Two and a half weeks since Tony left for Indonesia and not much happening. We heard from a friend of his who said his hernia is apparently getting bigger but he's adamant that he'll rely on traditional medicine rather than go for an operation. It's no longer our problem, and there's not much we can do, but we really hope he sees sense soon otherwise things could go horribly wrong.

James still isn't back; he's apparently been to eight funerals since he went to Union at the end of February. Considering there can't be more than 3000 people on the island that's an awful lot of his friends and relatives who are dying ... Mike reckons staying there is a danger to the island and he should leave asap. We should hear tomorrow if he's coming back next week, or not.

I guess we should just be enjoying the peace and quiet while we're on our own but it's difficult to relax when you know there's just so much still to do. We had hoped we'd have started with the decks by now but don't seem to have the enthusiasm at the moment. Things aren't helped by the problems we're having trying to get paid for the work we did for the freighters. They were all over us when they needed our help but now we're getting the Caribbean run around and Mike's constantly on the phone trying to come up with solutions and sort it out.

Jeff's friends, Alex and Gavin, arrived from Canada and we've spent some time with them. Mike took them out fishing last Sunday but unfortunately they didn't catch anything, apparently they even had trouble catching the mooring buoy when they got back!

Our friends Stan and Cora are back from Bequia waiting to leave their boat in the mangroves when they go back to Germany at the end of May. Lots of people are starting to haul boats and leave now the hurricane season is once again upon us and the weather's warming up.

Robin from Bequia also turned up last weekend. He was supposed to be delivering his plasma cutter for repair, only he flew into Grenada and then realised the company it had to go to was in Trinidad. He spent a couple of nights with us on the Buzzard though which was nice.

On the Saturday we took him out to the monthly Victoria Food Fair, which is a bit like the Gouyave Fish Friday but not only fish. We went on an organised(ish) tour with Jeff and his friends, Phil from Beothuck, and a few others from the anchorage. It wasn't the most successful trip we've had. The maxi picked us up at 5.15 pm and, after a making a 30 minute detour to pick other people up, and then going through the St. George's rush-hour, we didn't get up there until 7.30, and when you're crammed in the back of a maxi a two hour journey is an awful long time.

One of the main roads was closed off but the stalls weren't even finished setting up which was our first inkling that it might be a later night than we'd imagined. Followed by the fact that the driver said he'd be back at the maxi any time from 11.30 to 1 a.m. Given that yatchty midnight is 9 p.m, and us oldies are no longer used to such late nights, this wasn't a welcome development.

We wandered off to explore but the pounding music was just a bit too much for us. On either side of the 15 foot wide road there were banks of loud speakers stacked 10 feet high and three feet deep, and the beat was so strong your whole body vibrated and your heart jumped as you passed them. A hundred feet further on there was yet another bank pounding out different music, and on and on up the whole length of the street.

We got to the end of the road, turned down the main street and found a quiet pool bar next to the police station, which is where we stayed most of the evening. We did make one foray out for food, which included iguana, crab, manicou (possum I think), cow-face souse and various other delicacies that were all over priced and under-served. The only thing I could stomach was fried breadfruit.

By 9 pm we were all ready to leave, except Phil who wanted to listen to the steel pan band. At 9.30 we braved the vibrating street once again, getting hustled by the crowd who were all letting their inhibitions go with the music and gyrating to the beat and each other. We found the maxi and then spent an hour trying to round up the rest of the travellers, just getting one on the bus as another went to get a last minute beer. Eventually we headed out around 10.30 and were back just after midnight; the real midnight.

It was quite the experience though and obviously very much a local affair with families dancing and meeting and letting the kids run free. Not quite sure what it would have been like at 2 in the morning though.

Last Wednesday the SV Irene, an old Baltic Trader, came into Hog Island. The boat has been trying to set up a trading route between Europe and the Caribbean, bringing wine and olive oil here and taking rum back. They hosted a wine tasting and tapas night which went down well, apart from the fact that Mike doesn't like wine, not good wine anyway.

I had my last dentist appointment (for a few weeks anyway). They attached the back of my loose tooth to the two adjoining ones which has hopefully stopped its wobble, although it took me a while to get used to what feels like a gob of chewing gum stuck to my teeth. Now I'm just dealing with blurred vision, caused by astigmatism I think, and a right shoulder than keeps going into spasm for some reason ... oh the joys of aging!

Yesterday we were supposed to be sailing from St. George's back round to Hog with Jeff but Mike decided the FA cup final was more important. Then we got over to Island View to watch it and it wasn't being televised. Still, at least he did get to see the Chelsea v. Barcelona match the other week which was quite the event.

We still haven't given up on getting some time off the boat but until James gets back it's hard to organise. At this rate it may well be straight to Canada a the end of May.

Love to all ....