Boat Duties

Once a year we have to spend one full night at the marina "guarding" the boats and making sure there aren't any break-ins or suspicious activities. We try to get a night that is as close to the solstice as it is quite enjoyable to watch the summer sky as darkness really does not fall right now. This is how things looked when we arrived at 11.45 p.m.This year, 3 wonderful young people from church joined us, thinking that an outing such as this would be exciting! Here's the crew ready for action!We think that for them, any excuse to stay up all night was a good enough reason to join us on night duty! Little had changed in the night sky by 12.30.Tanner loves this night too. He gets to be off the leash all night and he runs in and out of the water, chasing all manner of water fowl, swimming, rolling in the grass, and running after other animals that might appear in the boat yard!
Doug and William tried to catch some fish. No luck but look at the reflection off the water! I take pictures and enjoy the view. With the extra company this year, we played a card game where the rules were a bit unclear to me until almost the end which explained why I was losing so badly!
Every so often you are supposed to make rounds around the marina. Usually you have to take photographs, but the camera was broken so every hour or so one or two of us walked the marina checking for the bad guys. What's so funny is that by 3.00 a.m. it's totally light outside so there's no real imminent threat!
It was a gorgeous night and the moon was shining brightly in the twilight sky.

At about 3.00 the horizon lightened considerably and by 3.30 it was all day light once again.Our harbor is situated in such a way that you can't see the sun break over the horizon. At one point, William climbed up on top of the mast holder and was taking a peak out over the landscape. I climbed up half way at about 4.30 and found a lovely view.Check out the mist on the water around 4.30 a.m.

This was the scene at 4.30. Day had fully broken and the morning was breathtaking. The sun was warm and the promise of a wonderful summer day awaited us.

Tanner still has plenty of life left in him even after only sleeping for about 30 minutes the entire night! The morning was so gorgeous that we decided to drive the kids home in our boat! At 6.15 a.m. we loaded up the boat and headed out. It was still and quiet and amazing.By the end of the morning, this is how we all felt!Our night watch had ended and we had enjoyed an early morning ride. The night has been amazingly beautiful and sharing it with the young people from our church who were incredibly helpful and enjoyable to be with. In Swedish, this guard night at the marina is called our Guard Duty. This is one duty that I definitely don't mind, although admittedly, it takes me awhile to recover from a night with little sleep. I guess it feels like jet lag, which is definitely something I'm used to but this time, the way in which I got the jet leg was much more fun than flying in a cramped airplane with bad air and food!Pulling back into the harbor at 10.00 ready for a day off and nap!