It was so quiet last night that I woke up. There was no breeze nor a ripple on the water. A vast difference from our time on anchor at Hellville. We are about a mile up in Russian Bay and having a nice peaceful time getting a few more projects done. This morning while it was cool, I started in on replacing the board that held our four jerry cans of gasoline. It had split in half when we got nailed by a huge wave as we came down from the Seychelles. I'd given Jimmy, our "agent" the old board figuring if anyone knew where to get a replacement, he would and he did, returning the next day with a magnificent board, much stronger and heavier than what we had had. I am impressed by the sturdiness of Zephyr's stantions. While the board broke in half, there was no bending of the stantions. I lined up the old holes in the board with the new board and drilled all the holes necessary for mounting it back on the rail. With Tracy help, I got it all aligned and bolted to the stantions. Tracy looked at it and advised me I'd put it on the wrong stantions. OOPS! Off it came and onto the next set of stantions farther aft. Once it was all installed with the spinnaker pole mounted above the jerry cans, I took a look at it and real ized I'd put the board on the wrong side of the stantions! Well OOPS again. Off came the pole and the four jerry cans and the board was moved to the outside of the stantions and rebolted. Not bad, only took me three times to do what I should have done the first time. I guess practice makes perfect? While I was doing that, Tracy was tearing apart the cockpit giving it a goof cleaning. While in Port Victoria, the trash incinerator was going 24 hours a day belching out soot and ash. Being downwind at the anchorage, the cockpit had suffered. It was time to get it all cleaned up, especially while it was a bit cooler. Morning temp can be down in the mid to high 60s with afternoon temp in the low to mid 80s. Morning is the best time to work outside while nice breezes come along in the afternoon to keep it comfortable. By early evening, it dies off and everything goes calm. Night comes along and there isn't even animal sounds or birds chirping. Certainly not the norm we have been used to. We've only been approached by one fisherman and he wanted to trade for a nice papaya. We gave him some rice, a nylon strap as well as a set of flip flops. I think he got the better deal. We will see if more come now that word is out that we are here and will trade. Maybe a nice fish? We've not seen another sailboat since we got in yesterday morning and doubt we will. We didn't stay near the opening to the bay as we wanted to be away from the crowd of half a dozen boats that are there as well a the fishing village that is there also. There doesn't appear to be any roads near here so the only way around is by boat and we have seen several of them slowly gliding past us with either a small set of sails up or the fisherman rowing. The kids are enjoying the stillness of this Bay since there really is no swell to speak of. I'm all for that. As to what Russian Bay looks like, well it's almost like being back in New Mexico. Lots of low scrub trees since the big trees were clear cut many years ago and never grew back. It's semi arid so there is a definite grey to brown tint where ever you look. The hills are low so the ocean as well as the land breezes come over them and sweep across the bay. By far, the most breezes come in the afternoon as the sea breezes start up helping the local fishermen come home after a day of sailing and fishing off shore. Most are in home made dug outs with many using old plastic shopping bags sewn together to make sails. An amazing sight as they glide over the water with sometimes dozen crossing. Tomorrow, we will be launching Puff and exploring more of Russian Bay. --------------090305060106090806080006--