Twilight. Christmas morning.

The fans are blowing. One in the salon. One in our berth.

All the ports are closed because of the rains during the night. Without the fans, it would be unbearably hot and humid below deck. I can barely see the stars as the sky lightens. The transition from black with a canopy of sparkles where the stars shimmer to gray begins to hide them as the veil of the sun approaches the horizon. Time for a walk.  I put on my rubber clogs and notice they’re still filled with sand and gravel from the trek through the boatyard in the dark. Not seeing the mud puddles, I think we hit every one which filled our shoes with gravel and mud.  Down the ladder and through the boatyard I hear a cacophony of roosters crowing.  Between 6-6:30am they’re awake and their vocal cords resound through the quiet streets. Every rooster in Virgin Gorda must be programed to go off that this time. It seems strange but I heard not singing all night long. Last year the churches across the street  seemed to reverberate with the sound of singing for 48 hours straight. Such devotion. I have to wonder as I approach fuel dock if they canceled Christmas this year. Other than the roosters and dogs, I don’t hear a sound. One lone car drives by, the bass and drums thumping out rap beats but for that… it’s silent. Back at the boat I open the galley port and make coffee. It sounds like a bananaquit outside, but I’ve never seen one here. The coffee is strong and good. Mmmmm…. Happy Birthday Jesus and Merry Christmas to the world. I wonder when Jesus’ birthday really was…

     We went down to the Bath and Turtle for breakfast. As we were finishing up, Morgan Freeman and his group 10 came in and sat at the table in front of us.  Guess they wanted breakfast at the same spot. We’ve seen his boat on the dock but it’s the first time we’ve seen him here this season.  Love his movies but kept my distance and left the man alone. I must confess that I tried to get a picture of him but since his back was to us where we were sitting, it was very difficult.  It was neat to see him though. He looks the same in person as he does on the screen.

     Wayne scraped part of the hull and I didn’t do much of anything but sit in front of the fan and sleep most of the day. After the storms yesterday/last night the air has been still. We must be sitting under a high pressure system. It was hot and sticky. I just didn’t want to move. I stuck Mortal Combat into the DVD player, turned the fan onto the computer and me and vegetated. Interesting movie…

     Showers then dinner at the Bath & Turtle. They put out a wonderful buffet with ribs, chicken, grouper, ham, and various mac/cheese, peas & rice, salads and fruit and a free rum punch and 2 for 1 painkillers… I was stuffed and feeling no pain by the time we got back to the boat!

Guess who I found wandering the docks!