Portia and Steve left Leu Cat today to return to the US and their very busy schedule. They are in the middle of selling a number of commercial properties and building new house in Hawaii. While they were with us, poor Portia was on her IPad or IPhone working on closing deals and getting things squared away with the plans on the new house. Nevertheless, she still made plenty of time to go snorkeling with us, sailing with us, exploring with us, cooking with us and playing Mexican Train dominoes with us. In fact, she ended up winning the last game which we played last night.

Their visit was very nice since they are a very loving and giving couple. Plus, as former cruisers, they understand what it takes to live on a sailboat. We had such a wonderful time with them, making it hard to say good bye. We are looking forward to when they can come and visit again, hopefully in the Med.

After our sad farewells and dropping them off at the Crown Bay Marina, where the taxi to take them to the airport was waiting, Leu Cat seemed unusually quiet to me. Not that Portia or Steve were very noisy. In fact, they were not. They are very quiet and serene people. It just seemed to me to be unusually quiet. Throughout the afternoon, I mentioned to Mary Margaret at least 2 or 3 times how quiet the boat seemed. Maybe it was because we so enjoyed having Portia and Steve with us that their departure left a void. Go figure.

We will be spending the next few days taking it easy and, in a relaxed manner, getting Leu Cat ready for our next visitors. Our very good friends, Joe and Valerie from Las Vegas, will be flying in to spend 6 days with us. They will help us sail Leu Cat back to Sint Maarten, where we will finish our efforts to get her ready to cross the North Atlantic on our way to the Med. They have come to Leu Cat twice before: once when we were in Panama and once when we were in New Zealand. It will be a treat to have them with us once again, even though it will only be for 6 short days.