Good bye to new friends and hello to an old friend

     We started to put the sail up but it was too windy.  Andrew (s/v Sheilah) came by and brought our Bruce Van Sant book back this morning. They got put in the water after lunch and are now headed to North Sound. I’m going to miss chatting with Andrew and Suzy and looking for that crazy chicken that likes to climb their ladder. I do hope we run into them again. We may meet up again in Luperon if we stop there but I’m not sure we’re stopping there. I was hoping that maybe they’d be going with us to Culebra but they’re going to provision in North Sound and plan on traveling straight to the Dominican Republic with no stop in U.S. Waters. We plan on provisioning in St. Thomas, then going from Culebra and Vieques to the south shore of Puerto Rico. We were so intent, watching them pull out of the harbor, that we never saw Axel (Azaya) as he came up behind us. It was a pleasant surprise. I didn’t have much time to mope about Sheilah leaving the harbor. We helped him get his gear to the boat and get power & water. He discovered they had rats.  It appears that the rat problem is wider spread than the boatyard lets on.  The other English guy in the yard also had rats and Mike says he feeds them peanut butter and crackers for a week then when they get used to it he gives them Decon wrapped in peanut butter… Hmmm…

     After saying hi to Axel and bringing a couple beers over to the boat and chatting a spell, we got back to our boat and got the last sail up. Other than putting the reefs in the sails I think we’re about ready to take off as soon as the winds and seas calm a bit. I loved being able to see Axel again. Wayne told him we were heading north again. It’s hard saying goodbye. It made it final in my head to hear that he’d told Axel our plans. We’ve traveled with Azaya on and off (mostly on) for the last few years.  He came by and we went to the Bath & Turtle Rendezvous Bar so he could get a bite to eat.  Meg and Tom (from Alpha Crucis) came by as we were finishing and we all hung out chatting until they turned the lights out on us (hint hint we’re closing and want to go home).  It was a nice evening and the breeze, while still warm, was a little cooler this evening. It was nice to feel it stirring the air around us and the sound of the palms blowing in the wind while we were laughing and chatting made for a delightful evening! Don’t know if I mentioned that Alpha Crucis is a Compac 35. She’s a beauty. They’re waiting for a new engine to come in from St. Thomas.