Just a few hours after Madeline, Allison & Michelle left, Perry showed up on board to install the new computer for the new autohelm. I went over to Moe’s (fabulous supermarket) to stock up on provisions ( I still can’t get over that I pay more for seltzer water than rum here in the islands). Perry didn’t finish up till the next day, but he was done by noon and we were off to St John for a short run to calibrate and test the autopilot.

We had heard that Francis / Maho Bay was in good shape, so set our course. There were only about a half dozen boats in the mooring field (yet moorings available for 30+ boats!) so we had our choice. I glanced over and suddenly realized we were next to Tourtourelle (Ian & Ann) and Aura (Simon & Kim), who we had last seen on the OCC dock in Norfolk! We had a great little reunion over sundowners that night on Aura and caught up.

OCC sundowners

Ian & Ann left the next day, but we stayed to clean the bottom of our hull. I scrubbed as much as I could from the water’s edge with a snorkel and then Trip followed with the Mantus to finish the entire bottom and prop. Of course He had extra company when two remoras came to investigate. Creepy looking things –they look like small deformed sharks, but are quite harmless.

Simon and Kim came over for a quick sundowner and it was an early night for all.