At first we though it was a car with a very loud back fire, then I heard some running foot steps coming up behind me, quickly I pulled Lesley to the ground. Then three more, two rapid shots, a short break then one more shot. The footsteps go off into the distance down the road, my left pinky finger hurts...

As we lay on the ground we watch the car drive away from behind us, a lime green SUV of some sort, we get up brush off the gravel and continue our walk home. All is intact, no one is bleeding profusely, and the groceries are all still in the bag. Welcome to going out for an evening walk to the grocery store in St. Maarten.

So what happened? We are not completely sure. We have pieced together the following theory of what we walked into.

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Boat work... continues here in St. Maarten. Today we got the bimini top and dodger back from the sail maker. The dodger had 3 new panes of glass installed in it and a few new zippers attached. As well the bimini had a zipper replaced that allows us to join the dodger and bimini top with a panel between the two. This is very nice for windward work or rain.

As well Clem continued with varnish work in the forward head and the saloon today. The plan is to put as many coats as possible on the forward head leaving it a gloss finish as it faces water every day during showers. The saloon will get as many gloss coats as possible followed by a final sanding and a coat of rubbed effect varnish.

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The last few days have been filled with boat projects. We are taking care of a house here on St. Maarten for some people and have taken the advantage to do some jobs that are better done while not living on the boat. On the agenda this week is a new coat of varnish for the saloon and the forward head. As well there are multiple other jobs ongoing.

The dodger is getting new glass put into it and the bimini top is getting a new zipper put in it in a couple places. As well recently we have installed a new double filtration system for the drinking water on the boat. This includes a 1 micron particle filter and a very expensive activated filter which is supposed to reduce most metals and other bad things in the water. It does taste good.

Here is a picture of the saloon ready to sand prior to varnish.

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Normally a day at the beach is Wally's favorite thing but after all episodes today, Wally is fast asleep early tonight. It started out with the dingy ride to Happy beach, the landing sent him into a frenzy. He loves the dingy, but not the landing onto the shore, I think the noise scares him.

Once we arrived on the beach he started to bark at all small children. He got in a little bit of trouble for this!!! We then continued our day at Friar's beach. Directly as we arrived on the shoreline Wally was sniffing somebody's clothes and heisted his leg attempting to pee, he then again was in trouble. Wally did his usual sniffing of a dog that approached him which then lead into a brief dog fight with Wally ending up on top of the other dog-once again Wally in the doghouse!! We continued down the beach where the highlight of Wally's day took place. He met a baby Chihuahua who was in heat and Waly was trying to have his way with her!!! Finally we arrived back on the boat and turned our head for a brief second and noticed a spotlight on Wally. He managed to get himself tangled in a computer mouse with the light from the mouse shining on him.. After this day you can imagine Wally was a little stressed. Wally has now taken up smoking to relieve all future stress.

Wally Burning A Fatty

I have been more diligent in tracking maintenance costs this year by keeping all my receipts in order and entering them in a spreadsheet on a regular basis. Knowing that this is a hot topic among prospective boat owners and exiting boat owners I decided to share the costs of mantaining a Hylas 49 operating in Caribbean waters. Below are the totals up through April 30, 2008.

MAINTENANCE
Jan-08 $2,857.86
Feb-08 $1,730.12
Mar-08 $401.36
Apr-08 $1,603.14
May-08 $216.90
Jun-08
Jul-08
Aug-08
Sep-08
Oct-08
Nov-08
Dec-08

TOTAL $6,809.38

Note: January 08 includes $1700 repair to generator