We have been happily occupied with visiting during most of this past week.

Baird (Romulus) came over one night for dinner - I will feed him any time in return for his stories! He has been a big help to us - introducing us to Ingemar from whom we bought a whisker pole to help us with our wing on wing sailing this year.

Sue and Terry arrived for what was to have been a sailing vacation but in the spirit of true cruisers, they adjusted well to the demands of weather and boat issues and we did other things instead. We spent a day in St Augustine, exploring Flagler College with its gorgeous Tiffany glass and Edison lights, wandering through the touristy streets where they found a great sun for their sunporch, and driving through other quaint old streets when the rain threatened. The wind howled along the waterfront and we were all very pleased that we weren't bouncing around on a mooring ball out there! We lunched at the A1A Bar, paid yet another visit to West Marine in Jacksonville, and arrived back in Fernandina Beach in time for dinner - tilapia cooked with cherry tomatoes, a generous grind of pepper and parmesan cheese, along with roasted potatoes and green beans steamed and served with a drizzle of olive oil. We topped off every meal with a handful (or two) of "chocolate covered Campbell Nuts". Mmmm. Sue shared her recipe so we'll be having them again!

On Monday, we took advantage of their help to get the sails on. Having several sets of hands to move the large expanse of sailcloth along the deck made the job easier - and I don't think Sue's shoulders got totally dislocated from hanging on to flapping sheets! We thought about sending Terry up the mast to rehang our radar reflector but the wind was up and time was short and we went off to play instead. Sue and I visited my new favourite consignment shop, Frugal Cachet, on 14th St while the guys visited the hardware store. Doesn't that sound like a good division of shopping time?

We finished off their visit with breakfast at T Ray's, a Fernandina Beach "must do", and a lovely walk on the beach to work off at least a little bit of the bacon and sausage and biscuits and eggs and grits we had just consumed. It was so good to have them aboard - next time surely we will get to go sailing!

Richard and Carole (Kilissa) arrived in town on Wednesday. What a wonderful sight it was to see these two back into cruising life after a two year hiatus. Richard has almost fully recovered from his broken wrists and elbows and is building strength through the daily regimen of boat jobs. They came over to join us along with Karin and Ed (Passages) for drinks on Madcap and then we met up with Dick and Tina at Peppers for a filling and tasty Mexican meal.

Thursday night was party night at Devoes. Steve and Sandi drive down from St Simon's, Chip and Faith were in town, and we picked up Richard and Carole at the city marina dock and headed for the party - BBQ'd burgers and dogs, the rice/lentil salad that I adapted from one Mary (Strathspey) served us last summer and sweet little orange tomatoes tossed with fresh basil and tangy feta cheese filled what space was left in our stomachs after nibbling on a whole smorgasbord of dips and crackers.

We were astounded to see Theodore Too docked at the city marina when we picked up Richard and Carole the night before, so on Friday morning, Jim and I went back to the long dock to see this tugboat from Halifax. It takes visitors on harbor cruises back home, and ties up at the waterfront about a 20 minute walk from our house, and I was as excited as a child to see it here. Unfortunately no one seemed to be about so we weren't able to talk with any of the crew, but we were still thrilled to see this Nova Scotia ambassador boat here in our southern home.

We drove to St Simon's later on Friday to spend a couple of nights with Steve and Sandi in their new home. They've been working flat out getting boxes unpacked, carpets laid and paintings hung, but we managed to distract them and we headed out for drinks at Brogans and then a trip across the bridge to Brunswick for some wonderful pizza. A warm bed in a real house felt awfully good that night - the temperature went down to about 39 F. On Saturday, we visited an Art show downtown, picked up an armload of books at the fine used book store there, and then headed for the beach. After a mouthwatering lunch of pulled pork sandwiches, we strolled the long beach on the northeast side of the island, feeling the wind on our faces and the sun in our hair. Ahhhh. In order not to waste a single minute of the day, we then headed off to the movie theatre to see J. Edgar - a most interesting if distressing movie! How did such a person wield such power for so long?

An early morning departure brought us back to Tiger Point to get ready for the big departure on Monday.