Potluck, Bocce Ball and Bonfire

Yesterday afternoon we joined the beach party. It was just a short distance from our dock. Rich made a pasta salad with Mexican pepperoni and salami. Adam and Cindy as well as the crew from Moma brought their Bocce Ball sets.

The last time we played Bocce Ball was when we crossed the South Pacific 10 years ago so we were a little rusty, or at least I was. I am not very good at any game or sport involving spherical objects moving in space and this was no exception. For this game, we divided into four teams of two persons each, each team having a pair of marked wooden balls about 4 inches in diameter, one per person. The game starts with one of the eight persons throwing a smaller, white wooden ball called a pellegrino either onto the grass or the sand of the beach from a predetermined line. The object of the game is to position at least one of your team's balls as close as possible to the pellegrino. Hitting it counts as a point as well. If both of your team's balls are the closest of all then your team gets two points otherwise just one for the closest. We played until one team reached 11 points. Now in most cases my ball was either too long or too short due to my limitation mentioned above but my team member, Adam helped make sure we were not skunked. Rich and his team member, Scott had an early lead but another team won. We were all entertained.

After the rousing game we grabbed our folding chairs and enjoyed the potluck. We met Paul and Judy of SV Grace, another boat from Seattle as well as some other cruisers. There was only 20 of us but there was plenty of food. Cruisers rarely come empty handed to any potluck.

The folks at the marina had some wood and brush piled up for our bonfire on the beach. At first it was a roaring blaze which felt good against the cool night breeze. The only downside was a gringo who was walking the beach and did not approve of our bonfire and threaten to contact the local police. I am not sure what his issue was as there was nothing and no one in any danger and we had a water hose just in case it was needed. Maybe he was mad that he was not invited or maybe he was from some nanny state and felt we were breaking some rule. Needless to say we ignored him and enjoyed our bonfire.

Mexico, you gotta love it.