knots over 6 feet of water. Some minor nail biting. Looked hard for El McPherson’s house.

10:00-11:00 Out the cut and into deep water. Lots of current! Jib down and messed around with the spinnaker for a while. Girls playing in fort on cockpit. Must be a million degrees out here! Sweating through everything and a lot of running around.

12:00-1:00 Find our way into Rudder Cut and Darby. Trouble deciding which way to go. Saw some nudies heading to Rudder so decided on Darby. Shallow anchorage so dove on anchor, looked ok. Set anchor watch on GPS. Dove on speed transducer and freed it. Also measured depth of water precisely.

1:00-2:00 Ate extra macaroni and cheese and had a cold Kalik. Worked on this and now hoping to sneak in a little more reading.

2:00-2:30 Kelsey napping, Maddie playing quietly, Beck in cockpit having a peaceful moment. Sneak into cabin and finish Prey! Now I can think again!

2:30-3:00 Empty dinghy and lower into water, think upper body workout. Called Little Darby for permission to hike up to castle. Got kids lubed up with sunscreen and gear.

3:00-5:00 Off to island to explore castle. Everything going well until we get out of the dinghy and are assaulted by three dogs! Kids terrified, mom upset and we are out of there. Would have been nice if the caretaker had mentioned these!

Motored over to Rudder and the round house. Second highlight of the day, the first being the sail from Rat to Adderly. We landed on the beach and walked up to the house. Pretty much just as we had left it eight years ago. The limo was gone however. Back to the beach where two plastic chairs were left behind and amazingly in semi working condition! We were able to sit and the girls played with a stick. Boy have things changed! Hung out until the sun started to get low. Spent a fair amount of time with some lizards as well.

5:00-6:00 Family trampoline time and happy hour! Noticed how low the tide was and decided to “walk” around the boat! Took the time to scrub the exhaust stains of off the transoms. Sun dipped and I climbed back aboard to help with dinner.

6:00-7:00 Dinner, chicken and rice, and evening routine. LOTS of dishes. Tooth brushing and beginning of book reading. I read to Kelsey, about 8 books and she wanted to keep going. She was asleep by 7:30 and I dosed off with her. Continue journal around 8:30

8:30-10:30 Going through West Marine catalog making up large wish list. Going page by page. Spent and hour putting together screens for the boat. Well worth the effort. Purchased some screen before we left. That and a little duck tape do the trick. Took measurement for some more Lewmar screens. Wrote several eMails and sent. At least an hour spent on reading business stuff from Anchorage and responding. In bed by 10:30

10:30 to 1:00 am Ghost on the boat, long story.