This morning we had clear blue skies when we woke up - another gorgeous day. I had my breakfast in the cockpit in my nightie, enjoying the quietness. And for being in an anchorage with at least 15 boats and having houses (ok mansions) all around, it certainly was quiet. There was one big absence - Serenada was nowhere to be seen. Diana and Gilbert left this morning for Key Largo. :( There were a few other boats that also left today. I imagine they were heading for Miami to take advantage of Monday's short weather window to make the jump to the Bahamas. We are nowhere ready so I guess we will be waiting for the next window which appears to be after December 28. Looks like we are stuck in southern Florida for the holidays. I don't expect much sympathy from our family and friends back in Ontario though!

Jorge continued his work on the solar panels today. A fellow cruiser, from Quebec, stopped by in his dinghy and said he was going to town, did we need anything. To save us a trip to the hardware store, Jorge showed him some hardware he needed and asked the guy to pick it up. That was before lunch. Jorge fully expected him to be back within a hour or so (as that seemed to be the indication). However it was almost 1700 before he returned with the hardware! It was a good thing Jorge had other boat jobs to do besides installing the solar panels because he was ready for the hardware by early afternoon. The other boat jobs were addressing the stuffing box (too much water coming through) and changing the annode on the engine, both were jobs Jorge was avoiding like the plague.

I cleaned out the wet closet, reorganized winter clothes yet again, rearranged "stuff" looking for more storage space and cleaned the portholes. It was a busy afternoon for both of us. We worked inside the boat where the temp was 28+C so we were working in our next to nothings!

One of the boats that came to the anchorage today was Rejoice, the lady from Argentina and her husband from the states. They phoned and invited us for happy hour at 1700. We were ready after a full day of working on the boat but we are always ready for a happy hour! We had a nice visit and left around 1930. They were anchored immediately in front of us, so it was only a 2 minute ride back to CS'ta Time.

We had some of the boxed wine with dinner tonight. It passed the test and I am happy to report Jorge and I are still married!

The evening breeze was wonderful, warm and steady. It will be a perfect night for sleeping!