It's hard to remember now what a good day this started out to be.

We got up and listened to the weather. The wind was predicted to be very light today and what there was was going to be from the north-northeast. It wouldn't be a good day to sail so we planned to spend the day at Little Farmers Cay. Bud wants to sail as much as possible and not use that spare prop any more than we have to. But that's fine; we aren't in a hurry.

Bud went out fishing while I made the bed and did up the dishes. I had just about finished when he asked if I could help him. He had a big fish on the line. I got down the net, got into the dinghy tied alongside the boat and netted it. It was a 24-inch Mutton Snapper. Eating quality excellent. I took a picture and it is in the gallery. Bud took the fish ashore to clean and fillet it.

I was watching for him to return so I could help him tie off the dinghy. The reason the fishing is so good on those moorings at Little Farmers is that the current really rips through there, which makes landing the dinghy more difficult. I saw him approaching and came up to help, just as I was reaching for the line we heard Fuzzy squealing below. I left Bud to fend for himself and hurried back in to the cabin. Fuzzy was on the floor under the settee. He must have fallen and this time he really hurt himself because he was squealing in pain and he was not getting up. I lifted him up and held him and he stopped crying. Bud came down with the fillets. I tried to set Fuzzy on the floor, he wouldn't put his right rear foot down, but he also couldn't stand, even on three legs.

So we tidied everything up, lifted the dinghy and headed back to the Marina at Emerald Bay because there is a vet here near George Town. With all that we'd done we left the harbor at about 11:20. We had the main up, but there wasn't much wind, so Bud ran the engine. We came back at 7.8 knots the whole way. The spare prop seems to do fine. I called ahead to the marina and had them get us a rental car. I also tried to call the vet. No luck. As we approached the marina I got the lines out. We radioed and they told us to go back to the slip we'd left just yesterday. Before four o'clock we had the boat docked, the main put away and the power hooked up and connected and we were on our way to the vet.

All day Fuzzy had lain in his little bed below. I spent a good bit of the trip sitting next to him to keep him calm. He tried to get up a couple of times but couldn't. We tried to stand him up outside before we got in the car so he could pee. He just slid around onto his bottom. We still hadn't reached the vet by phone. When we got to his house we found out why; his wife was there, but the vet wasn't on the island. He'll be back tomorrow. Bud described what was going on, but there was nothing she could do for Fuzzy. So we brought poor Fuzzy back. He did drink water and eat a snack and his pill in cheese. He got very restless in the evening. First I tried to pick him up to take him out and I hurt him again. About an hour later he was still restless; I tried again. This time I was able to carry him out and he stood on three legs and peed. Now he's finally sleeping. We have him blocked all around with pillows so if he gets up while I'm asleep and tries to move he won't fall again.

So much for our nice day and all our plans to beat the wind.