As Ratty told Mole in The Wind in the Willows:
Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing — absolute nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing... about in boats — or with boats. In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of it. Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're always busy, and you never do anything in particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not.
About a week before Messabout, the lagoon was so full that the campground was flooded. But all that water wound up breaching the sand bar, and the lagoon had drained quite a bit before the weekend. We had to walk carefully down the slick clay beach to our boats. Because of the new connection with the ocean, there were jellies and seals coming into the lagoon.
We sailed down to the breach both Friday and Saturday. Depending on the tide, we had to beware of getting sucked out to sea or being pushed back into the lagoon. For me, it was all good for experience, especially when Thorne let me man the helm of the Lord Chamberlain.
Along with the usual cast of ne'er-do-wells, we acquired new friends. Jeff, Dean and Eric came out to play. It turned out that Jeff is the son of one of my beek friends, and it was great to finally meet him.
In camp, we were visited by a very friendly cat. According to the campground host, someone abandoned him when they broke camp. The host has been feeding him, but hopes a kind soul will give him a good home. Some of us were sorely tempted, but already had cats at home to consider.
On the spit, the agates were ripe. During our Sunday morning inspection of the ocean, many of us settled down for some treasure hunting. Some of us got to coach others on the art of agate spotting, and many fine specimens were collected.
Lovely blog and great selection of photos! Thanks for being such good crew and bringing rum rations...
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