The crews of Further, Passages and Nelleke gathered last night for a Pot Luck dinner; to swap stories, plans and expectations; and to decide what we were going to do today. First on the list is for Nelleke to leave the dock (the wind has abated enough to make that less challenging) and go out to raft next to Passages and for Further to come in to take this spot. Our trip from the dock to the mooring ball was uneventful, but I was certainly glad that Ed and Karin were on Passages to take lines for there was enough wind to be moving the boats around enough that I would not have been able to bring Nelleke in parallel to their boat without being really worried about dinging them. Once here the solar panels and wind generator took over, or at least the solar panels did for they were providing enough voltage to the batteries that the wind generator controller wouldn't release the generator from its brake mode. I rather figure that now we are going to be on the hook or mooring more often the solar panels will do the job during the day and the wind generator will take over during the night.

We made another trip into town on the busses to West Marine and bought their last Holding Tank Vent Line Air Filter so that went into the plumbing this afternoon and our forward head is operational again. We were very lucky. The fellow on the Motor Yacht right next to us at the dock happened to be in teh West Marine at the same time and he had a Port Supply Card and was kind enough to take it through the cash for us. Instead of costing approximately $100 it cast $63. Thank heavens for the kindness of strangers! We also got a Waterway Guide for the Bahamas - this is really starting to be real for us now as it is looking like we actually be able to make it. Plus we got some good long bolts to make the last repair necessary from the damage caused by the squall on the way to Bermuda.

On a sadder note we are seeing more and more fish floating belly up in the marina mooring field. They just can't handle the colder weather and end up stunned and swimming upside down on the surface until they finally die. The southern species of fish I can understand but I am also seeing catfish by the score dying in the same manner. We have catfish that look a lot like these at home and they survive through the winter with ice on the lakes and streams. It must be a matter of acclimatization or something. Still, it's too bad. It's too bad that the fish are dying. It's too bad that the citrus crops are being ruined and it is especially too bad that there are still a lot of people out there who refuse to accept that the disruption in weather patterns are a symptom of Global Warming. We have heard that Corner Brook Newfoundland is so warm that they can't make snow on the local ski resort. That is weather pattern disruption if I have ever heard it. Balmy winters in Newfoundland? Unheard of! Ice in the ICW? Unheard of!

Tomorrow it will be a change of oil on the Perkins day plus I'll try to get the NMEA connections all hooked up and running.