A Perfect (Unexpected) Day

Today was a glorious day under full sails and bright sunshine.

We did a little research in the morning to see where we could sail to for the day and get some beach time.

Chebogue River Aquatic Club seemed like the best and closest place. It meant heading south of the river out of Yarmouth and east into the next little bay.

I called the number on the marina's page and got a friendly chap, Randy Cook, who was the club's President. The number listed was infact his own personal number!

He later told us in all his years as President he has never received a phone call from a transient cruiser. There's always a first time for everything.

As luck would have it, he was heading to nearby Crawley island with his family that day and would we like to meet him there?

Yes please!

There was a perfect protected anchorage, a gorgeous beach, and the friendliest bunch of people you could ever wish to meet!

Randy's extended family all get together every Sunday in the summer at this island which they co-own for a beach bbq. 

What an incredible privilege for us to drop in and be part of it!

We could see Crawley Island on our charts and GPS but there was no info about anchoring nearby that we could find online.

As we prepared to leave the island to return to our boat for a bbq, some of the family members were about to throw away a huge bucket full of freshly dug up clams.

Lillian quickly took action and made sure they did not go to waste. They were the most decadent clams I've ever tasted, sand and all!

Honestly, we could not have scripted this day any better.

I'm sure Lillian thinks all we do is putter around on our boat, go to beautiful beaches, swim all day and get gifted tons of free amazing seafood.

Well, although that is far from the reality of our EVERY day life as cruisers, it does happen now and again, which makes all the other not-so-fun moments of cruising completely worth it.

We're at anchor tonight, gently being rocked by the incoming tide.

Memorable day indeed. To top it all off, we spotted dolphins on our sail.

Breakfast with friends. 
Fierce SPOT IT competition happening this morning.

Lillian pondering life or just enjoying the silence and solitude for a little bit. 

Aila taught Noah and Micah how to play King Dominoes.

My little sous chef.

Sandy beach at low tide. Lillian called it memory foam
sand, and that's exactly what it was like.

Our boat, dinghy, and a private beach.

The bigger sailboat in the distance is ANJULIA SUE. The other boats are 
from the other people gathered here for a family beach bbq.

Crawleys beach at high tide.

We brought a huge watermelon onto the beach to eat. We devoured it in one shot.

Rappie pie, an Acadian specialty, made of chicken and
potato and herbs. This one was homemade and cooked over an open fire.
Randy graciously offered us some to try.  It was so good!

Peeling and washing the corn.

As the tide came in, this little stream would fill in, leading to a
lagoon more inland. Tides are incredible in that it changes the
landscape of an island so dramatically, twice a day, everyday.

Clams clams clams! Get em while they're hot and fresh. Photo credit: Tai

Bbq chicken, corn, potatoes, hamburgers. We were hungry!

Eating dinner up in cockpit and on deck, watching the sun set.

Roasted sweet potato.