Yet another fun-filled action packed few weeks here in paradise. So .. what's been happening?

We ran out of water and had to make a trip with the Buzzard into St. George's to fill up at the dock. Stan, Cora, Jeanne, Ron, Chris, Linda and Jeff came with us for the ride, which was just as well as we still don't have any crew. The water's cheap ($80 US for 30 tonnes) but because we're over 200 tonnes we have to pay $300 US for a pilot to take us into the dock. Still it's good to know we're full again and won't have to worry about that for another six months or so. By which time, fingers crossed, we should have the new awning up and be catching our own anyway.

The weather was relatively calm which was good as we've been having quite a lot of wind recently. A squall came through the other night and several boats dragged, including Calabuig, the 100ft yacht anchored near us. We didn't hear anything above the wind and the rain and because we're the furthest out and the wind was blowing in, but apparently there were horns blaring and dinghies roaring around and people shouting for help.

We bought a new (used) 15 hp Honda 4-stroke outboard with the hope that it would be more economical that the gas guzzling Yamaha and easier for me to run. Mike promises me it will be once he fixes the choke and carb, but so far we've had to be towed twice which doesn't inspire my confidence. We now have five outboards, or parts thereof, on the deck ... maybe we should open a shop. (Breaking news: Mike's fixed the problems and it now starts first pull.)

Last Saturday we were at Island View to watch the Champions League Final which was a great afternoon, not least because Chelsea won and our friend Joe is a Bayern Munich supporter, but the whole atmosphere and local involvement was quite something. Afterwards we went to see Stan and Cora et al play their final gig before leaving for the summer and Mike was in such a celebratory mood he was up dancing on the table.

We finally got rid of all the truck tyres that we used to use as fenders which has really opened up the back deck and created some space. It started a bit of clean up campaign which included the crews and led us to a stash of rotten fish that had been buried under a pile of flags on the shelf just inside the crew quarters' door. Tony wasn't a particularly keen fisherman so we think they must have been there since Johan left; the smell was horrendous and days later we're still trying to fumigate the place.

Last Friday night we thought we'd lost Toby on the beach. He's normally not far from the water and constantly bringing sticks or coconuts or conch shells for us throw, but when we went to leave he just wasn't there. Mike wanted to leave him there till the morning but in the end we stayed and had two more beers waiting for him to eventually show up. The next night we found out some locals had come hunting and left a young bitch on the island. We've seen her twice now, a cute little brown and white thing which may or may not be in process of creating Toby dogs ... if she does there's already a waiting list of people who want a dog just like Toby.

Yesterday we went with Jeff to take his boat round to St. David's ready to haul out. It was fairly rough and we were heading straight into the wind so it was motoring all the way but it all went ok. He leaves next Tuesday and is really looking forward to getting back to the family ... apparently there's only so much sun and rum you can have before you get bored, but we'll miss him and will endeavour to stop off in Toronto to see him and June when we're in Canada.

After St. David's we went up to Grenville to visit a friend of Mike's on one of the Cariacom mini-freighters that go between here and Trinidad. The local dock was a hive of activity reminiscent of our time in the Cape Verdes. There was yelling, and bustling and crates being loaded and crabs being tied in boxes, there was also supposed to be cows but they didn't want to go. As so often happens when we're out and about and not in the tourist areas, we were the only white faces to be seen and were more than welcomed.

We heard from James today to say he'll be back tomorrow, and this time I'm holding my breath; there can't possibly be any more people to die on Union. Once he's back we've got a week or so of work that Mike needs help with and then we're booking flights to Canada. It will be the first time Mike's been off the boat for years, and it will be great for him to see all his long lost Canadian friends.

Yesterday afternoon we were supposed to be having a stuffed breadfruit cook-off on Hog Island. Mike mixed up his three different stuffings and off we went, only the locals who were supposed to be joining us didn't turn up (probably something to do with the rain we had in the morning. It's now the end of the dry season, not that we had much of one, and the beginning of the hurricane season so we're getting more rain.). Anyway, luckily Jeanne and Ron were there with more than enough food to BBQ so we just cooked the stuffing without the breadfruit and a good time was had by all.

Saturday it's my birthday and I'm not sure yet what the plan is, it may even be turtle watching. Many thanks to all that have sent birthday wishes.

Love to everyone ....

PS It's now the next day and James hasn't turned up ... guess it's time to stop holding my breath, and look for more crew.