BEACH SURPRISES!

New Toys are such Fun!

Meet Elena and Jim Czarnowski. They set up camp next to us for a week. Bob first noticed Jim's boat because it was like ours only with a blue sail. He had a newer model (prototype) with new style seats. They had decided to camp next to us because they saw Bob sailing his Hobie. In conversation it turns out that Jim is the head engineer for Hobie and is the designer of the Mirage Drive (pedaling apparatus).

Jim was instrumental in helping Bob with the wiring for the electric motor on the Hobie. We tested it out on the smooth-as-glass bay.

 The four of us decided to sail our boats loaded with the appropriate gear to the other side of Coyote Island and camp for the night. We got a later start than we wanted, the sea was rough, and the wind was ablowin'!! Bob and I are not good enough sailors to make it to the other side so we camped on the near side beach.

The nearside beach where we camped. Notice the
glasslike water!!

Notice the difference in our setups! We have the standup tent and you can see how high the blowup air mattresses are. We are not a quick setup situation, but we are comfortable!!

While sitting outside after managing setup while it was still light, and enjoying our Margaritas, it was discovered that no one had brought coffee, no one had any matches, and we were out of Margaritas!! So Jim, with a little flash-
light I gave him, sailed back to camp in the dark; made more Margaritas, grabbed some matches and sailed back to the island. Took less than an hour. You may note that he forgot the coffee!

We celebrated Thanksgiving together with the french family and the Czarnowskis for a very pleasant evening!

MAKING FRIENDS

They come in all sizes

We have been delighted the past 2 or 3 weeks to become acquainted with
the Metayer family who are french. Genevieve, the mom, is from Quebec and
the dad, Fred, is from France not far from Angers. The 3 children were
born in Tahiti where they have been for the last 6 years.

Naida is the oldest at 6 years.

Vaiana is 5 and loves to string shells that she has found along with me.

Ylan is 2 and prefers wearing his birthday suit to play in the water. He enjoys using our noodles in the water--he calls
the noodles 'frites' and is partial to the green one.

Fred, short for Frederic, works for the French government in development involving hydraulics. They have been waiting to hear by email where his next posting will be. He is hoping for Nantes on the west coast of France. That is where we did our first home exchange.

As you can see, Fred is very easy on the eyes and has a beautiful smile!!

Genevieve, the mother is very personable and the speaker of several languages. She has been handy to have around with the vendors and at the grocery store! She and I are both very fond of Margaritas.