Tropical Cruise?

Linda keeps asking, "Is this the tropical cruise you promised me?" Nighttime temperatures in Wilmington, NC are in the upper 20's F. Neither of us expected to be living on Sandpiper in winter weather when we left Chicago in Sept. 04. But that is just one of the many unexpected adventures we have encountered along the way. As always the most delightful experiences are the people we meet and hearing their stories. We spent a lovely (if cold) evening in downtown Wilmington Sunday 12/11 watching the Christmas parade. We talked with a delightful interacial couple who were excellent parents and with a couple who brought their 18th month old granddaughter to see the lights. We had fun catching candy for the children. We keep being amused at ourselves that it takes very little to entertain us and we are having a good time.

Loy finished installing new sound and heat insulation inside the engine room. He didn't know it was possible to make himself into such a pretzel and actually get ontop of the engine. It took about three days for his back to recover from the adventure.

The boat yard staff finally got all the equipment together and installed new refrigeration in Sandpiper. We have dependable food storage again. The yard staff accuses us of setting the thermostat too low and thus being responsible for the cold weather. Linda warmed all of their hearts by baking chocolate chip cookies and making hot chocolate for the break time in the yard this morning.

We will leave Wilmington by airplane on the 15th to visit our son Carl on St. Thomas for Christmas. We are excited about being with Carl. He has made plans for us to attend the Miracle on Main Street when we arrive on the 16th. It is a street festival with lots of caribbean music and crafts that we attended with him last year. We'll also get to see Christmas Story at the Pistarcle Community Theater (where Carl is on the board) and on Christmas morning early go to Morning Sing downtown when the choirs from all the churches sing. Our family tradition established last year is that we go snorkeling on Christmas afternoon. We will return on the 28th and start toward Florida. Our tenative plan is to cross from Key Biscayne to the Bahamas in February.

Last night cruisers Mike and Jan (s/v Elephant's Child) had dinner on board with us and told us about their years spent in the Caribbean. We called and all talked to Paul and Denise (s/v Vixen) who are in St. Augustine and headed for the Bahamas.

Warmest Christmas greetings to you and your family!