Sorry about the double post yesterday. When I have Internet, I go right to the Sailblogs website and sign in and update my blog. I can then go and look at it and make corrections (if I catch them). Using Sailmail is a whole other process. First, Sailmail is a Windows program, so I have my Mac set up with a Mac side and a Windows side. Since I am a long time Mac user, I have all my other programs on the Mac side. That means when I sign on the Windows side to use Sailmail, that's the only thing I have. No picture editor, no word processing program, etc. Sailmail uses a modem connected to my SSB radio to send the emails. For regular email, I type the message and click a post button which puts the messages in an outbox. Sailblogs is set up to work with Sailmail, so for the blog I open a special window which is all set up to post the blog correctly. When I'm done entering the information I hit Send. I can't see that anything changes when I hit send. Once my messages are ready, I turn on the radio and open a terminal window on the computer. Then I have to find a land based station and a frequency that are both not in use, and not receiving too much interference to take my message. That's the hardest part. I didn't think my Sailmail was working at all until another cruiser, Jim from Summer of 42, came over and gave me some hints on selecting stations and frequencies. I'd been trying to use Daytona, FL, thinking that was closest and my best bet. He said he had better luck with Rock Hill, NC or Lunenberg, Nova Scotia! Last night I was having trouble. The only frequency I was finding that seemed to be reasonably clear was constantly busy. Now we come to the Mac/ Windows issue. When I use the Mac side of my computer I just fold the screen down if I will be away from the computer to save the battery. When I go to use it again, I open the screen and everything is exactly as I left it. Since it was taking so long to get a clear channel, I folded the screen down. I can listen to the clicks and buzzes on the radio and decide if the channel is clear. Unfortunately, when I opened it back up the computer had disconnected from the modem and the entire program had frozen. I ended up having to shut the computer down and reboot it. When I opened it up, my blog entry had disappeared. Thinking it was gone I typed it again. When I was finally able to get a clear channel and send my messages, I got a note that two blog entries had been sent. I still don't know where they go after the Sailblogs window closes, but now at least I know that once I click send they are saved somewhere!

Anyway, today was a fairly quiet day. We did have a visit from a school of squid. Bud spotted them, I came up to look. It was hard to tell they were even squid, but we thought they were. They just hung around the boat and the dinghy. After several minutes I decided to get the viewing bucket and try to get a better look at them. I got the bucket and climbed into the dinghy as carefully as I could, expecting them to shoot away at any moment. They continued to hang in the water near the dinghy and I used the bucket and really got to see them. They were dark colored with light purple spots and huge silvery blue eyes. They were from about 3 to 6 inches long. There were probably a dozen of them. Bud and I switched places and they still hung out and Bud was able to see them up close, too. I should have tried to take a photo through the viewing bucket, but I didn't think of that.

Bud had worked on the engine today. He's concerned because it leaks oil from a lot of places. Nothing huge, but the amount of oil in the bilge bothers him. Our automatic bilge pump didn't turn on and we think it might be because of the oil. It also might be because the switch is sitting at a bit of an angle, now. The switch and the intake hose are both fastened down to a small plastic plate that is supposed to sit on the bottom of the bilge. The hose is so stiff that it has the plate held at a slight angle and we can't get it to sit flat again. Bud wanted to find a 4 foot piece of wood on the beach that he could use between the bottom of our transmission and the top of the plate to hold it in place (that's how deep our bilge is). We walked Fuzzy early and looked to see if there might be anything we could use. As I've mentioned before, there isn't much driftwood around. Almost everything you find on the beach is plastic. Well today I found a 48 inch length of heavy, black, plastic pipe, about 4 inches in diameter. Perfect; we brought it back and we hope it solves our problem.

The first day here we saw a pair of Crocs on a rock on the beach. There was a couple walking down the beach, so I didn't think a thing of it, figuring they'd pick them up on their way back. In the morning, when we walked Fuzzy, they were still there. The people left and another couple of boats left and they were still there. The next time we went to the beach I tried them on, they fit, and I need shoes. So I watched, and when they were still there in the afternoon I went and picked them up. So the beach has yielded some good things for us.