We are departing either today or tomorrow to Rum Cay. The diving here was a little disappointing- many of the reefs were silted over with sand and there were not many fish. Patrick swam through surf on the other side of the island a couple of days ago while I stayed out in the dinghy. It was too rough to take the dinghy, and probably even a person to the shore. Patrick spyed a fuel tank, brand new, on shore, that he had to have. So he braved the crashing waves to get it. He walked the whole shore and found lots of goodies, including lots of mooring balls, jugs, and a brand new volleyball. He couldn't bring everything back, against the waves and expect to hold on to them all, so he chose the fuel can, and the volleyball. The fuel can ended up having a very small hole in it, so it is on its way back to a dumpster on the next island. The volleyball is in great shape and will make a great trade to a lobsterman down the road who has a young son or daughter with a birthday coming up. ( and 2 big lobster in his boat)

The wind picked up yesterday that made it uncomfortable to dive, and its been a little cold with the cold front that went through several days ago. Yesterday we made it a work day instead of going outside and/or in thew water...it was just too chilly at just over 70 degrees outside. Patrick rewired the stern anchor light to come to the master panel rather than to our berth, and cleaned out one of the water tanks since we just emptied it and there seems to be some algae or the like growing in it. Our cheapo water filter seems to be doing a good job though because we drink freely out of the tanks, and not only does the water taste good, we haven't died yet! I cleaned house, and polished the metal outside. If we don't leave today, I may start in on some desperately needed woodwork, or possibly rewire the battery monitor in a different way. I love the days we play - I also like the days we lay low and get things done around the "house". I made some cupcakes yesterday, but the batter never rose. I divided the mix in to thirds and I'm wondering if the yeast part of it was in the other 2/3 of the bag that I saved for next time. Or maybe the whole mix was just old and the yeast lost its effectiveness. They still taste good though, so no harm. And its good I only made 6 cupcakes, because I cant save them for very long- they become actual meals for me which isnt too good! We had a great meal of potato salad(the last of the potatoes), green salad (yes I still have good lettuce after almost a month), and cracked conch. (I didn't beat it as much this time, and it was definitely chewier, but not bad at all) We ate our last 2 fresh eggs yesterday morning, so now its all carton eggs. We are down to powdered milk now rather than our Parmalat. I think we are on our last carton of orange juice. I cut in to our last red pepper and our last cucumber last night. Plenty of lettuce and carrots left though. Its still amazing to me that the lettuce is lasting so long. Its the package of 3 romaine heads that Dole outs out! They must spray some amazing preservatives on those!!! Lettuce should only last a week at the most on a boat - but its been just about a month now!

I found out yesterday through email that I may have a lot more aggravation than I though to maintain my real estate license while I'm gone so I was up last night trying to come up with solutions. I took all the required classes to be sure I could renew the license online in April. Now they tell me they are going to require a new class to be taken in order to be renewed, and they don't think they are going to put it online. Its a Rhode Island class, so I couldn't even take it while in Key West in a few months. So its either fly back to Rhode Island to take one lousy class to keep this license that I worked so hard for up, or just let it all go and start over again when I get back. Its about the same financially, but I'm not sure which one would be more work...maintaining it over the next few years with online classes, etc, or just taking the whole thing again- classes, studying, tests, paying initiation fees and taking new agent classes. Oh well, could have worse problems right?

I've been getting some nice feedback from the article that I wrote in Blue Water Sailing Magazine for February. Thank you everyone! Its about Communications onboard Brick House- one of which is this web site! Thank you for your compliments! Maybe someday I will see the article in print - for that matter, maybe someday I will see the January edition on our Electronics!

See you in Rum Cay tomorrow or the next day!