Last night was a spectacle on very many fronts.  It was a warm night; the second which we’ve left our windows open and down comforters off and an extreme low tide.  According to Dad, it was -4ft (shouldn’t that be meters?) at 7:29pm.  The rumour mill, operating from a number of VERY drunk Canadians (British Columbians, to be specific :) ) was that 100 kilos of shrimp had been caught.  A shrimp frenzy took over; people were getting progressively drunker and pushing rye, red wine and beer on those of us content with our level of alcohol already taken in, and people milled about at the boat ramp ready to pounce with fistfulls of $20’s on the poor shrimpermen as they arrived.  We watched pangas run to and from the shrimp boats and marina and tried to guess what panga was going where and what truck would be pulling which panga up on the shore.  Tide was WAY out, it was dark, trucks were way out on the beach, music blared from one of the drunk BC’ers trailer and everyone dreamed of the shrimp to come.  It was a shock to me; I’ve always been worried when we pull into a campsite that people we shrink away in horror at the noise and commotion which must accompany a family with small children, but these "old fogies" were dedicated to partying the night away and from my observations, they partied pretty hearty.

We heard this morning that they took 380 kilos to the Coop - this doesn’t include the "keys" sold to the very drunk, very raucous, very desperate to purchase Canadians and Americans lining the ramp throwing fistfulls of $20 at the shrimpermen when they came in at 10:30pm.  Mike figures they brought in 400 kilos of shrimp.  It was quite a night.

Morning dawned warm and bright (hot and bright for some) and the tide was WAY out again.  We took the kids out and we walked the beach and combed for "roadkill" - we found 2 crabs and one large clam.  It is lunchtime and Ellen is still not ready to cook her clam.  Soon after the tide started coming back in a fog came in with it and we’ve been socked in all day.  Tide is high now and fog has finally receded.  The day seems upside down; tide was out in the morning and it is way in this afternoon.  We have two shrimp boats in the bay and they are so fascinating with their nets spread wide.  They look like something you’d find in the South Seas.  As I type this, my back is baked by the sun, waves are crashing no more than 10ft away, my feet are covered in sweet sand and the kids are frolicking on the beach.  If that isn’t enough to hate me, I’m not sure what is.  :)