Wed. March 17th

Happy St Patrick's Day to our friends & family!!

Granuaile's castle on Clare Island, Co Mayo. Jane's grandmother was born on this island.

We have had beautiful weather this week. yesterday we sat outside and watched an exodus of 12 or more boats leaving. Most are heading south. I think we will have a jump on those heading North. Of course maybe they know something we don't know?

We have been able to tour in the dingy and snorkel over reefs. Yesterday we took turns snorkeling in a deep pool made by the low tide. There were dozens of species of tropical fish with beautiful bright colors. It was spectacular! There was also Barry, the barracuda, who lives in these waters and is supposedly used to people swimming around. Peter got a good look at him, about 3' to 4' long, but Jane decided to quit. she had her ring and diamond studs in her ears and people have said not to snorkel with shiny objects on. She didn't want to prove them wrong. So Barry will not get a visit from Jane anytime soon. There is also a resident sand shark named Bruce although we haven't seen him while snorkeling he has swam by our boat on a few occasions.

Today Peter is helping friends, Ralph & Wendy, take down their torn head sail and repair it on the beach. Wendy has a sailrite machine with hand a crank. Lucky her because their are no sail repairs in the Exumas. Jane is helping Isabelle from Sea Walk to finish the kids trail. They have the questionnaire and Junior Ranger Certificate done on the computer and now have to put little hand-print signs up along the trail. it's nice to leave behind something positive. We are planning to depart this lovely place on Friday and head to the only marina before Nassau at Highborne Cay. We have lots of trash bags to dispose of and refresh the fuel & laundry. Our water maker is working great and really lets you be independent. Our solar & wind generator have done their job for 2 weeks now. In fact yesterday we were fully charged (13.10) by late afternoon!!! Today it is overcast & light winds so we won't recharge much and may turn on the Honda 2000 generator for a while.

Every day we wash out our clothes from the previous day (if needed) and by 1PM they have been dry. Of course that is usually shirts & underclothing since we wear shorts 3-4 days at a time! Doing a little each day helps us keep up with it. The only thing we can't do is sheets & towels because they take too much water to wash & rinse. So you need to bring lots of spares (along with boat parts)if you do this trip and want to be anchored for a while. Our fresh supplies are very limited now. We are into our Parmelot milk again, canned veggies, and homemade bread. Looking forward to restocking fresh veggies in Nassau.

Well we won't have corn beef & cabbage tonight but instead I will make pork chops, potato & carrots. We do have whiskey & beer (of the Irish variety) for before----or after. Have a great day everyone & don't celebrate too hard!