Last night we finally lost it with the WiFi connection provided by the marina. Fortunately for us we have a really good booster antenna and were able to find a couple of unsecure wifi routers in the neighbourhood that we could piggyback onto. I'm not sure how I feel about doing that, but we have a good firewall on the ships computer so it is unlikely that anyone could be providing an unsecure router simply to allow them to get at our files. Or, at least, it is unlikely that they'll be successful. What really bothers me is that I am taking someone else's internet connection time and Mbps. I guess I don't understand why they wouldn't encrypt their port. Oh well. We appreciate the fact that I can get on the internet through them while the marina sorts out whatever is wrong with their service provider.

The other adventure of last night was a serious cold front squall came through with all the classic symptoms - sudden increase in wind, heightened sea activity, pressure drop preceding, thunder and lightning, and torrential rain. We were more than a little complacent and didn't notice the precursors, but Al did. We couldn't figure out why he was meowing; he had just been fed and even he couldn't be that hungry that quickly; he wasn't trying to get somewhere that he couldn't reach and he wasn't injured or anything. Poor guy; he was trying his best to tell us. We just didn't understand. Well, we certainly did when the wind picked up and the rain started to be driven horizontally right into the cabin through the open portholes. A mad dash about at midnight secured all that, and then we had a wee trauma when we tried to remember where we had stored the foul weather gear prior to Kayt's arrival. Once found and donned we went on deck to check the lines and fender board. I am jotting down these thoughts at midnight while waiting for a cup of tea and to let some time pass to see how the boat is doing before trying to get back to sleep.

Morning now and we seem to have survived along with the other boats at the marina; at least, I don't see any masts sticking up out of the water. The weather forecast is for this weather to continue - high winds, rain, general icky-ness, so I won't be doing much outside the boat. Maybe I'll get the snap shackles to do the vang that I spoke of in yesterday's post and try to do what I can on the watermaker.

Throughout the night from midnight onward there was a succession of small boats limping back into the marina. If I haven't mentioned it before there is a collection of commercial fishermen who use the marina as a base for their fleet - shrimp trawlers and mullet fishermen, mostly. Their boats are all 26' and smaller and most of them go out in the evening returning with their catch in the morning. I suspect that last night's weather caught them as much by surprise as it did us as I can't imagine what it must have been like in that squall front out in the shallow bay. Clearpoint is showing 10' seas up to 50 miles off the coast and the way waves build and propagate in this part of the world, that would have lead to a very uncomfortable trip for Nelleke at 42' let alone a small power boat of 20-26'. I just hope that they all got back OK. I have the impression that TowUS and the Coast Guard were busy.

Barb and I are hoping that the internet connection will hold on long enough for us to be able to watch the Presidential Inauguration. Even though we are not US citizens, history is being made today, history that will affect, in one way or another, every person on the face of the earth. From what we have seen so far on the download, with people interviewed from Ethiopia, France, the UK, Germany, etc., I think everyone has the same understanding that the world is standing on the edge. It remains to be seen if it is a precipice to tumble off or a mountain to climb in challenge. Most if us think it's the challenge and we are waiting to hear what the new American leader will say. I'm sure that the words will be remembered for a long time to come. Trying to get the speech downloaded has been an exercise in absolute frustration as the internet link from the router to the web keeps failing. Three hours after the actual speech was given we actually got to hear it. President Obama is the kind of orator that could make even a mediocre speech a barnburner and today's address was by no means mediocre. The secret of good oration is to believe the sentiment and thoughts in the words that you are saying. If that is truly the case, then the new President believes in and has set his administration some remarkable standards. If you analyse his words all he is really advocating is a return to the basic principles upon which the US was founded, but from which it has drifted away for one reason or another. There is no doubt but that the Declaration of Independence speaks of an astounding dream, a dream the likes of which had never really been heard before. The Magna Carta in Britain was really aimed at protecting the rights of the nobles and the French Charter following the Revolution was so basic in its inception that it was open to abuse. The American Declaration is the one upon which all of those following were modeled including the Canadian Bill of Rights.

We have been getting some wonderful comments, private e-mails etc. reference the blog, including some great advice on places to go and things to see, etc. All this is very much appreciated and you are invited to keep it up. The only problem that I have at this point is trying to follow all of the good advice. Obviously we can't follow it all so we have to sort through it and select that which dovetails with our existing plans and with other advice.

We got the snap shackles and rearranged the vang and preventer system. It's amazing how much extra room that has given us on the deck. We should have done it years ago.

(The painting is of a flower that sort of popped up right beside our table at Pia's Trattoria in Gulfport when we went there for dinner one night. It was just sittiing there growing in the ground or the bush it was on was. We never get delicates like this back home so we just had to make a record of it.)