Bye-Byes, Bocci Ball and "Bonfires"

Our guests Kathryn and Mark departed yesterday (Wednesday) morning about 0900 on a "lancha" headed to Carti and the jungle. Today we awoke to another day of incredible sunshine, warm breezes, and flat seas. Where was this weather when they were here? It never fails. They were great boat guests and we'll look forward to another visit from them someday. Kathryn did a great job on the log the last several days. Now, we have to get everything laundered and ready for our next guests - Richard and Rene in a few weeks.

After our farewells, the purchase of bread and vegetables (along with a whole chicken which we cooked last night - yummy), there was the announcement of a trash burn on one of the islands. We discovered this is not just a way to get rid of your garbage, but is also a social event. We brought our bag of paper and plastics (no glass, cans or "explosives." One person threw an aerosol container in - a real no-no. It was a can of hairspray - who in the world uses hairspray out here??? I haven't even had a hair cut in 10 months!) Anyway, the fire was in full burn when we arrived and then bocci ball teams were created. Folks bring beer and snacks and the games begin. It's a great way to meet the other boaters as well as enjoy some social intercourse. Michael did make his way into the finals with partner Tim from "Hooligan".

It's Thanksgiving but we aren't watching the colorful parades on TV and smelling the turkey in the oven. Our Thanksgiving should be fun - but very different. We'll post the events tomorrow - because who knows if it will all happen or not!

Because it's Thanksgiving, we'd like to share just a few of the many things that we are thankful for:

We're thankful that we can be out here living our dream. We both worked hard and saved up so we could take some time to sail and travel and explore while we are still able to. We know many people dream - but not all get to live their dream.

We are thankful, for our family and friends who have supported us in this dream. Our parents don't see us as often, and we miss the chance to visit them and even talk to them more often. But we have folks who understand and support our dreams. We are grateful for them. We're grateful for brothers and sisters who are helping us in so many ways while we are out here. We couldn't do this without all of them. We love hearing from family and friends and getting the e-mails and notes makes the time out here even more pleasurable. We're grateful for our "loyal fans" and readers of the web page and their wacky comments and questions.

We are thankful when boat projects get done and problems have an easy fix - not always the case. The current broken "thru-hull" is an issue and I'll be thankful if Michael can fix it easily. We're thankful for a well stocked boat of spare parts to make projects do-able.

We're thankful for the local islands and their gracious people who allow visiting boats to have access to and share these magnificent places. It's been a pleasure to meet local people who are so proud of their islands and countries.

We're thankful for patience - the patience to deal with the boat mishaps and projects; the patience to deal with the lack of wind, rain or sun; the patience to deal with each other (especially when anchoring); and, the patience to deal with "officials" who can sometimes change the rules midstream and vendors who don't always support their products.

We're thankful for our health and each other.

Thank you all - and Happy Thanksgiving to each of you.