Well, we had about as warm a welcome as any in Saipan. Before we'd finished tying up to the 'transient dock', we'd been invited to dinner at a local Indian buffet (I've had worse). Ron and his wife, Moon, provided the invitation and continued to treat us like royalty throughout our stay. The other dinner guests were Tony, Suzanne, and Mike from 'Inconceivable' (great name for a boat) out of Guam and Dave and Gail from 'Official Business' (possibly the BEST name for a boat, we just heard a pretty funny Who's On First style VHF conversation mixup). Dave bought us all beers, a surefire way into every sailor's heart. He wants to go cruising with his wife in his motorless 26-footer. Brave? Maybe. We stuffed ourselves to discomfort and called it a night. Ron and Moon had us over to their place for breakfast the next morning. They live 100% off-grid (NOT roughing it, however, thanks to Ron's superb engineering) in San Vicente (Saipan). Moon's gardens circled the house. The time and love spent on them were both quite obvious. They broke out the fine silver as we ate shirtless on the upstairs patio. An island tour followed, including Mt. Tapuchao, (another) Suicide Cliff, and a snorkel at Pao Pao beach. Leno, a traditional celestial navigator and friend of Ron's, was hosting a beach BBQ at his house, so we booked it over there to catch the sunset. The kids had set up their swing set in the surf: brilliant idea. Beers, sunset, a picnic table FULL of ukulele players jamming, and I met a guy who grew up with a guy I play basketball with every Monday night in Chesterfield, MA. Small world. Yesterday we woke at 4:30, Ron drove us to "The Grotto", and he led us on a fantastic SCUBA dive. He's divemaster-certified not because he leads tours professionally, but strictly because he loves it. 600+ times he's been down to The Grotto, he said. Oh! And he took us on a hike to Forbidden Island, a cliffside pool hidden in a lava rock cave. And he and Moon had us over for an amazing Thai dinner (Moon's from Thailand and is also an awesome chef). And And And Needless to say, we've been well taken care of. Somehow in the busy week I managed to get so whiskey drunk that I threw up in the cockpit and woke up naked with a towel around me, oblivious to the fact that I'd done so. Rob calmly asked me to spray out the little cubby beneath the helm and scrub the seat cover. Several minutes of this cleaning passed before I realized I was its defiler. Shit. I'm still wondering how he kept so cool. Or maybe he kicked my ass while I was passed out and I just don't remember that either. Today was an errand day. We rented a car to fill the boat with provisions (re: beer for Rob), exchanged some US dollars into yen (I'm getting excited), filled up with diesel, faxed our clearance forms to Japan, and now Patrick and I are at the laundromat. Our plan is to leave at high tide tomorrow morning, skip our Pagan and Chichijima itinerary, and head straight for Kobe. Our mum is having it rough on Maui right now and Rob is anxious to get to Japan so he can fly home to see her. Good guy, that Robby.