One late afternoon I was sitting in the cockpit reading my book when I heard, "you gotta know when to hold'm, know when to fold'm" sung with a West Indian accent. The song was being sung by one of the West Indian boat boys as he rowed his tiny rowboat around the anchorage selling his wares. Imagine the Kenny Rogers song being sun to a Reggae beat and you will be getting close to what I experienced. Also last week I spent close to four hours underwater scrubbing the bottom of the boat on two separate days. Normally I have been able to clean the bottom in one dive of about two hours. But the bottom eas so fouled this time it took me twice as long. After getting out of the water the second day I heard something in my right ear. I tilted my head and no water seemed to come out. So I stuck my little finger in it and found something there, it was a small crab. First time I've ever had that happen. The harbor filled up last week so we had a lot of OAR vs. NAR battles to watch. Which was interesting. The influx of boats was due to folks coming here for the oldest workboat regatta in the Caribbean and the benefit for the Carriacou Childrens Education Fund.

Pam and I volunteered to help with the benefit and on the day of the auction we worked selling items on what we called the "bargain table". Yesterday we found out what the final tally was and all together on that one day the benefit talled more money than they ever have in their eleven year history. Basically this whole thing is put on by cruisers and most of the money and donated items come from the cruisers. It was a good time for a good cause.

Well what is called the Cape Verde part of hurricane season officially started late last week when a tropical low came rumbling across the Atlantic. This is the worst part of hurricane season for the eastern Caribbean. So, we all were tapping every weather resource that we had at our disposal to track what eventually became Tropical Storm Emily. Fortunately for all of us, Emily decided to spare us by traveling far enough north that we had little effect from her. With the start of the Cape Verde season we hope to move further south tomorrow. So, if all goes well we will be going to St. Georges, Grenada tomorrow where we hope to taken in the sites and sounds of their Carnival which starts next week. Stay tuned for a possible Carnival report.