Hugo...

First I guess I need to admit that even in paradise it rains on occasion...hmmm...well...in paradise...if this is indeed paradise...it pours! It is as if the sky cracks open, water pours down from a tea pot with accompaning wind gusts. That analogy because it is warm...morning temperatures in the boat...77 degrees...during the day to the the mid 80's. This picture shows the wonderful sun shade (rain diversion now?) that the Lady H now sports...

Sunday morning after a night of this rain, before even having tea, I put my swim suit on, got the large manual pump out from the locker and headed to the dingy, Hugo, whom I figured would be full of water. I need to explain that Herbie is an electric start Yamaha...therefore we need a battery in Hugo. Now, Capt Paul has had all sorts of wonderful ideas about how to protect the battery...even having an electric sump type pump...but to date...well, we've lost one battery to high water (Colon, Panama 2010) and still today...I'm manually pumping. The sky deluge seemed to have stopped for a moment as I stepped off of the Lady H and onto the dock. As I was pumping, which does take awhile when Hugo is full, the sprinkle turned to real rain once again.

My thoughts went way back to the time my sister and I went canoeing from our family cabin on Port Susan Bay with our goal of getting to Hat Island (many miles away). It started to sprinkle as we paddled then...and turned to rain! It was summer as I recall...but summer on Puget Sound is very seldom consistently warm. I do remember I started to whine...wow, Anne, do YOU remember it that way too? Well, better than calling it whine...how about...I just kept insisting that we should go back as the canoe was filling up with water and we had nothing to bail with. Finally Anne agreed, we turned around and we landed the very full of water (yet still floating) canoe on the beach. Soaked in my clothes I ran up to the house to take a shower and change! Once in the house I turned around, looked outside and there was my sister swimming in Puget Sound. Her thoughts...she was already wet!

So...with that memory going through my mind and already in my swimsuit...I did give it a thought...swimming that is. But, with all of the rain, the waters near shore had been muddied...and just didn't look that inviting!

The rest of Sunday we listened to the rain with my occasional visits to Hugo to get him pumped out...very lazy day. The rain continued into and through Monday, and so did my jaunts to Hugo to keep his floor as dry as I could! My 2 mile a day walk and bike riding was just not going to happen with this rain and the huge puddles that had accumulated everywhere. A blog on our very fun and wonderful Valentines celebration at Fantasy Island will be forthcoming...but...first things first. Last night Paul moved Hugo too close to the dock (I was planning to walk to the Valentines celebration at the resort...he wanted to take Hugo rather than walk...couldn't keep Hugo running...you guessed it..."dirty fuel...water in the fuel"... and ended up walking with me anyway). So this morning, not only is Hugo full of water...but also UNDERNEATH the dock.This picture is taken at almost low tide with Hugo full of water. We are now, not only waiting for sunshine (promised tomorrow), but waiting until complete low tide arrives when hopefully we can spring poor Hugo from his current predicament...

all in a days living in paradise...