Over the last 6 weeks or so, we've managed to do a huge amount of work on the boat. This isn't the glamorous part of living on a sailboat, but very important. We've 1) repaired the transmission; 2) hauled the boat out of the water; 3) scraped off years of anti-fouling paint; 4) sanded the hull; 5) put on 5 coats of epoxy paint and 3+ coats of anti-fouling paint; 6) repaired the rudder; 7) bought a new head sail; 8) inspected and replaced/rebedded several through hulls; 9) relaunched the boat. Whew! I even managed to sneak away for a Christmas week in Boston.

I can't adequately express how happy I am to be back in the water. The only thing I'll miss about the boatyard is the little black cat that adopted us. She would show up each morning asking for breakfast, and then curl up to sleep in one of the cockpit cubbies. She belonged to the former boatyard manager and makes herself at home with the cruisers. She can even climb up and down the ladder we used to get onto the boat.

Mark and I considered trying to keep her, but she seems well adapted to her boatyard lifestyle. When she can't find people to feed her, she's quite capable of catching mice. She even brought us one at 3am one morning (I'm sure she was annoyed that we didn't get up and congratulate her on her hunting).

Next on the agenda is Grenada race week and a visit from our friend Karen. Back to what life here should be.