Today was ultra mellow. Lazy start to the day without any alarms, a casual breakfast with coffee in the cockpit, a swim sesh for Casey, and a short 8 mile run to Two Harbors. Despite the short trip, Craig still managed to repair the mount on Zubie’s motor while we were underway. All in all, it was somewhat unremarkable up until we started to check out potential spots to drop the anchor.

Casey was at the helm and I was explaining how we drive around and use the depth sounder to check out the area and find a good spot. Suddenly she screamed, “Ow! Fuck!” and then flicked a bee off her hip and right at me. Normally I would start freaking out about the bee in my vicinity, despite everyone’s best admonishments to stay calm. There was no time for that today because Casey had already told us that she is allergic to bee stings. But Casey (impressively) remained calm, I took the wheel, and she gave herself a double dose of Benadryl. She was back on deck before Craig ever knew what happened.

Allergies and injuries are a huge concern for trips like this. We try to keep a stocked med kit on board but I think we were all glad that we were close to shore and could get help quickly if needed. Luckily, Casey is a-okay and felt no ill effects from the sting. Like I said. Nobody panic.

In less distressing news, we had an experience that felt like a real cruiser moment. We took Zubie to shore to do some exploring. As we landed on the dinghy dock another boat with a couple of guys pulls up. Standard chit chat ensues and out of left field Craig says, “This is gonna sound really weird, but does one of you have an Uncle Paul?” Well Todd said yes and it turns out his Uncle Paul worked with Craig in Newport Beach. Todd and his buddies are in a sailboat headed to Mexico any day so this is potentially not the last we will see of them.

So the lessons of the day are that bees will sting you even unprovoked and that it’s a small world after all.