The wind still howled. A strong, high-pressure system settled in and resulted in high winds for most of the week. Nobody was moving. We thought we would have to sign up on the voter's list. We even went back to Boo Boo Hill to more securely fasten our spoon. We did not want it being blown away while we were still there.

An interesting observation is the wind speed increases at night. Usually this occurs at the between time of night. This is the time between when it is too late to be late at night and too early to be early in the morning. This is also the time when you are in your deepest sleep and having all those interesting dreams that you wish you could remember in the morning. The Wind knows this and deliberately chooses this time to act up. I am sure the Wind takes great delight in watching those sleepy, disoriented boaters stumbling into the cockpit, trying to figure out if the boat is in the same place as when they last looked out. The Wind then decreases very nicely in the morning as if to wonder what all the fuss was about.

During our stay, we visited the book exchange at the office several times. It was really great as you could exchange pocket books on a one for one basis. So there was always a fresh supply of books as there was some heavy reading going on during the week and boaters were exchanging books on a daily basis - sort of like an enforced Spring Reading week, only we really read. One interesting sideline was we read and enjoyed several novels that we would not have normally purchased at a bookstore. One day, we organized a Dominos game with three other boats. We met, armed with our favourite libation (or what we had the most off which instantly becomes our favourite), under a Casuarina Tree (an Australian pine) at a picnic table by a beach (white sand of course) overlooking the anchorage (blue sky but sheltered from the wind). We had to dinghy to the beach and anchor our dinghy's about 20 meters from the shore in very shallow water as the tide was going out. In this way, we did not have to drag them over said shore after our game. No one had played before so we proceeded to teach everyone our version of Dominos. We had a great afternoon trying to match up all the tiles and consuming said libation.

All in all, the week went fairly quickly, with more morning cinnamon buns and coffee and Karen baking bread and chocolate chip cookies. I normally keep a daily logbook so I can remember what we have done and what day it is. But, when I went to make my Thursday entry, I found out that I had not written anything down all week. Time flies. When I was working, I used to wonder how you could stay in one place for longer than two weeks, our normal vacation. Well, obviously, I have managed to overcome that obstacle. Now I think in weeks, not days.

The weather was finally giving us a break on Saturday so we decided to head for Rock Sound on the island of Eleuthera. We left with five other boats into 20-knot winds with 5 to 7 foot seas on the beam. Vagus loves this point of sail and after we got the wind vane setup to steer, we had one of the best sails of our trip. The wind vane did a great job at steering to the optimum wind angle, and handled the waves amazingly well. We sailed at our maximum boat speed for over 5 hours while Karen and I lounged in the cockpit. This was the first time we really got to use the wind vane and we were thankful we had it. The electronic autopilot could not have handled the wind and sea conditions and we would have had to hand steer without the vane. Of course, we were also the first boat across the channel, leading the pack into Rock Sound. Forty-plus-foot sailboats did not pass us, but who races? Once across the channel, we had to cross shallow banks with reefs on one side, sand banks on the other and keel grabbing coral heads in the middle. All this while it was still blowing 20 knots, now on the nose - one of the joys of boating in skinny water. Karen went to the mast to help guide us through, making the appropriate arm waving to avoid coral heads and finger gestures when my attention wandered. We made it through successfully although she did get a little wet (heh, heh).

When we arrived at Rock Sound, we were welcomed to the anchorage by Chris at Dingle Motors. Dingle Motors are the unofficial ambassadors of Rock Sound. They welcome the cruising boats, and provide all services from gas, diesel, and car rentals to Faxes and ice cream. We were thoroughly welcomed and made to feel at home. By the way, a dingle is a drainage ditch and Dingle Motors is by, you guessed it, a drainage ditch. They have constructed a dinghy dock and offer free garbage disposal - a welcome sight after two weeks at a park with no disposal facility.