Thought I would send a note to let you know that I have not fallen off the face of the earth and it is not flat, as suggested by my cuz Jim. As before, I haven't written since there hasn't seemed to be much going on. But it has been a while so upon reflection, there are a few tidbits you might find noteworthy.

I just returned from the trip north to Burlington and had a wonderful time with Nikki. I was supposed to return to KW last night, but the airline gods were not with me, so I stayed another day in Burlington at the last minute. That was fabulous, and Nikki is returning to KW this Friday to spend 10 days, so we are getting to spend some quality time together. We are planning to head to the Dry Tortuga's as I had mentioned before, and I am going to put Nikki to work helping me install the new solar panels in a more permanent location. They are on the foredeck right now and that is not a good place for them, both from a stand point of safety and security (I am going to step on them or drop something on them sooner or later) as well as performance - they are always partially shaded by the mast and the mainsail and therefore don't produce as well as they should. Lots of snorkeling and relaxing planned while she is here. Nikki returns to VT the 27th and I plan to start the trek north the following day.

My friend Rolanda and her friend Kathy are planning to be sailing down here from the 25th through the 30th on an all women's sailing outing, and we are going to try to meet up at some point. Let me think about this - all women and I am going to be the only man. That could be really good or really bad! ;-)

Jenni and Kristin were here for a week and we celebrated their birthdays. They were trying to talk me into getting a tattoo with them to commemorate the fantastic time we had together. I am not opposed to it, and in fact will probably do it some day if I am moved, but nothing came to mind at the time. We had an interesting time together. Spent a lot of time on Duval St. (party time!) and Mallory Square (sunsets). We tried to go out sailing and snorkeling one day. Lots of wind and ebbing tide and it did not work out. We actually had a little run in with a navigation buoy that day. Long story, but no major damage and no one got hurt, so all is well. If anyone wants the details, you can call me. Too long of a story for this forum. I also wrapped the mooring line around the prop (I definitely know better) as we were pulling away from the mooring that day. Messed up the prop and spent the better part of the next day underwater with a mask and snorkel replacing the prop. It doesn't pay to be stupid out here. Aaahhhhh, the joys of boat ownership ...

Also while Jenni and Kristin were here, we experienced some extremely stormy weather, particularly at night. One of our neighbors clocked winds at 53 kts (over 60 mph) with a passing thunderstorm at about 0300 and I am telling you, I have never heard or felt anything like it. I can only imagine what a hurricane must feel like with 100+ kts winds. Even in this mooring field with relatively shallow water we got some pretty good sized waves, and very close together. And I have never seen lightning like that - ever. What a show!

All-in-all, this continues to be the experience(s) of a lifetime. I will try to get back to more regular updates. I want to do it for several reasons: I have an audience who is fairly interested and I like sharing this stuff, and I also want to continue to document this journey so I have something to look back upon and can recall the memories. Oh yeah, if I don't write stuff down, it is TOTALLY gone! The joys of turning 50 ...