THE other day, Wednesday to be exact, we were sipping our morning hot beverages below as Becca read on deck, when the “yoo-hoo’s” and frantic waving from the catamaran anchored next to us roused us all to the rail.
Turns out that Emmy Kate (the catamaran) lost her life raft on the trip over from Hampton, and her owners had decided to turn her over to a professional delivery captain for the rest of the trip down to the islands. Problem was, they had provisioned for 5 crew for 10 days, and had a surfeit of food that would go bad if someone couldn’t take if off their hands. And, Praise the Good Lord Above, that someone ended up being us.
As Emmy Kate’s owners frantically filled, and I mean FILLED, our dinghy with food (the delivery captain was pulling up as we loaded), Philip, Becca and I laughed hysterically at our good fortune. The meat alone was pounds and pounds of fresh tuna (caught and deep frozen on passage), about 200 chicken breasts (ok, more like 20), a pork loin, a pound of sausage, three pounds of bacon, two of hamburger, and hot dogs. Then there were the hundreds of snack bars, boxes of crackers and cookies and big bag of candy, not to mention all the fresh, canned and boxed groceries.
There must have been a good $400 of food weighing down our dinghy as we wallowed back to the boat, still amazed at our good fortune. Thanksgiving was entirely provisioned from the stash: marinated pork loin, mashed potatoes, homemade stuffing, broccoli and homemade gravy. We followed it all up with a pie made from the frozen blueberries and blackberries that were slowly melting in the fridge, with one of the apples thrown in for body, and a pie crust made from (GASP!) a box pie crust mix, something that goes against my deepest nature, but less so than wasting food. It was a delightful meal made extra-special by the donated food, as well as the presence of Marc from Whisper, a solo sailor from the Salty Dog Rally – somehow giving away food we were given made T’giving extra special!
We’ve had bacon for breakfast both mornings since, and I’ve been feeding everyone in the anchorage an attempt to use up the frozen foods that didn’t fit in the freezer and therefore got stashed in the fridge. Last night we had Ryan and Shawn from Liberty by for hamburgers and hot dogs, and tonight we’re hoping to trade some of the awesome tuna for a soldering job by More Child’s Play, another Salty Dogger from our rally.
Ah, the spirit of cruising!
So so so so so awesome you guys! Couldn’t of happened to a better bunch of salty sailors!