We would like to wish our family and friends a happy healthy and prosperous New Year! "May the best of last year be the worst of this year"..........I heard this toast in the lobby of Sadie Thompson's Inn. Sadie was a famous "escort girl" in the 40s-50s. Apparently she was run out of Hawaii and showed up here in the late 30s. She rented a room at the local "flop house" (the building which now has her name) which was occupied by mostly missionaries, and started plying her trade. Thanks to the war and Sadies appetite for business, she soon bought the entire building, booted the holy rollers and set up her "house of ill repute". It was a favorite watering hole for the sailors to unwind and relax.

I just wanted to let everyone know we are OK and STILL HERE in what Otis has nicknamed "American Shit Hole-ah". We actually had a decent Christmas. Santa was able to find us again and actually had the luxury of entering Indy through the main salon doors this year, as Sam was adamant that Santa was too fat to make it down the hatches! After we did the usual morning stocking stuffers and gift opening celebration, we headed to the beach at Tisa's Barefoot Beach Hotel. Ben & Sam really enjoy the beach there and Otis and I like Tisa the owner and her son Jason. They held a pot luck with open grille, which suited us fine given the heat, it was perfect to hang out on the beach, snack on cold salads and not have to cook.

We have cleared out and are scheduled to leave here tomorrow morning for Neiafu Tonga. Our original plan was to stop for a few days t Niuatopatapu "New Potoatoes" but we have since found out the island was devastated by the Tsunami, 2 of the three villages were wiped out. Since we have seen enough of the devastation here we felt we should just push on. Have no idea what Neiafu is like but Otis assures me it is "relatively safe" during cyclone season. So that is our plan for now, I will write more once we have something different to report other than here.

Otis spent New Years Eve giving the blog a "facelift", he downloaded and organized a bunch of new photos and labeled a few. He has assured me he will be taking the photos more seriously going forward. Not too bad Otis, considering it has only taken 2.5 years and 10,000 miles! Unfortunately we discovered we are missing most of the Caribbean photos from Bahamas to Venezuela due to a crashed hard drive we still have to send away to get the info recovered. Enjoy and Happy New Year!