On March 20 1999 we will take Utopia away from our dock behind our house in Hudson Florida for a second cruise.  Our intention is to go through the Okachobee (sp?) Canal to Lake Worth where we will wait for weather to cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. On or about June 1 we will start north to spend the 1999 hurricane season in the Chesapeake and other interesting sites on the East Coast.  In the fall we will start south to the Caribbean for a few years.  By June of 2000 we will be below the hurricane line in Trinidad and surrounding areas.  From there who knows?  As the Water Rat says, it really doesn't matter.

We will add to this page with our experiences as the opportunity permits, so check up on us as we continue our fabulous adventures.

We have had poor luck on internet access, so I will write a summary of our travels to date and replace it with a more (in fact a overly detailed record) when I can get good access.

We left our dock on February 19, 1999. We went out with escort from our Hudson Beach Yacht Club. A couple of neighbors came to the canal behind their houses to wish us fond fairwell. Six boats accompanied us to the near by Anclote Key for the club monthly cruise. We have been in Hudson for 18 months and have been welcomed beyond our expectations. We lived in the San Jose area for years and would not meet acquaintances as often as we do in Hudson. I have raced boats at a number of yacht clubs in California and never had the kind of reception as we have had here. We do not have a clubhouse and bar, but we do meet at a local restaurant for coffee and cake after the monthly meeting. We have fun races, and monthly cruises. We are happy members and will fly the club burgee from our spreader right below the courtesy flag of the country we visit. After the weekend we went into Tarpon Springs to fill up on stores, fuel, and pick up heavy items that Marlene and Lance Tillman (HBYC members) had taken to lighten our load. It is hard to get Utopia out even at high tide so we kept the waterline as high as possible. We anchored at Anclote Key and left the next morning for an overnight passage to Ft Meyers where we entered the Okachobee (sp?) for a four day passage. Then down to Ft Lauderdale to visit Sandy"s Sister who had all of Sandy"s family (two sisters and one brother plus spouces) to a passover seder. It was the first such occasion of all of us together in their adult life. We left for the Bahamas the next day on an overnight passage to West End. We checked in and visited Freeport to get entrance papers for Poquita the cat. The next day we left for Great Sale Cay, Cooper's Town, then Green Turtle Cay. We stayed there for over a week visiting and waiting some weather. The town is picturesque with brightly painted houses and a general clean condition. The museum was great and we got a better feel for the country. It was originally settled by loyalists who left the US after the revolutionary war. They brought their slaves so there is a mixed population. We spent a few days at Crab Cay where we did some beach combing and hung out as cruisers should. Then it was out to the Atlantic for a mile or so to get around Whale Cay and into the Abaco Sound again and on to Marsh Harbor for almost two weeks. While there we contacted our friends Hugh and Cristine on Demelza a Vancouver 32 that we had last seen in Puerto Vallarta Mexico. They went right around the world and we went left. It happened that they were on a 6000 mile, eight week passage from Cape Town South Africa to Charleston SC, but had to get out of weather. They had no charts so we went out the Whale Cay passage and guided them in. It was great to visit with them. Having Christine and Hugh with us we took a ferry to Hopetown and spent the day siteseeing. We decided to take the boat a whole four miles to Man-0-War Cay and they left for the States the day before we did. We left earlier than we had planned because we sold our hard dink in Man-0-War Cay. It ( the dink) was a problem on windy days and kept us on the boat when it was rough. Without the dink we were not good cruisers so we left for Florida to buy an inflatable. We reversed our track and ended up in Ft Pierce. We checked in, but could not find a dink. The next day we moved up to Melbourne where we had lots of help from fellow cruisers to get the dink to the boat. It is a great town with sevices and supplies close to the anchorages. The next day we moved to Titusville for overnight and when we left the next day Demelza came up on VHF being very near. They visited with us for happy hour in Daytona, and then we both spent a couple of days in St Augustine visiting the nations oldest city. Then it was on to Savannah through the marsh lands for a couple of days. In Savannah we met Demelza again and took the local tour. It turns out that Hugh, a Welshman, shares Jack's taste for beers. So we sample the local or imported brews while Sandy and Christine look around. Then it was on to Beaufort SC where we are now. Demelza has gone on to Charleston. We will stay here a bit to do some boat work and enjoy the area. We don't buddy boat with Demelza, but we are close enough to contact by radio and get together for shoreside visits. They are residents of Victoria BC who immigrated from England in the 60's. We will add to this as we go as well as replace it with a more proper log.

It is June 2 and we are in Georgetown SC. We have visited Beaufort SC, and Charleston. We took a day for Beaufort to visit the old homes and wander around. We anchored short of Charleston by a mile or so at the suggestion of Randy and Patty of Passagio who we met in Beaufort. The spot had nice homes in front of the anchorage and we were going to a nearby restaurant to buy a beer and use their dinghy dock. We stopped to ask a young man working on his boat at a dock behind a beautiful house. He invited us to use the dock. The supermarket was a couple of blocks away. We stayed two days to reprovision and visit West Marine. The first evening, the young man who had let us use his dock came by and we invited he and his wife to share our happy hour. They are Legree and Amy, a pair of lovely newly weds. The next day we were hailed from the dock behind some condos, and it was Randy and Patty of Passagio who had seen Utopia from the bridge. They invited us to take a car ride with them. They showed us the waterfront of Charleston and took us to the marina where Demelza was docked. We were able to say fairwell to Hugh and Christine who are staying there for a month or so. We should see them in the summer in the Cheasapeak. Randy and Patty took us to Passigio for happy hour. It is a beautiful Hylas(sp?) very well maintained. They returned us to Utopia. It is wonderful then great people that we meet cruising. As Annabel of Sand Piper said in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, new best friends. One of the best things about cruising. We moved on the next day through Charleston harbor and up the ICW. We parked in a side creek one night then on to Georgetown. This is another revitalized old southern town. I am using the library computer for this. We will be on our way tomorrow to Oriental NC.

The trip to Oriental was beautifrul through cyprus swamps. We stopped overnight in a side channel and it was beautiful. The boat is still slow and I intended to dive under the boat to clean the prop. Sandy objecte because there was an aligator on a log along side us. Narrow minded. During the night some locals came to a houseboat nearby and kept us up with their loud talk. A bunch of youlg old-boys out drinking beer. The next night we parked in a more favorable spot and were able to dive on the prop and chang a zinc. It did little help with the speed and overheating. The next day we got to Oriental and met Russ and Diane of Shadrack who we had met in Mexico. Their son Cole was gone visiting relatives, but we got to meet the new crew, Tristan. he is about 11 months old and a charmer. We spent three days with these great people and then left for north. We stayed two days in the Punga river cut as the wind in the Aligator river was strong and we could not make more than 3.3 knots with it on our nose and this weak engine. I had changed one injector that was leaking bubble in Oriental and it helped. The I changed the thermostat to a 20 degree less temperature. The next day June 13 the wind shifted and got lighter so we motor sailed up the Aligator river and the Arbamarle Sound. The engine is running cooler so the problem may be solved. I still don't kn ow why it wants to run hot so will have to watch it. We even sailed for part of the way. It was wonderful. We are now in Elizabeth City NC. It is a very hospitable town with a free dock and very friendly people. The lunch counter across from the marina has low priced and good food and the propreitor of 43 years came over and introduced himself. This is a great place. We will stay a couple of days, depending on weather, then go up the Dismal Swamp to Norfolk and the beginning of the Chesapeake.

We ended up staying about four days due to weather. We enjoyed the town very much. There is a group of volunteers headed by Fred who call themselves the rose buddies because they give roses to cruising women. When there are more than five boats at the dock they host a wine and cheeze party. Great hospitality. Fred took me to his home to show me his 100 duck and geese decoys, and many antiques.

We eventually left and motored up the Dismal swamp canal. It is not dismal, but beautiful. It starts as a tree lined river and eventually becomes a straight canal still lined with trees. There are two locks that lift then lower you eight feet. After the first lock we stopped for the night at the North Carolina visitor's center where eight boats were rafted to three spaces. We all met for happy hour on one boat. Another great cruising experience.

The next day the eight paraded through the last of the intracoastal waterway into Norfolk VA. We continued on to Hampton where we stayed for a week waiting for a replacement for the electronics for our MSD {sewer system}. The town was great and we spent a couple of days with a german couple who we had met in the Dismal swamp. We then moved to Deltaville for four days of heavy heat. We paid to use the marina pool. We met Marc and Alison on Angel and enjoyed a couple of days. From there to Solomon's Island, another nice spot where we visited with a single hander, Roland, who takes his 23 footer out for a couple of weeks. Also another couple on Islander 42 who were very friendly. Then on to Sandy point near Reedsville for a couple of days and then on accross the bay to Oxford for a couple of days. We moved on to Annapolis for a considerable stay. We met many interesting people. Bob and Liese who cruise on a wooden Sharpie, Dawn Treader that is so original that the blocks are wood. A couple on a 20 foot Flicka. An interesting Frenchman Oliver who sold his boat and is on to new adventures. He has had four or five boats in 25 years. Two Rod and Linore, one in a hurricane and another on a reef. Ken is a man parked near us on a 25 foot boat. He is retired navy, but has a business building anchor and bow lights from LEDs. One of those super fast learners who never had the time for a formal education, but is very inventive.

8/10/99 We had visitors for the weekend. They were Russ and Cole of Shadrack. They drove up from their home in Oriental for a three day cruise. They arrived on Thursday evening, and we slept the night in Back Creek. On Friday we sailed and motored to St. Michaels. We were able to get the spinnaker up with a lot of untwisting help from Russ. Then the wind died and we motored in. Along the way we were called by Sandy on Little Bit who we cruised with in the Pacific and through the Canal She and Del on Delbie II were bound to Annapolis. When they learned that we were bound for St. Michaels they diverted. We went ashore to scout the interesting town. Russ was our guide as he had been there before, and Cole had an ice cream attack. Of course Jack and some others joined him. Along the way we met Marc and Alison of Angel whom we met in Deltaville. It's a wonderful small world. The next day we visited the great museum with the crews of Utopia, Shadrack, Little Bit, Delbe II, and Angel. It is a great museum with many restored boats and a great steam museuml. That evening Russ and Cole took the dink to catch crabs and returned with the evening's meal. Sandy and Del joined us. While they were crabbing a power boat dragged down on Utopia. Del used his dinghy to get to it and took their spair anchor to set it out and kedge it away. When Russ and Cole returned I picked up thier original anchor and reset it. It was in 18 feet of water with about 30 feet of rhode. Some weekend boaters are complete hazards.

On Sunday we left early to return to Annapolis. We motored into 15 to 23 knots until we reached the bay and turned north. The wind dropped so we tried to start the motor. We finally had to be towed in to Annapolis. Russ's BoatsUS card helped with the fee. Thank you Russ. When we were mored, Russ and Cole had to leave for home. On Monday Del and Sandy came to Utopia and Del worked for hours solving the problem. It appears that the problem is the starter. Jack eventually got the thing out. It is mounted next to the Galley and very hard to reach. On Tuesday we used the dink to pull Utopia the couple of miles to Back Creek anchorage. I was having trouble so Sandy (Utopia) called on VHF for Sandy and Del to bring their dink. With the two dinks on the side it went well, and we are now anchored. We went ashore to call the dealer and order a rebuilt starter sent to the local Mailbox place. It should be here in a week. We also called Bill, the mechanic who helped with our motor in Sausalito, to talk about the oil leak we have had problems with for a month. While working on the starter we found oil leaking from a breather on that, invisible, side of the engine. Bill says that it takes hot gases out of the crankcase and strips the oil to drain back. The drain back must be clogged or something. In any case it is not a life threatening problem and we will try to fix it. Of course, Jack had worried for weeks about the engine being on it's last legs. When it failed to start on Sunday he was making plans to take it out and scuttle it. Typical Jack.

8/14/99 When I ,Jack, clean the breather I did not find a return line for condensed oil. There was a clear sign of oil leaking from the breather down the side of the engine, so the excess oil use is still a problem. Del suggested that I turn the breather upside down so the condensed oil can drain back. That should save oil, but not solve a basic problem. We will get the starter on in a couple of days, then run it to see how it does.

9/22/99 It has been some time since we got to the web so I will summarize. We got the alternator and installed it with a few choice words from Jack. The engine started on the first revolution and it has continued to function for the last month. I called our friendly Nissan expert Bill in Sausalito about the oil leak and he said check the oil breather. I found it and cleaned it. Del suggested turning it over so trapped oil would drain back instead of into the bilge. I did and it worked. We have run 50 hours with no loss of oil.

We visited the Naval Academy and the State Capitol in Annapolis before we left. The museum at the Academy was very interesting with many ship models. Some were yard models for the construction model back in the 18th and 17th centuries. They are complete even on the inside. Modern techniques have used fiber optics to look at the finished insides. There are also models carved from bone by French prisoners during the 30 year war. They used soup bones and did beautiful work. The Capitol is interesting. It is still in use after over 200 years. They preserve the room where Washington resigned his Commision to the Continental Army. We did enjoy Annapolis.

There were three hurricanes in the Atlantic so we left for Washington DC. We stopped in Rhode river overnight, Solomon's Island where we had dinner with Terri and Austin of Phase II. Then to St. Mary's for three days to wait out weather and see the museum. It is great. It is not a recreation, but an archelogical museum where they research the sites and try to reproduce the building as close as it can be to the original. They have a replica of the colonists 1634 trading vessel, The Dove. The crew talks like they are in that time as is common in museums these days. The first mate demonstrated the navigation equipment for us and it was facinating. The crew could not write so they had a block of wood in which they placed pegs for sailing heading every half hour. The officers transferred these to the log.

We continued on to the harbor behind Cobb Island where Mrs Quade has run a store/restaurant for 60 years. It is the local hang out in that rural area. Very nice people and super lady. We anchored in the river the next night and visited Mt. Vernon the next day. It was very well preserved and a pleasant experience. We continued on to Washington DC where we anchored in the side channel just passed the bridges from the Jefferson Monument. We use the Gangplank Marina's services for $75 a month it includes showers, dinghy dock, laudry, mail and package reciept,and telephone hookup for our e-mail. Greg Smith behind the desk and the manager Damion are great as are all the staff. They seem to be happy in their job which is unusual these days. When Hurricane Floyd threatened they sent a dinghy out to offer a slip free of charge. We were well anchored and did not accept, but that is true class. Best marina of our cruising life.

We have been visiting the museums,Georgetown, Alexandra, the halls of Congress and tomorrow the White House. We have enjoyed it all and for $75 a month and eating out only when we please. This has been great.

10/2/99 We are getting ready to leave having seen many of the sites and sights. Jack even had a talk about the effects of oil prices that have doubled in six months with the assistant to our congresswoman, Karen Thurman. Pretty much of a ho-hum. We took up the two anchors we put down for Dennis and Floyd. They were really burried, and we had to let out 250 feet of the main anchor rhode to get to them and use the windlass to pull them. They were washed on deck, and are now drying to be stowed this afternoon. Then we will get water and fuel ready to leave on Monday or Tuesday after the weekend and a possible weather front. We filled our propane tanks because Walt one of the workers at the marina was kind enough to drive Jack to Falls Church VA. DC does not allow propane filling in the district. Nice guy who lives on a classic scooner that has a cold molded hull.

We plan to stop in Deltaville which is 96 miles down the Potomic and another 50 down the Chesapeake. We will stop for a while while we climb the mast to change the anchor lights. We will do it there in case we run into trouble we can get help at one of the boat yards. Til' next time.

11/29/99

It has been a long time since I could get to the net to add to our log, and a lot has happened. We did get to Deltaville and stayed a couple of days. As we entered we got some sounds from the engine that seemed to be filter problems. When we went on, to Norfolk after filter changes the same thing happened. We found a lot of dirt in the filter in a short time. So we went into a haul out marina and talked about having the fuel filtered. They said there was no filtering service, so we would have to have all of our fuel pumped into a dump. This we did at a cost of $400. Since then it has run OK. The mechanic said that the additive Biobor can cause that problem if you add too much. Some of you who know me, Jack, know it is if a little is good a whole lot more is better. Now I will be more careful.

We moved 11 miles to Great Bridge VA where we waited out hurricane Irene tied to a secure wall. The hurricane stayed off shore so the winds were light, but it rained a lot. Then we moved to Bell Haven for overnight, then on to Oriental where we visited with the Stewarts and saw their great new house. Russ took us to New Bern to see Sandy of Little Bit and Dell of Delbe II. We will not see them for some time as they are going to Bermuda and then down to the Virgin Islands. We told them that we had made a decision not to go down island to Vensuela as we were tired of boat maintenance and had decided to sell Utopia and get a boat more suited to our Hudson home waters.

We then left for Swansboro for overnight and then to Wrightsville Beach for overnight and fuel. The next day we motored to the Cape Fear entrance and went off shore for two days to Fernandino Beach FL. Good trip, but getting lumpy seas the last morning. It was interesting that we were the only sailboat out in the ocean. Hundreds motor down the Intracoastal, but few go the fast way off shore. We were having funny sounds from the alternator so we tied up to our first marina in months to get it fixed. Stan and Ann of Rouix (sp?) who were leaving for cruising the next day took us to an alternator shop where we had the frame replaced. Great people. They did leave because we saw their boat in St Augustine. We moved to St. Augustine where we prepared adds for Utopia and sent them off. Then it was down to Melbourne at Dragons Point. We stayed a couple of days to provision and get e-mail at the library. Then we moved down to Titusville, and on to Vero Beach where we took a Bouy at the Municiple Marina. It is reasonable priced and we can use the local bus system to get to stores for supplies while we work on the boat to make it nice for selling.

We saw an add in the local paper for a 1976 VW camper which we eventually bought. Now we are beginning to become land lubbers again. We have since put a couple of boat adds on the net, and begun to paint and fix.

This Thanksgiving weekend we drove our van to Ft. Lauderdale to visit Sandy's sister. We will then go back and continue working on the boat. We plan to drive to Hudson for the Yacht club Christmas party and to get to the Dermatologis for me. Then if we don't have the boat sold we will move down to Marathon for the rest of the winter as it is clean water and reasonable dinghy dock fees with parking included. We drove down on the Friday after Thanksgiving to scout it out.

That is about it for now as we are up to date. Thanks to Sandy's sister and husband we were able to get on the net and bring this up to date.

We had the boat sold to a orthopedic surgeon from Ohio, and while driving back from Hudson we got a phone message that he had backed out. Surprisingly, we both didn't mind that much as we were looking forward to spending the winter in Marathon. The yacht club party was fun and we saw a lot of good friends. We took a lot of stuff off the boat so had to go back in a few days to pick up our dive gear that we will need in Marathon. We did put a couple more adds on the net, and if the boat sells for our asking price of $32,000 that will be OK. If not, it is not so bad as we will keep it and cruise a couple of months a year and get a small boat to cruise locally for a few days at a time.

We spent Christmas eve at Port St Lucie with Jack's cousin Eilene Worth. It was nice to visit with her and to go to midnight mass at the local church. She had a previous invite for dinner so we returned to Utopia for Christmas dinner.

So, we are going on cruising. As we keep saying, "who wouldn't be happy living in Utopia." We left Vero Beach on December 27 and moved down a few miles to Jensen Beach. We left the VW camper in the marina parking lot until we can get back to shuttle it. The next day we motored to Lake Worth to anchor for the night. On the 29th we went off shore from Lake Worth to Port Everglades at Ft. Lauderdale. It was a nice day with wall to wall blue sky. The wind was too light for prue sailing the 40 miles in daylight so we motor sailed with a knot or so of wind assist. We anchored in the spot we were in at Easter near the Sheridan Bridge in Dania. On the 30th we dinked up the Dania canal to Sandy's sister's home on the canal. We will stay here through New Years then head down to Marathon.

We heard from Jack's son Mark that he may be able to spend a couple of weeks on Utopia in January. We are planning a cruise to Havana Cuba for a few days if the weather looks good. So it is off to get the Cuba courtesy flag and a couple of charts. It will be fun and we will still be cruising.

We left Dania on January 2 and motored down the waterway to Key Biscane. We had a nice night in a beautiful anchorage. We left there on Jan 3 and motorsailed to Rodriques Key. When Sandy tried to back down on the anchor the transmission did not work. It failed in both forward and reverse. The next day we sailed to Long Key and parked in an open roadstead, sailing off and on the anchor. The wind was from the southeast so we had an uncomfortable night with two foot seas. The next day we sailed to the bite off Boot Key where we anchored and called for a tow. Fortunately we had bought an unlimited towing from Boats US and Steven towed us to the anchorage where we got the hook down. It is a good protected anchorage. The folks use channel 16 for local communication so Buterfly Dream called and said they had been following our problems and suggested an open spot near them. They are great people.

The next day Jack took the Greyhound bus to Vero Beach to get the VW van. He slept in the van that night, and checked out the next day. Then drove the 300 miles back to Marathon and Utopia. The next day Jack came down with a cold/flu. The temperature ran above 100 for three days.

Though not feeling well we borrowed a comalong from Bill on Puffin and the two of us uncoupled the shaft and lifted the motor about six inches. We had talked to the company who rebuilt the transmission a year ago and they said it looked like a dampner plate. So we removed the 100 pound transmission using a block and tackle. Then we took out then housing and removed the dampner plate, and it was shot. The teeth on the coupling were completely worn. That afternoon after getting the transmission out in one day we left for Ft. Lauderdale. We stayed in Dania with Roe and Marty and went to the Transmission place the next morning. They said that the dampner plate (which I had had since Sausalito and had installed last year when we changed the transmission) was too robust for that transmission and caused the failure of both the dampner plate and the transmission. The found the right dampner plate in their stock, and we boutht a rebuilt transmission. There went $1151. We drove back to Marathon and Utopia, and installed the transmission that day. It worked OK. The next day, Jan 16, we picked up Jack's son Mark at the Miami airport. We appologized to him for all the troubles, then had him help realign the engine which was a days work. We went snorkeling the next day out to Sister' Key. Not too good with only a few fish in three foot water. Then we took a shakedown trip to Newfound Harbor on Big Pine Key. The next morning we were going out to find a diving spot, and upon checking the transmission oil found it the color of Peptobismal which indicated water leakage in the transmission cooler. We called Towboat US. Steve who had towed us before came out and towed us 20 miles back to our anchorage at Boot Key Harbor. We let that problem go while we arranged for Mark to take SCUA lessons to get his C-card. He had taken the class in Junior College, but the instructor had his license lapse and could not certify him. In the past 30 years he has dived with Jack and other friends, but could not go on dive boats with out it. So this was a great opportunity for him. He had a good time and now can go with his fire fighter buddies on SCUBA trips. On Jan 30 Jack drove him to the airport with stops at the Everglades National Park and Miami Beach. Jack got back in time for the last half of the superbowl on the radio. The Keys lost their TV tower during hurricane Irene so there is no TV. Now we are working to replace the cooler and put Utopia back in shape. In the meantime Jack had to go to the Dr. to get treatment for his bronchitis which has held on for three weeks. It is getting better. During all this Jack lost his wallet from the dink so had to get a new licence and all the cards etc. Troubles continue. But we are cruising and all is well. Somewhere in there I forgot to mention that Jim Kellett, a potential buyer, came to look at Utopia. He has not contacted us since.

We went to the Miami boat show and picked up Joy Henderson, a friend from Hudson. She returned to Marathon with us and spent a couple of nice days including a trip to Key West. We took her back to Hudson in the van and left it at her house as we were ready to bring Utopia home.

We went out to the outside anchorage at Boot Key to clean the bottom. We found that the cutlass bearing is worn and in need of replacement. For landlubbers, it is the bearing that supports the propeller shaft.

We left Marathon on March 1 for Little Shark River where we stayed for a couple of nights. It is very pretty with many islands. There is a region of ten thousand islands to the north and a lot of places to explore. We then moved up to Indian Key for a couple of days. The area is not as pretty as the Little Shark River, but there is a channel to Everglades City which we did not attempt. We will visit this area when we get a shallow draft boat. The next day we moved to Marco Island and civilization. We went to the supermarket and checked our e-mail. After two days we sailed to Ft. Meyers beach.

We stayed in Ft. Meyers beach for about four days and went to the store, walked the nice beach, went to the movies by city bus. Cruising friends from Roitan in 1996 came by Dave and Leslie from Cindigy (sp?) they have a new boat and are off again. It was good to see old friends. We left Ft. Meyers Beach with the intention of going up the Intracoastal to Capriva. Unfortunately we made a naviagational error and went aground in a shallow side channel. We had to be towed off again. We were so discusted that we went out into the gulf and did an overnight off shore. We had 20 knots and gusts so had a good ride. We anchored in the dark on the Gulf side of Anclote Key on Tuesday March 15. The next day we motored into the Anclote River to the anchorage at Anclote beach park. Very nice. We called Joyce and Bob Kockerham (Sandy's sister) and they picked us up for the afternoon including welcome showers, a visit to the bowling alley where we had some friends, and a great barbeque courtesy of Bob. The next day we returned for a laundry day. On Saturday, Lance, Marlene, and Elizabeth Tillman came to the park to visit. Great friends who were well missed. On Sunday, Stephen, Sandy's son, came by to visit. He lives nearby in Tarpon Springs.

On Monday March 21 we motored to Skeleton Key Marina in Hudson Beach to end our 1999-2000 cruise just two years and two days after we left. It has been wonderful, but it is good to be back also. Bob and Joyce, and Joy Henderson were at the marina to welcome us and we had a nice lunch at Sam's. This has been a wonderful year, and we now look forward to a land trip to visit our families before we settle down to the landlubber life for a while.

WHAT A WONDERFUL LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jack and Sandy

the Utopians