Today, I played hooky (skipped work) and went sailing with some close friends. I figured I worked hard on this proposal all month and this is an opportunity I could not miss coz I don't know anyone who owns a sailboat (except from my boss but I don't think he would ever invite us onto his sailboat). Although, I am terrified of water (bad experience as a child), this was a chance to be on a beautiful new sailboat and it was hard to pass up esp. since my good friend had asked me if I wanted to go in front of my best friend and my daughter! Those two were so into the idea that they totally ignored the fact that I am terrified of water. But I figured this might be a good time to conquer my fear and have a relaxing day out on the water. My friend, CJ, picked us up early in the morning (7.30am) because we were suppose to meet his friends at the Point Roberts docks at 8.30am. We didn't have a chance to have breakfast coz it was so early and I usually eat breakfast around 8.30 or 9.00am so I was not hungry just yet (our mistake). As we drove into Point Roberts, I was a bit worried that Kay and I didn't have passports and they would not allow us to enter but we went in with no problems. We stopped by the super market to pick up some BBQ items and crab bait. After we picked up our items, we headed to the docks. His friend was running a bit late (almost 20 minutes late!) and Rhoda had just realized that she had left her Canadian passport in the women's washroom! Lucky for her, it was still there, phew that was close! Wished I had thought of having her pick up some snacks, all I had in my bag were four blueberry muffins. We got to their sailboat and I thought at first it looked kind of small and wondered how 6 adults and a child was going to fit on there. But I found out that it was in fact quite a good size boat and it is brand new, they had just purchased this boat in March. As we left the piers, I was getting a little bit nervous and boy was there every right to be! We had picked up some good wind (18 knots) and were sailing to our destination! The boat was tipped over on its side and we were traveling pretty fast! Rhoda and Kay both got a turn to sail the boat, boy did it ever look fun! Although it is a lot of work and can be quite demanding and knowing which way to catch the wind. We managed to sail most of the way to our destination and we did hit a bit of a rough current but our captain did a good job steering us through it. CJ wanted "scenery" which ended up not being too great for crabbing but it was beautiful and quiet. Sailing can be a bit boring though if you are waiting or if you are just sitting on the water. But we saw some beautiful scenery and we manage to find a capsized boat, apparently there was a story about in the local news and it's been there for a while. I got a couple shots of the boat and boy is it HUGE. We were floating around the area as we had thrown crab nets in the water and we had to wait at least 45 minutes before taking them out of the water to check for crabs.
We didn't get to eat until almost 3 pm and gosh were the girls ever slightly b*tchy. It seemed that the boys did have a bit of breakfast before getting onto the boat so they were holding out fine. CJ insisted on catching enough crab for everyone before starting the BBQ and we girls didn't understand why he could not start the other BBQ items that we had picked up in the store! We also had to wait for the water to boil on top of the BBQ which took a long time because the owner of the boat did not have the boat's stove hooked up! Gosh, it was quite an experience! I had never had to wait so long to eat and boy my tummy was not handling it too well. Once the water started to boil, the guys dropped them in and it was basically "cleaning" the crabs for frying (apparently, we just could not boil them and eat them, he had to fry them in the wok with oil and seasonings), CJ accidentally used dish washing liquid instead of cooking oil to fry up the first batch of crabs which were most of them!!! This meant we now had to wait even longer to eat!!! Can you feel our hunger pains?!?!
Now, Rhoda and Kay were not too pleased to find out that the crabs were ruined and CJ quickly fried the two remaining crabs and he also brought some shrimps to fry up for us. (Frozen prawns) When you are starving, any food is good food. Although I will say it wasn't too bad but Chinese cooks do seafood much differently than North Americans. After the prawns and the crab, I insisted he grilled the chicken breast that we picked up in the store as the prawns/crab were def. not enough for me. Kay and Rhoda had a bit and the rest of the chicken was distributed to the rest of the guys. We decided to call it a day, no more crabbing and we all were quite tired and it was getting a little bit chilly. We were a little disappointed that we did not get much sun although it seemed to have come out once we docked. Rhoda and Kay were hoping to get a tan and CJ's friend, C was hoping to jump into the water for a swim. Overall, it was quite an experience and def. conquered a bit of my fear for water. I think the next step is to get myself onto a yacht. I wonder if HonHon would buy us a yacht??? Those are beautiful and I would def. not mind being on the water if we had one of those.
Once we got home, I was ready to go to bed as the next day, I was off to work. We all def. felt pretty relaxed and enjoyed the day!
We didn't get to eat until almost 3 pm and gosh were the girls ever slightly b*tchy. It seemed that the boys did have a bit of breakfast before getting onto the boat so they were holding out fine. CJ insisted on catching enough crab for everyone before starting the BBQ and we girls didn't understand why he could not start the other BBQ items that we had picked up in the store! We also had to wait for the water to boil on top of the BBQ which took a long time because the owner of the boat did not have the boat's stove hooked up! Gosh, it was quite an experience! I had never had to wait so long to eat and boy my tummy was not handling it too well. Once the water started to boil, the guys dropped them in and it was basically "cleaning" the crabs for frying (apparently, we just could not boil them and eat them, he had to fry them in the wok with oil and seasonings), CJ accidentally used dish washing liquid instead of cooking oil to fry up the first batch of crabs which were most of them!!! This meant we now had to wait even longer to eat!!! Can you feel our hunger pains?!?!
Now, Rhoda and Kay were not too pleased to find out that the crabs were ruined and CJ quickly fried the two remaining crabs and he also brought some shrimps to fry up for us. (Frozen prawns) When you are starving, any food is good food. Although I will say it wasn't too bad but Chinese cooks do seafood much differently than North Americans. After the prawns and the crab, I insisted he grilled the chicken breast that we picked up in the store as the prawns/crab were def. not enough for me. Kay and Rhoda had a bit and the rest of the chicken was distributed to the rest of the guys. We decided to call it a day, no more crabbing and we all were quite tired and it was getting a little bit chilly. We were a little disappointed that we did not get much sun although it seemed to have come out once we docked. Rhoda and Kay were hoping to get a tan and CJ's friend, C was hoping to jump into the water for a swim. Overall, it was quite an experience and def. conquered a bit of my fear for water. I think the next step is to get myself onto a yacht. I wonder if HonHon would buy us a yacht??? Those are beautiful and I would def. not mind being on the water if we had one of those.
Once we got home, I was ready to go to bed as the next day, I was off to work. We all def. felt pretty relaxed and enjoyed the day!
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