At times the clear blue water boils with schools of tiny fish being chased by larger fish. When we came into the anchorage a few days ago I was in the bow getting ready to pick up the pendant for the mooring ball and a four foot barracuda was hanging in the shade of the mooring ball. I have not seen him since. A few times a day I am startled by sound of Pelicans diving so close to the boat that it sounds like some one just jumped in the water. This is not a wilderness anchorage; it is Francis Bay in Virgin Island National Park. There are many boats on mooring balls and the shoreline is dotted with tourists snorkeling and enjoying a perfect day at the beach. It is still lovely.

We have many friends in the mooring field, some we just met last night at an "End of the World" party and some like Chuck and Barb on Tusen Takk II, who we have known for years (5 ½ years). We have shared so many adventures with Chuck and Barb, from hiking in the Andes in Venezuela to a month off shore in the Venezuelan offshore islands. It is so nice to share this lovely place and holiday season with friends. We were delighted to see them come into the anchorage a few nights ago from a long day passage from St. Martin.

On Christmas Eve we plan to join the cruisers in a dingy raft up for cocktails and appetizers and perhaps Christmas carols. The big event on Christmas is the Christmas dinner at the Maho Bay Camp. Until then we will do our chores; today Hunter made an improvement on the water maker, he has been varnishing the cockpit, cleaning filters and is considering a toilet project. I have been stowing the stuff that accumulates in the aft berth in anticipation of guests, writing an article about coral and chasing rust on the stainless steel. We have been swimming everyday and today we both swam 1.3 miles in one hour. That is not a fast pace, but it feels good to swim.