It is still too warm for me to get to sleep so here are some more ramblings from Barb.

We had a goof-off day today, we set off for the Sunday Green Market in Stuart like Mike mentioned. I snapped some photos - see the gallery - so my NS Farm Market friends could see what a market South Florida style looks like. The stalls were pretty much all under individual white tents and we estimated that there were about fifty vendors in all. There were many fruit and veggie sellers with beautiful and reasonably priced produce all attractively presented. Five large vibrantly red tomatoes for a mere dollar is a good example of what we saw pricewise. Alas, the coffee service was not sponsored so the Shelburne, NS, market wins on that front thanks to TLC Pharmasave. There was local orange blossom honey, komboucha, delicious tortes, quiche, croissants, chocolatine , breads, a well-supplied cheese monger, a fish vendor with crab legs and huge shrimp, an organic meat vendor, there was delicious Bahamian food, a fresh squeezed lemonade stand, a sausage griller, and one stall that made every kind of grilled cheese you could imagine. We decided on pulled pork and cheddar cheese served up as hot oozy deliciousness. There were a few artisans - mostly silver or shell based necklaces, bracelets and earrings. There was one wood turner with exquisite bowls. There were a few flower sellers with cut flowers and then one with potted orchids and other small flowering shrubs and lots of pretty hanging air plants/Tillandsia. And to top off the morning you could have a massage therapy session. All this with lots of great live music made for an enjoyable experience by the side of the St Lucie River. If boaters are in the area we encourage you to stop on by.

We had delicious food at a Tapas bar and a couple of mimosas to complete the Sunday goof-off and were pleased to have a further visit with our friends Jim and Sharleen before returning to Nelleke. Mike got the sweaty job of more priming on the hull while I got to lurk in the ACed lounge while waiting for the laundry to finish.

I have a question for our fellow boaters. It is high time I made mosquito screens for our hatches. I've been dithering about what type of mesh to use; whether it is better to have screens that attach by Velcro or snaps to the cabin ceilings from the inside or have ones that are slightly tailored and drop over the open hatch from the outside with weighted borders to keep them in place. We also have two wind scoops that we use to add ventilation and I believe that these would only work if the mosquito screens were attached from the inside of the cabin, so I partially answered my own question. There are also two sliding side hatches - any suggestions for them? What do you folks recommend and do you have do's and don'ts to share?

So, for tomorrow morning after breakfast I am going to make myself scarce and launder our soggy mess of towels that were pinned out on the lifelines when we had that soaking downpour this morning. It is better for me to be well out of the way and doing something useful when the batteries get delivered and put in place. Keep your fingers crossed that when Mike gets them installed that everything works.

The image with this post is of one of the small lizards that seem to be everywhere - this one ran along the rocks with us while we walked on the boardwalk in downtown Stuart after the market today. We also saw one with a red head and tail but he was too quick for me to get a shot of him.