Category: Lake

Unos momentos desde mi Cinco de Mayo.

Hola!  Happy Cinco de Mayo.  Before I forget, I want to post this shot that I took yesterday.   I took it with my waterproof camera from the kayak, so I wasn’t able to upload it until today.   This is Nirvana and Sapphire at anchor.    Pretty boats.

Rafted up in Arky South.
Rafted up in Arky South.

Today I paddled completely around Arky South cove.  I enjoy paddling.  But I like, even more, cruising along the shore for found objects.   Today’s haul: 4 plastic bobbers, 1 popper jig, 1 croppie tube jig, and 2 nice docklines with spliced loops.

Then we pulled up the anchor and sailed for several hours.  We sailed along with Kalliopi (with Nick and his kids on-board) for a while.  Then we turned around and caught a glimpse of Lori, Joe, Wally and Kelly on Camelot, with her newly raised 150 whomper jib.  I think Lori’s getting serious now, ever since Nirvana beat Camelot in a beer can a couple weeks ago. 🙂

On the way home, we saw this guy riding along 620.   Amazing.   It appears to be direct drive, no evidence of a chain.   And, I have no idea how he stops / dismounts this thing – that front tire is about 5′ in diameter.

Lance, is that you?f
Lance, is that you?

And, now back home, we are celebrating Cinco de Mayo with Julie.  Salud!

Made by the master.
Made by the master.

At anchor.

Saturday!!  This is likely the last weekend before our dock becomes disconnected from shore, power and water. Lake Travis is low and dropping.  😦    This guy was guarding E dock when we arrived.

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We anchored up in Arky south again.  Rory and Greg arrived on Sapphire and joined us after a couple hours.   We have the kayak stored in the slip now so it’s easy to bring it out with us.  This is its first outing of 2013.  Many more to come.

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‘Tis Tuesday.

We have another niece visiting us this week.  Rachel and Monte went out to the lake and sailed for a few hours.  Then Julie and I joined them about 4 o’clock.  We sailed around for a couple more hours.  Then got a great table at the Oasis.  And surprisingly enjoyed the appies that we ordered.  The view of sunset was awesome, as usual.  Very, very nice!

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Another Sunday on the lake.

We went to the lake this beautiful Sunday afternoon. Julie joined us and jumped in. The first one this year. Water temps are still in the 60’s! We brought the kayak out and will try stowing it in the slip. Eliminates some schlepping!
Nick joined us in Arky cove on kalliopi. Then we ate dinner at shades with all the regulars.
Some wisdom from above the bar … I sure can’t wait for Friday to come around again!

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For the birds.

We anchored in Arky south last night. It was chilly, in the 40s, so we hunkered below. This morning we lounged around until the wind filled in, then went for a sail. We beat upwind all the way to Bee Creek. We dropped sail and motored up the creek until it got too shallow. The big wide basin where we’ve rafted up in the past is just a twisty creek now. 20′ deep where we turned around.
On the way out of the cove we turned the motor off and ate lunch as the wind nudged us back out to the lake.
Another lovely day on Nirvana.
On the sail home this row of birdhouses high on a ridge caught my eye. What a great spot for a birds eye view.

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Home court.

We made it to the lake today in time to race the Beercan. We got a late start, and crossed the starting line about 2 minutes late. But we caught up with the field. In time to come in third out of five!! Woot woot!
We headed to arky and put out an anchor and are waiting for the riff-raff to show up.
Lovely sunset.

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Wisdom found on a lake house wall.

This week has been jam-packed.  I seem to be playing catch up from the minute I wake up in the wee hours of the morning.  I’m doing my last meeting from the car this afternoon as we are heading out of town for the weekend.  Lori’s birthday party is tomorrow, and tonight we’re staying with Marty & Sue at a beautiful lake house on Lake LBJ.  This place is fantastic.  When I grow up I want one just like it. 🙂

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A look back in time.

I was looking through some of my old pics, and found this one that I took 3 years ago today.   The lake was at 681′.  Today it is at 630′.   I sure wish it would rain…..

Lake Travis @ 681' 3/26/2010
Lake Travis @ 681′ 3/26/2010

 

Comet!

Comet PANSTARRS over Lake Travis.
Comet PANSTARRS over Lake Travis.

We were successful tonight!  The comet is definitely not as bright as it must have been just a few days ago.  I have seen some really clear pictures of it taken from Austin.  But, now that it is a bit higher in the sky, it sets later and so it may be easier to make out after the sun has set.  But it is definitely faint.  We drove out to Iguana Grill as the sun was setting.  I think we spotted it around 8:25pm, or about 50 minutes after sunset.  I was not able to see it with my naked eye.  We brought binoculars, and I was able to see it pretty clearly through those.   I used a 3-5 second exposure on my camera and was able to catch it faintly.  Can you see it to the left of the waxing cresent moon?
My first comet shot!

Mercurial Mercury.

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Last night Mercury was at the farthest distance from the sun that it so quickly follows over the horizon.  It is usually not visible; its glow being washed out by the sun.  But for the next few nights you can catch a glimpse of Mercury low in the west, just before it sets about an hour after the sun.

This is a shot I took as we were leaving the marina tonight.  It’s hard to see.  Look left of center above the horizon.

For Susanne.

These are a few shots of the Full Wolf Moon from last night, shot from Nirvana.  It’s challenging to get a photo of a full moon, with a point and shoot camera, from a boat. 🙂  But it was beautiful!

Full Wolf moon.
Full Wolf moon.

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Good morning.

On the hook.
On the hook.

Since the water is too cold, noone will be taking the usual photo-from-a-distance of the boats on the raftup.  This one from the cockpit will have to serve.  Port to starboard:  Zen, Nirvana & Sapphire.

For the birds.

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Feeding the gulls.

We rafted up tonight with Kurt & Wally, on Zen, and Rory & Greg on Sapphire.  We were all anchored up before sunset.  So we amused ourselves by feeding the seagulls that were flying around the cove.  These birds must be migratory, because they are not here when the weather warms up.

Well, we started with one or two flying around.  Kurt was tossing them pieces of bread.  Before long it was starting to look like a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.

This is one of the shots I captured as they were swooping down to pick up the tidbits.

January sky.

A lovely day.
A lovely day.

Monte, Julie and I hit the lake today.  It was a nice day, no wind to speak of, but sunny – temps in the low 70s.  We motored to Arky South, anchored and played rummy for a bit.

Dinner at Chuy’s.

A new Downton Abbey episode tonight.

Good day, indeed.