I was over in Newport News today and stopped by the Bass Pro Shops to check camping and fishing gear. I picked up a couple of heater meals, self heating meals that run about $6 each. We always carry two of the meals on board for cruises - this time I got "mushroom gravy, mashed potatoes and beef" and "green pepper steak with rice." The meals come in very handy on days like day two when we got to Punch Island Creek (I love that name) with a forecast of one inch of rain. The rain wasn't there yet but could arrive anytime so we set up part of the boom tent (above) just to be ready.
Below is a photo of the boom tent looking out over Robinson Creek where we anchored for the night. With the tent up we did not want to light up the stove, but we did want a nice hot meal. Perfect time for dinner in a box.
We opened the Heater Meals, put the meals in the heater bag (that contains a pad with a reactive chemical) and added water. After ten minutes of steaming away they were ready to eat. Add a cup of fruit and you've got a great meal. Quick, convenient and (after a long day on the water) they taste pretty good. Those particular meals had been on the boat for probably two or three cruises - they are "good" for about two years. I'll seal these new ones in plastic bags and they'll be tucked away in the thwarts with the rest of the food.
The rain came in later that evening and I have no doubt we got the full inch of predicted rain. That was fine. We were dry and comfortable under the tent and in the waterproof bivy's. Below is a photo from the start of day two, a crisp clear morning, you can see Spartina tied up at the dock behind Ruke's at Smith Island. Quite the contrast to the grey evening with dark clouds moving in twelve hours later. But I enjoyed both morning and evening. The constantly changing weather is one of the joys of cruising.
Speaking of weather we did have a minor heat wave of 40 degrees yesterday. I got out and sanded all the epoxy work I did on the rub rains and coaming. Now I just need to wait for the next heat wave to do some varnish work.
We opened the Heater Meals, put the meals in the heater bag (that contains a pad with a reactive chemical) and added water. After ten minutes of steaming away they were ready to eat. Add a cup of fruit and you've got a great meal. Quick, convenient and (after a long day on the water) they taste pretty good. Those particular meals had been on the boat for probably two or three cruises - they are "good" for about two years. I'll seal these new ones in plastic bags and they'll be tucked away in the thwarts with the rest of the food.
The rain came in later that evening and I have no doubt we got the full inch of predicted rain. That was fine. We were dry and comfortable under the tent and in the waterproof bivy's. Below is a photo from the start of day two, a crisp clear morning, you can see Spartina tied up at the dock behind Ruke's at Smith Island. Quite the contrast to the grey evening with dark clouds moving in twelve hours later. But I enjoyed both morning and evening. The constantly changing weather is one of the joys of cruising.
Speaking of weather we did have a minor heat wave of 40 degrees yesterday. I got out and sanded all the epoxy work I did on the rub rains and coaming. Now I just need to wait for the next heat wave to do some varnish work.steve
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