What a lovely feeling it is to sail along in these clear blue/green waters. We never tire of it and always appreciate it. On the sail from Georgetown, we were joined for a bit by a couple of dolphins. (No pictures because we were too engrossed in watching them play.) What delightful animals they are. These two darted back and forth under the bowsprit like so many we've seen, but one of them was particularly playful. When "his" buddy tired of us and swam back to the coral head where they had been fishing, this handsome 7 - 8 foot fellow stayed with us, turning to look up at us several times and then once doing a 360 roll and speeding away. What a show! While we whistled and cheered, we could imagine him saying, "Yes! I showed them what I could do!" He soon returned, swimming along beside us, first to port and then to starboard. He must have been pleased with his earlier performance because he came in under the bowsprit and tried another roll. This one wasn't quite so successful because mid-roll, his tail struck the "dolphin striker" - the wire that runs from the bowsprit down to the bottom of the bow, and with a splash, he twisted sideways and zoomed away. Did it give him a scare? Was he embarrassed? Whatever it was, he headed back to his fishing grounds and we didn't see him again. We have always marveled at how these elegant creatures can time their moves so well that they are never caught by the bow as they play just in front of the moving boat. I guess they occasionally miss!

Jim compared our sailing vs engine time between this trip and the last one, and confirmed that we have done far more sailing this trip. Between Fernandina Beach FL and Thompson Bay, Long Island (arriving here March 21, 2008) he logged 222.9 engine hours. The trip over the same distance this time (and almost the same arrival date, March 23, 2010) he logged 141.1 engine hours. We have timed our travel according to the right winds sometimes, and have relied on the wind generator to keep our batteries topped up instead of motoring just to charge them. Today's trip was at 4 knots for part of the time, but with the longer days it doesn't matter!

There were 15 boats in the harbour when we arrived at about 1700 hours and we stopped at the outer edge of the cluster at the NE corner of Thompson Bay and settled down to enjoy the quiet evening. Soon after the dinghy from our neighbour, Seabbatical I, arrived back from town, Angie came over, calling, "Hello, Ottawa!" She's from Ottawa, full of enthusiasm and stories of her cruising experiences and the 6 weeks she and Clark have just enjoyed in the Jumentos. It was great to meet her and we were sorry they are moving on to Georgetown in the morning.

Wednesday will be a day for laundry, internet catch-up, groceries, water and fuel top-ups, and preparations for heading off to the Jumentos on Thursday. We haven't been there before, we're ready for a new adventure, and the weather looks favourable. So although we like Long Island and the little town of Salt Pond, we'll make this a short stay.

Sailing, sailing, over the ocean blue....