The weather slowly deteriorated as the day passed by. It was windy all day but, around 1400 you could see the cold front moving in from the SSW. Up until then, the sunshine compensated for the 25 knots of wind and I was able to "tie up" some lose ends to some of the boat projects I had been working on. Actually, I was cutting and trimming the loose ends of a number of lines that I had replaced. By 1930 front had arrived and it was cold and raining.

Today was also the day that I made a sad realization. Despite my repeated attempts to patch up our shade tarp, I realized this morning that it was a lost cause. I found a number of areas in the tarp where I could just touch it and put my finger through it. The material was that rotten. Boo Hoo. I loved that tarp as it gave me many hours of shady relaxation. My favorite place on the boat is lying in the hammock, under the shade tarp, enjoying life in paradise. Now, that shade is gone...

We plan on going into town next Monday for our last effort in provisioning before we depart. At that time, I will try to find a temporary replacement to our shade tarp. I am not sure I will find anything that is wide enough and durable enough to last out this cruising season.

We had invited Karen and Frank of S/V Tahina over to play some cards this afternoon. They came over around 1630 and we played Hand and Foot until 1900. Mary Margaret and Frank were one team and Karen and I were the other. While we have had Karen and Frank over before for sundowners, this is the first time we played cards together. We had a ball and hope that we will get a chance to play some more. However, they are returning to the States in a couple of days to attend both of their daughters (twins) graduations. Thus, when they return to their boat, they will be a month behind us in their departure for Darwin. We will meet up again in Darwin in July since we both are joining the Sail Indonesia Rally.

This afternoon I was told that the service on my Yamaha outboard would be completed on Friday. There was some corrosion in the gear box that was causing the problem. It will all be taken care of and with the annual service the cost will be just $200. There are no rental cars available until Monday so that is when I will pick it up.