This we know. Alton Knowles, mechanic, shows up when he says he will, thoroughly and efficiently does the job that needs doing and charges a fair rate. His number is 334-2627 and he welcomes calls from cruisers. We love him! He's also fixing our Honda generator that didn't quite get fixed in Marsh Harbour. It didn't work before that repair; now it works but spews out gasoline - not good. We'll pick it up when we come back here next week and it will work for sure.

As for the other participants in this fixit situation, Harborside Marine in Nassau, DHL, and Dingle Motors all have slightly different stories about why it took from Monday afternoon until Thursday morning for the cable to arrive in Rock Sound. In the end, the delay doesn't really matter all that much. Everyone was polite, helpful and the whole job (part, shipping and labour) came to just around $150. Not bad for a boat fix!

We've been swimming, checked out the ocean holes, bought groceries, topped up fuel and water, got laundry washed, reorganized the aft cabin (aka garage), reorganized the cockpit lockers and met some other cruisers.

Mr. Cates drove Jim and a couple of water jugs ($5 for a 5 gal jug) from the store to the dinghy dock in the heat of the afternoon. As Mrs Cates smilingly said, "That's the island way."

We are now 5 boats in the harbour, and we enjoyed chatting with Charlie and Cathy (Cher) and John and Connie (Riverdance) on the dock this afternoon. Another couple of young boys came out in their sunfish to say hello. I didn't get their names but I laughed as they downed ginger ale and pretzyls and cheese with the gusto I remember from my own two boys when they were that age. We gave them some extra line and a roll of sail tape to repair the slits in the sail. John (Riverdance) had some extra sailcloth that he donated to the cause as well. It feels good to contribute to these kids who are out here on the water every afternoon, sharing the 3 sunfish, practicing their sailing skills and having fun.

We will be off in the morning to go up to Governors Harbour. With luck, we'll find a little spot to anchor securely. All we need is one little spot! Then we'll spend the next week exploring the west coast of Eleuthera by sail, and the east side ocean beaches on foot and by car.

As we listen to the news, we are feeling mixed emotions. We feel for the folks up north who are being deluged with snow .... truly we do! Aaaand, we feel pretty happy that even though we are fixing things, we are doing it in the sunny south!!