Charleston, SC

0 nm
Wind: 15 knots

We took an old-fashioned trail zero day, today. Zero nautical miles. We didn’t even go to shore—we took a little row in the dinghy, Karl went for a swim, we did a bunch of work on the boat. I made jambalaya for dinner, or so I called it, because it had the remnants of sausage pasta sauce and crab bisque in it. Karl spent all day scrubbing our water line and beginning to clean our teak toe-rail, so he’s snoring over on the settee right now. I’m listening to my favorite Belle and Sebastian CD and hoping I can finish writing before the computer battery dies. I’ve already killed the inverter.

It’s nice to be able to take zero days because we want to and not because we have to huddle inside from the weather. It was a gorgeous day today, sunny, beautiful, probably seventy degrees. Too nice a day to sail. Not really, but a great day for enjoying the pleasures of the harbor. I couldn’t believe Karl actually went for a swim, swung out over the water on a halyard, no less. I wish I had got a picture.

We did get a picture of the egret that came to visit. I was working on our navigation system, when Karl whispered from the cockpit, “Look up now, but don’t say anything.” I peeked up slowly and quietly and see a skinny white head with a long orange beak peeking back at me. When it saw me it pulled its head back, shy, but then it got curious again and peeked back down. It stood there for about five minutes, investigating our hatch door and us. Karl would have fed it one of our 800 cans of sardines if it hadn’t left.

It would have been a perfect day except for our mosquito infestation. Right at dusk, when we were still watching the sunset and before we turned on the lights, I started to notice swarms of insects gathering in the boat. It wasn’t until I turned on the light that I saw the hundreds of mosquitoes collected on our ceiling. Why they were trying to suck the fiberglass boat and not us, I have no idea. I did get a few bites, but not nearly as many as I should have. They’re still swarming around the light from the computer. I have no idea either what mosquitoes are doing alive in January, but I suppose it’s only to be expected when there’s warm enough weather to go swimming.