Yesterday some of the originally planned boats arrived from Jacksonville for their New Year's festivities here at Fernandina and I must say that some of them are truly classic power boats, well maintained and cared for. They range in size from 39' to over 65 but they all share one thing in common - the owners obviously take care of their boats. It's very nice to see.

Today it's raining so unless I get lucky and it lets up for a while I will have to delay the final steps of the auto helm fitting as I can only do the woodworking out doors on the dock and I don't want to do it in the rain. It wouldn't be good for the wood. There are numerous things that we can do in the cabin instead including changing the fuel filter and fixing the lights in both heads. Speaking of which, thanks to Eric on Further I have discovered the Sensibulb, an inexpensive ( less than $40) LED bulb that will work on 24V and I have bought 6 of them to replace some of the lights in the cabins. They last for a long tome, consume very little current and give of a surprisingly good light too.

We have rented a car for the next couple of days so we can explore a little more of the surrounding area and shop for some groceries. So far we have been limited by how far we can comfortably walk and even more how far we want to lug our purchases back to Nelleke. Our first self indulgence was to go see another movie, this time we went to James Cameron's Avatar, and to put it bluntly, if you haven't seen it, do! Don't wait for the video and try to get to one of the 3D screenings of it if you can. I have read that Director Cameron has redefined how movies are going to be made with this film and frankly, I think that is 100% correct. The effects were superb, the story line gripping, and the performances were outstanding. I always have been a softie for Sigourney Weaver (who can forget the bathtub scene in House on Half Moon Street?) and I would have loved to see how they were able to get the real actors to interact with their animated co-stars.

We bought some switches to repair the lights in both heads and made a quick trip to the beach that comprises all of the seaward side of Amelia Island. I was struck by the fact that if the Carnegies hadn't owned Cumberland Island and hadn't handed it over to the Federal Government along with a trust fund to maintain it, that island would have looked like Amelia Island in very short order too - long rows of beach houses dumped smack onto the beach. You can tell this is what happened because in several places the dunes are clearly on both sides of the road. It's still quite nice, just not natural any more like Cumberland Island is.

Tonight we'll pop over to Further for a few drinks to toast in the new year, but I very much doubt if I'll be able to last 'till midnight. It isn't even 18h00 yet and I am already yawning and I am only two sips into my first rum.......