Good friends and composting heads

Sailing Salinas-Coffin Island-Salinas Feb. 13-14, 2010

Another weekend, another wonderful trip to Coffin Island on Orion. After leaving the dock we were able to actually sail to Coffin Island…YES…under full sail…no motor :o). There is nothing nicer than to hear the boat moving through the wind, creating a bow wave that sounds like the most beautiful music…ahhh…the sailing life!

We found a good anchoring spot, had lunch, and soon thereafter our friends arrived on “Andariego”. Richard and Mercedes brought their daughter Kairym and their son-in-law Emmanuell, who had arrived from cold New York City for a vacation in their native Puerto Rico! I told them to watch out, because I would mention them specifically in our blog...well...here it is :o) It was great fun also, because I had not seen my good friend Mercedes in a while...together again at last. 

Some person in a helicopter was playing some dangerous games, or so it seemed, around the anchorage. He flew way too low and came way too close for our liking to some of the motor boats anchored further down from us…for whatever reason…we couldn’t figure it out!

After having a lot of fun at the beach with our friends it was soon sundowner time! We missed Bob and Joan and want to give them an honorable mention here! For dinner we retreated to our separate boats.

Richard, Mercedes, Kairym, and Emmanuell had German Bratwurst we were told on Andariego. They invited us over, but we had our own dinner already in the makings. Thanks anyways friends :o)

Rick and I had BBQ chicken thighs (boneless) with noodle salad, a few red grapes, and sweetcorn on Orion.

Then it was time to say good-bye to Andariego's crew who would return the next day! Rick and I worked a little bit on scraping off stuff from our wooden handrails and the toerail in preparation of painting them. Then we relaxed in the cockpit. We had a wonderful and peaceful night. Andariego returned the next day with more of their friends...we all had a great time enjoying each others company.We left a little bit earlier than usual, because we were going to see a sailing couple in Salinas. The sea was just beautiful and wind just right for another journey under full sail without the motor...well, at least for quite a while. The wind did weaken quite a bit later on, so we had to motor-sail the rest of the way. Still...so kewl to be "out there" and we were both happy...the First Mate taking pictures and the Captain at the helm :o)

Back in Salinas, Orion all nicely docked, we took the dinghy to visit a couple on one of the sail boats which has a composting head (head=toilet on a boat). We are very interested in this concept! It was a great opportunity for us to see first hand how this thing looks, feels, smells...well, you get the drift. 

Albert and Jenny had invited us over for a quick look at their system. I don't want to do too much toilet talk here, suffice it to say that it was exciting for us to actually meet sailors who have this system installed! We'll talk more about it in the future...so be prepared, hahahaha :o) Albert and Jenny have a "Nature's head" composting system on their motorsailer "Magus" and they love it!

We thank Albert for taking the time to show us the system and letting me take pictures :o) 

Here are Albert and Jenny (from right) on board their friends' sailboat. I'll have to remember to get their names again! They invited us over, but we had to take a raincheck, because we had to go back to Ponce. Many thanks to them for letting us interrupt their get together to do some "toilet talk"...way to go! Sailors are the best...no matter where!