Our first visitor was my mom. Josh and I are both grateful that she was the one here during our time of chaos. During her visit, we were busy fixing things, learning about our new boat, learning about our new lifestyle, learning about ourselves, and learning about our new environment. My mom was a real trooper during this time, dealing with our emotional outbursts. We celebrated Thanksgiving in St. John together along with our Barrington neighbor, Michael and his son, Chris. They sailed their boat, Chasseur, down to the islands just a few days after we left (missing Hurricane Kate). It was a Thanksgiving unlike any I have experienced (so warm we were sweating in shorts and t-shirts). We prepared a traditional Thanksgiving meal, complete with homemade apple pie. It was really nice to spend it with family and friends.
Around this time, we discovered a rupture in one of our hydraulic lines. We suspect this occurred when the rudder cassette popped-up on the way to St. Thomas and is also contributing to the ATF loss. Josh had a new one (and a spare) made in Charlotte Amalie.
We decided to take my mom to the Spanish Virgin Islands. We had a nice sail to Culebra, arriving at dusk with an impromptu electrical repair of our windlass (a piece of equipment that raises and lowers your anchor). Culebra is a beautiful island with lovely people. We met Annabelle and Nestor, owners of Vibra Verde restaurant. Nestor was great help with our wind generator and advised us on whom we should contact about a new control board to get it working properly. We love the positive vibe from these two. "Positive is how I live." While in Culebra, we experienced an abundance of rain (and therefore mosquitos). This necessitated two things, making screens for our hatches and a trip to the AT&T store in Charlotte Amalie to get a replacement iPhone for my mom.

Coconut Bread (great for breakfast or afternoon snack)
2 C Flour
1.5 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1/3 C Butter
2/3 C Sugar
2 Eggs
¼ C Milk
1 C Shredded Coconut

Preheat oven to 350⁰. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. In a 2nd bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, milk, and coconut to the butter/sugar mixture and beat. Add flour and stir just until incorporated. Add a little more milk if the batter seems too dry. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then remove from pan to a wire rack and cool. Good toasted, but better to toast on the stove top or oven as the bread is fragile and can fall apart in the toaster.