I sent the kids to shore with our garbage and they returned with a broken beach chair, which made a convenient paddleboard seat if you are a kid with tremendous balance. Reminded me so much of my childhood. About two blocks from my house when I was Lowe’s age there was “the dump” which was where my local suburban-construction-boom builders dumped their homebuilding junk, and everyone else who knew about the place covertly dumped the garbage they didn’t want their family, friends, and neighbors to see. For a seven to twelve year old it was about the greatest place on earth. There was always some treasure to be found.
Francis Bay is lush again. In June it was all brown, but a few months later the hills are alive again.
On our first night back in Francis a charter boat with a couple of families and kids picked up a nearby mooring ball. They came over a little later and said they were headed back home the next day and had severely overestimated how much booze and food they could consume in a week. Not being on any time schedule ourselves, we could easily help them with that problem. While the kids didn’t much care about the beer, rum, and bags of chips, they did appreciate the floaties. They spent the next few days working hard to destroy every one of them.
Lots of beautiful secluded spots to climb around.
Two reasons we love Francis Bay. One, while Maho Bay right next door is filled to the brim with charter boats, at Francis we are almost always on our own. Two, there are always turtles hanging out with us.
The kids shooting videos of their jumping exploits. Lowe dived head first off the bow for the first time. Took a bit of courage building, and ended with a good lesson, when he popped up after his tenth dive with, “It was so easy once I finally did it!” How many things in life work just like that?
The boat really needs a haul out and bottom paint. But for now instead of antifouling it’s muscle power keeping the bottom clean.
9 Comments on “Back at Francis Bay”
Wonderful memories ❣️ being made…magic REALLY! Goodonyas
Francis Bay, at night it was fun to shine the spotlight into the water. There were tons of big fish that would circle the light.
We lived near the Town dump, too. It was my Dad who always seemed to bring home more than he took there! We are such a wasteful society. They finally created a Put and Take area so useful items could be recycled!
Yes, and loads of give-away-recycle-repurpose sites out there now. We are still a bit old school and put it at the end of the driveway (when visiting family) with a FREE sign. It seems to always go somewhere. 🙂
We, too, are doing the scrape the bottom thing. A haul out and new bottom paint is not feasible during these COVID times. We’ve been doing that on our lake boat since the beginning because there’s no one on Lake Travis capable of hauling our boat out of the water. I’m sure both would love new bottom paint but, alas, another year.
I so enjoy following your adventures. We are loving living on our boat. Since Dorian destroyed Irie Joe Sr , Irie Joe Jr is not a charter boat. I guess we’re official cruisers now. Perhaps one day we’ll go somewhere. Currently we’re happy to explore uninhabited islands in the Berry Islands where our boat lives.
Always enjoy following your adventures.
You guys are awesome! So happy for you and Stephen. You guys had that cruiser vibe when we met you. Congrats on being “official cruisers” now! It’s a good life.
cleaned the hull of the cal 34 sloop many times at Francis bay. Such a bad job, lol. Brown and cold up nort here in MPLS. Grab a mooring at Marys point if you can. Awesome!
Ugh, MPLS… 🙂
Yes, Mary’s Point is good (not during the weekend, when the traffic thru that cut is too much). We prefer our Francis Bay spot and tie our dinghy up to Mary’s for snorkeling.
“They spent the next few days working hard to destroy every one of them.” lol, sounds about right! Kid Power!