We love to anchor out. Untying the dock lines, leaving the marina on Friday afternoon and dropping the hook is as good as it gets, at least for me. We spend the weekend working on boat projects, reading and napping, not necessarily in that order. When the kitty was younger, we anchored to keep him confined. He is a notorious escape artist so that when we visited other marinas and yacht clubs, we always had to spend at least one hour, and sometimes more, searching for the damn cat.

One time, in Sausalito, I looked over at the boat next to us and there was a man napping in his cockpit. The cat was there too, standing on the table gobbling up a forgotten hot dog. Several summers ago we were visiting friends at their dock on Bethel Island, and he just plain disappeared. We were on our way home from a week's vacation in the Delta and had to be at work the following day. We came within a skinny hair’s breath of leaving without him, but our friend Laurie found Noodles sleeping peacefully on his flying bridge.

These days the cat is older and doesn’t wander very far, but we are still in the habit of anchoring every chance we get. I don’t even have to go very far to achieve that ‘get away’ feeling, although a nice run up to China Camp is always welcome, in spite of the rising cost of diesel.

We always ask one or the other of our neighbors to join us. We have a big anchor and I like company. Rafting with boating friends is a fun way to spend a weekend. There is usually some kind of potluck and if not that, at least a happy hour to look forward to. But these days it seems difficult to entice people away from the dock. Mary is having intermittent problems with the engine on Shantung and Esther is replacing all of the hydraulic steering lines in her CHB, so both ladies are dock bound until their problems are solved.

I know my turn will come, but in the mean while, I’m taking advantage of the long days of summer and making my escape whenever possible. You see the most interesting things out on the water. The cormorants are very busy right now. Huge flocks work all day herding the bait fish into our tiny, secret cove. In the late afternoon the birds have a feeding frenzy and the little silver fishes splash across the surface like rain drops. There are two lazy harbor seals that follow the cormorants to take advantage of a free meal. We see them smiling at each other as they bob in and out of the action.

I actually know people who have never dropped their hook. It can be intimidating, but you rarely get in trouble with too much scope. Our friend Bob has a beautiful Cabo that has a virgin windlass and a never-touched-water anchor. Do you think he would notice if we replaced his windlass with a cardboard version that has been painted silver? I know Esther could use a hand raising her trusty Danforth, if she ever gets to leave the slip again.

Summer is short, get out there!