Yes, it's a small world.

We spent yesterday visiting with Randy's friends Beth and Chuck on the SEA (Sea Education Association) vessel Corwith Cramer. Randy sailed as chief mate with them about 20 years ago on another SEA ship, Westward, when Beth was third mate and Chuck was chief scientist. Beth is captain on the Cramer, a 134' schooner, for this trip, and was pretty surprised to see Randy walking up the dock in Hillsborough while she waited for Customs to open.

Beth, Chuck and Rick, the engineer, dinghied over to Sandy Island where Nancy D., Mange Tout and Carapan were anchored for a swim and a visit. We had a great morning snorkelling on the reef, and Emma and I had a walk down the beach and found a dead turtle. Missing most of his head, but otherwise intact. We picked up a lot of small pieces of turtle shell on the beach - it's really beautiful. No idea how the turtle died, but he sure didn't smell too good by the time we found him. Otherwise, the island is a beautiful sandy spit and some folks have taken a lot of trouble to plant small palms to keep the island from blowing away.

The next morning, Steve, Lisa, and their kids Ben and Emma, and David and Kim, Randy and I were all invited over to the Corwith Cramer for a tour. Emma and Ben were whisked off by Rick for a personal tour of the ship, including a trip out on the huge bowsprit, and Chuck took the rest of us on a more leisurely and less athetic tour (including a rank of bunks called "Squalor" overseen by a fan labelled "God"). Kim and David did interviews with both Beth and Chuck for their website, www.floatingclassroom.com, and Chuck and Randy did a lot of reminiscing. We were concerned that so many of us landing onboard at once might interrupt the regular workings of the ship, but the college students on board were happy to chat with everybody and talk about what was going on in the lab. We got the impression that after a month at sea with the same group, nobody minded having some new faces on board. The kids had a great time and had a million questions for the students and the crew. For more information on the Cramer and the SEA programs, here's their website: www.sea.edu

Rick and Beth took the Cramer's Swampscott dory for a spin in the afternoon back to our beach at Sandy Island, and headed back to the ship in the middle of one of the biggest squalls we've seen in months. They ended up tying up to Nancy D. to get their sailing rig up -- it was blowing too hard to row and get the rudder sorted out -- and then, whoo-hooo! they went screaming off in the wind and rain. They came back later in the inflatable once the squall blew over, and Rick said it had been an excellent freshwater shower.

That's been the most excitement I can report this week. We're back in Tyrell Bay, which has emptied out somewhat now that the latest regatta is over. I did laundry today. Whoo-hooo.

And here's this week's winning photo in the category: "With friends like these...."