Wednesday, my day off and I'm at work sanding Nelleke's hull preparing her for a couple of coats of anti-fouling. What a day! 30 plus degrees and high humidity! I could barely get the sanding done. I am taking a break and I'll have a shower before taping the waterline etc., and then we'll see how much energy I have. As it is I am covered with ablative dust from my undies to the roots of my hair. First time in my life that I have been a red-head! As it turns out we don't have a paint tray so our foray into painting will have to wait 'till tomorrow.

As it is we are all watching the weather forecasts with baited breath and no small concern. Hurricane Bill is due to be making his way up the coast to near us this weekend and we are keeping our fingers crossed that it will have weakened and will stay well offshore. Time and luck will tell, I suppose.

Yesterday, at work, I met a delightful couple, Jamie and Lori who are traveling for the sixth time to Newfoundland aboard their Sabre 362 Sea Quest, a beautiful and immaculately maintained boat. Of course like all boats that are actually sailed there are some rough edges, but as Jamie says that only shows that you use your boat for something more that a platform for cocktail parties. They are on their way back to Salem where they have to be back at work on Monday. This means that they will be pushing the envelope in front of Hurricane Bill to try to get home. Barb and I have our fingers crossed for them and wish them as calm weather as possible.

Nelleke is up on the hard, behind raised land on three sides and a breakwater on the fourth so it is our opinion as well as most people that we have spoken to that we are in the best possible place to "weather" the storm. It is now predicted that the storm will pass us to sea and we will be in the "soft" quadrant so we will get winds to 40 knots from the NE and loads of rain, all of which we can tolerate. We'll batten down the hatches, stow any loose gear and have a wee rum and go to bed. Hopefully in the morning it will have passed and all I'll have to do is tidy up the mess. Of course, hurricanes are notoriously unpredictable and Bill could take it into his airy head to take a wild hook to port and come ashore along the same track as Juan did 3 years ago. Still, you have to be optimistic.

We are now counting in weeks rather than months for our departure and the only question remaining is "Where are we going?" and "How are we going to ensure that the animals can come too?" Tonight we will be having a meeting with Al and Heather Uren about just those questions along with many more, I'm sure.