We're back to having issues with the wifi connection! We have strong wifi contact to the router and the router has a strong rate to the ISP, but the system just cannot connect to the website. I suspect that someone else is signed on and is using a lot of bandwidth uploading or downloading images or something. I sure hope they aren't just playing on line games. Either that or the ISP is having problems of some sort at their end. Oh well, it's free.

We have had an e-mail from Ron. He is safely back in Halifax and looking forward to taking Pye out for some entertainment and a winter of shovelling with a couple of breaks to teach in St Martin and boat in the Abacos.

I have done some of the boat chores that will require doing before departure and we are steadily getting ready. I have fixed the headsail roller furling, I hope, and have started to work on the main sheet running rigging. Given the long term forecast, if we had the parts that we had ordered to finish the job, I'd be scrambling to get everything in place to we could take off on Monday, but that's when some of the parts will be coming in and then there is the actual install, so there is nothing for it. We will have to wait out the storm that is coming through mid week and get going with the next window.

We took some time today to walk up to one of the town beaches to see if the storms have washed anything in for us to find which turned out to be zip. Although the beach was quite attractive as you can see from the photo on today's post. It is one of those day excursion sorts of beaches that you expect to see in the US from the stories that you hear complete with a carousel in one of the pavilions, a child's playground in another and snack bar in a third; except, of course, they were all closed for the season. We found one fellow in the snack bar that was kind enough to actually give us an ice-cream bar each to help him clear out his freezer. It was a nice gesture whatever the motivation.

We went to a concert at the Seaman's Church Institute, the sort that is set up by a local musician who wanted to support a local charity and admission was some non perishable foodstuffs and $5. After which we had decided to treat ourselves to get our minds off the advancing frost line and went out to dinner to take advantage of restaurant week here in Newport where they have a Prix Fix Menu and for $30pp you can select an appetizer, and entre and a desert from a particular menu. We chose the Moorings or rather it chose us since it was the only one that we could get reservations for and it was just around the corner from where we are berthed.

It looks like the place is not quite dead yet for the season. As we were sitting here there were two power boats arrive to dock and the passengers and crew head into town for a walk. Besides them there are still three other boats on the docks here: one is the big schooner that the professional crew is waiting for the right time to head south and one of the others is a very big cutter carrying the red ensign that came in with a damaged boom and an injured crew member. I guess we weren't the only yacht to be beaten up over the last couple of days. Sounds terrible to say it, but it makes me feel not too bad about our adventure.