The highlight of our day was when Lori and Ken of S/V Trim came over around 1630 to play the card game Hand and Foot. Lori has been back in the States for the last 4.5 months and just returned two days ago. Poor Ken has been here by himself for all of that time.

We had stopped by his boat a few times since we returned from exploring Australia but his boat seemed to always be shut up. As it turns out, he was there but had the boat closed up since he was running the air conditioning all of the time. The back of his boat is facing the predominant wind direction so he doesn’t get the benefit of the great breezes that are here and his boat heats up. Oh well, Lori is back now and all is well in the world of Ken!!!

Ken and I were partners and quickly took a 2000 point lead in our game. The girls came back in the 2nd game and cut our lead to just 900 points. Then they really stuck it to us poor guys in the 3rd game. It was so bad that Ken and I declared defeat and did not even add up our points. Those girls sure can be brutal sometimes! They take no prisoners and give no quarter. Oh course, neither do Ken and I when it comes to this game… Maybe next time the card gods will take pity on Ken and me and let us win one. Then again, we are playing against the girls and they are really, really good!

The weather is changing a bit. For the last few days, it was predicted to have thundershowers and then a couple days of rain. There is a huge High pressure system to the south of us, with its center over Melbourne. Its winds are bringing some unsettled weather up in our area. However, the unsettled weather is only arriving now instead of coming a few days ago. The winds have been blowing 20 to 25 knots all day and the skies actually spit at us a bit. The forecast for next week does not look encouraging but given how inaccurate the weather predictions have been this week that does not mean very much in my book!

When we start cruising, we want our first stop to be Lady Musgrave Island and reef. However, it is not a good anchorage when the winds are 20 kts and above. Right now, the weather reports are forecasting winds well in excess of 20 knots for the first part of next week. Bummer!!!