CURRENT LOCATION: Anchored in Mosquito Cove, just outside the entrance to Jolly Harbour, Antigua
17 04.505' N, 061 53.541' W

We have been working on a For Sale website, which will list all of the books, charts, guides, equipment, spare parts, and whatknot we currently have aboard Prudence. Upon completion, the site will provide pictures and descriptions of everything, along with some very reasonable asking prices. The site is still in rough-draft form, and will not be posted until June. Yet, even before this masterpiece of marketing is complete, we are already crossing one item off the list ... our kayaks.

A gentleman named Ciaran sent us an e-mail recently inquiring about the kayaks. An Irishman who moved to Antigua just a few months ago, he had discovered our blog and had read that we were going to be selling off everything. With the kayaks so prominently featured throughout our blog, I suppose additional advertisement was unnecessary.

Today we towed them in behind Patience to the marina dinghy dock and met Ciaran. After a quick inspection, he was more than willing to meet our asking price. We deflated them right there on the dock and folded them one last time into their storage bags. It was with a slightly heavy heart that we watched them being loaded up and driven away. We have had some great times in those little vessels.

Logic, though, dictates that we take advantage of such an offer. While inflated, the kayaks take up a fair amount of space on the foredeck. When deflated and stowed, I lose leg room beneath the table on my side of the salon and it becomes impossible to convert that berth into a bed. The absence of the kayaks means that we reclaim this space as our own. More space in the salon, and the ability to create a spacious midship bunk, will certainly make our upcoming long offshore trip that much more comfortable.

We will miss the kayaks, but are happy that they will continue to enjoy the warm waters of the Caribbean long after we have departed. For us, they were the tickets to some fine memories. Two of our favorite pictures capture just a snapshot of that abundant mental imagery:

This photo was taken in The Baths at Culebrita in the 'Spanish Virgin Islands'. We had nearly completed our circumnavigation of the island when we saw a break in the rocks. The waves were surging over into a still pond of water. After a small debate about the wisdom of trying to enter, we each timed our crossing over the rocks to ride one of the surges.

This photo was taken on Loyalist Beach at Warderick Wells Cay in the Exuma island chain of the Bahamas. We had just started our circumnavigation of that island. Despite our fatigue from recent passages, we took advantage of the settled weather conditions to experience the banks side and the sound side of the Exumas in a manner which can only be done by kayak.