At anchor Puerto Quillon
Weather: mostly sunny, mild

Last night I once again enjoyed the company of the Persimmons but in a different setting, namely a restaurant ashore. There were not a lot of restaurants to choose from, two according to a local source. We chose the closest one which for me was a bit of a disappointment, in particular I found the loud television sets blaring very intrusive and they took most of the pleasure out of the evening for me. The Persimmons seemed not to be bothered by it at all. Nonetheless a nice change.

Puerto Quilon is an interesting place, its main occupation seems to be fishing, in particular diving for shellfish.  The small pontoon wharf is a continuaous hive of activity with many small fishing vessels tied up to it, several boats deep.  Dinghies tie up to the inshore end of the pontoon under the bridge connecting it to the shore.  Today a southeasterly has been blowing which has set up a small sea into the harbour and the pontoon is a bit of a mess, especially where the dinghies tie up, several of the heavy old wooden dinghies tied up there were swamped, or maybe they just sunk ages ago.  Getting ashore proved a little hazardous with so many vessels large and small bouncing around against one another,   Surrounding the wharf are many more fishing vessels secured to moorings, with several boats rafted up together sharing a buoy.  Other fishing vessels line te shoreline, the tide leaving them high and dry as it recedes.  A couple of small shipyards are at the far end of the bay, each with several boats in various states of repair.  One seems to look after the wooden boats while the other has mainly larger steel craft.

Ashore the atmosphere of activity continues in a no frills workmanlike manner.  Everything looks a little depressed, streets and footpaths are poorly maintained, most of the small shops and houses need a coat of paint, open air markets occupy dirt courtyards.  There is a gritty feel to the whole place.  It appeals to me.  It looks like a place trying to make a simple and honest living. 

Today was a store ship day. Thankfully there is one large modern supermarket in town in which I found a most important commodity, cat litter.  Expensive!  If BC only knew how much it costs us everytime he visits his bano.

Persimmon will be departing in the morning but I intend to stay anther day. Most importantly I need to change the engine oil, tomorrow’s job.

All is well.

Bob Cat:

We have barely moved for over 24 hours, something is wrong. I do not trust such a long period of immobility. The skipper has been spending long periods off the boat. My private space smells very sweet all of a sudden.  I could almost feel anxious about such sudden changes to my environment, but it would take a bit more than this to interrupt my … zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.