Oh what fun we are having! The days are warm and the evenings are filled with fun. This is cruising.

On Thursday evening, we joined Cori and Eric (Further), Ellen and Dave (Cordelia), Ann and Bob (Baloo) on board Melodeon at a musical potluck hosted by Chris and Frank. The grand tour was fascinating - Melodeon is the result of years of hand building, personal design, and searching out of parts and accessories at mariners consignment shops. The salon easily handled 8 people as we chowed down on plates heaped with yummy food, and later as the guitars, a mandolin and various noisemakers came out. Dave, Eric and Frank produced some fine music and it was an absolute delight to listen in (and add some noise) as they drifted through their repertoires, putting their own touch on songs that they all knew and playing off each other on the originals.

Friday evening saw us joining friends in 2 different locations. Along with Pat and Wayne (Kolibrie) we dinghied across the ICW to visit the Dockside Grill - up the canal beside the Lobster Shanty - where they had discovered the best deal on Happy Hour in the area. A full pound of tasty ribs for $5, crab cakes, calamari, chicken fingers and other goodies for between $3 and $5, and beer at half price between 3 and 6 daily. We sat on the patio just because it was warm enough to do it finally, and there was lots of room even by the time we left, but Pat said the key is to get there early if you want space with the inside crowd. It was fun to share Bayfield stories with owners of a sister ship, and to learn of places to go and things to do from these explorers. Our excellent server told us she has family ties in St. Andrews, NB ( a couple of hours from Amherst where we grew up) and her son is a chef at the Algonquin Hotel. Small world!

We moved on from happy hour to join Barb and Mike in the warm and cosy salon of Nelleke for the first BBQ of the season (well, the BBQ was on the stern rail!) Eric and Cori were there too, and we filled our already comfortable stomachs with still more good food as we chatted about boats and itineraries and experiences on land and afloat.

Our days have been filled with walks on the beach, trips to the grocery store, topping up of fuel and water tanks, and we even made one stop at West Marine. There is a cruisers gathering at 4 this afternoon and rumour has it there will be music there too.

Stephen and Nathalie (Katmandu) picked up the mooring ball behind us yesterday. The last time we saw them in Fernandina Beach, they had no mast so it's good to see that they look like a sailing vessel again!