Mary Margaret was so sweet to write the last two blogs as part of her birthday present to me. She did a great job and it was nice to sit back a chill knowing that the blogs were in good hands. However, so much happened yesterday after she wrote the birthday and remembrances blog that I thought I would share those events. First, she mentioned the storm we had the night before my birthday and it continued into the day. When we checked the dinghy later in the morning, we discovered that I left the drain plug in and it collected over 16 inches of rain water. It had never been filled with so much water before. It just goes to show you how much rain we had during the last 24 hours.

We also did our daily weather analysis and are now seeing a massive front pushing across the southeastern part of the US that will moving out to the North Atlantic and have a severe impact on the route that we are planning to take. Furthermore, it looks to be followed by two more massive fronts that will take over 10 days to clear out. These three massive fronts could delay our departure for a while. I will post a photo of the Grib file that I am looking at so you can see what I mean. After weathering this last storm, I am in no hurry to venture out into the Atlantic to take on an even bigger, meaner group of storms.

On the project front, once the rain stopped, the engine mechanic come back in finished with the engine work. We are now all done with the various projects that were on our list and are only waiting for a decent weather window before we proceed to the Azores. While it looks like the weather will be great here in Sint Maarten, it now looks like it will be a bit longer before the North Atlantic settles down.

Finally, for my birthday celebration, Mary Margaret invited our new Aussie neighbors, Debbie and Mark of S/V Kefi, to come over for cake and ice cream. They had started their cruising adventure a year ago in Florida. They have already sailed the Bahamas, Cuba, Hati/Santa Domingo, Puerto Rico and the BVIs. Soon they will be off for the islands of the lessor Antilles before they head west and into the Pacific. They have a new Leopard 48 which they love. It was great to get together and we thoroughly enjoyed their company.

As a closing thought, I would like to thank all of you who sent an email or left a Facebook post wishes me a happy birthday. It was very considerate of you and means a lot to me. Thank you very much!