It was a welcome that will be remembered for years.

We were just getting settled when our friends Charlie & Saundra, s/v Island Sol, called on the VHF to welcome us back to the Rio. HH & dinner tonight? Yes!

Shortly after that call it was shower time. Jerry headed up to the marina showers first, chatting with other cruisers we hadn't seen in a couple of years on the way up and back. When he returned I went up for my shower. As I was about to step back aboard marina staff shouted that I should wait.., stop..., not board Vida Dulce, pointing at the bottom of our mast. Honestly it took me a minute to realize what was and should be stainless steel was black. And the black was moving. And other black bugs were buzzing around. A wasp swarm was attempting to establish itself there. Luckily we have hornet / wasp spray aboard, purchased in Roatan a few years ago at the Ace Hardware there. We'd bought it for pirate boarding protection since it's long distance spray, bad for the eyes of said unwelcome guests.

Once the swarming settled down, these unwelcome guests were treated to said spray and it does kill on contact. It was a little dicy as the wind was still blowing hard but the spray hit most of the intended and they fell without causing harm to us or others in the vicinity who came to watch the spectacle. We've not seen swarms of wasps here, but we've not seen winds like we experienced here either, so who knows where they came from nor why they decided Vida Dulce was their preferred next home. Just happy to have put an end to that notion.

OK, that handled, I climb back aboard Vida Duce. A few minutes later our friends Mike & Kim s/v Ka'imi, cruised by in their dinghy just to see if we'd arrived. The happiest of happy hours in recent times commenced with the six of us sitting in our aft cockpit catching up over beverages. A truly memorable welcome back.