From: Ruth Arras [rutharras@yahoo.com] Sent: Monday, May 24, 2004 1:26 PM To: jbarbie11@yahoo.com Subject: Almost Home Hello Folks. We had to leave Roatan quickly. John and Barry signed up for a dive course and as soon as they hit 30 ft of water all the fish left. Actually our adventures in Roatan started when we were emailing you our last update. Apparently after our 6 anchoring attempts, our boat still decided to drift (while we were eating pizza and watching Master and Commander). We arrived back to the harbor to find our boat (at 11pm) in a very different location. Oops. I guess she ended up nestled in the arms of the mangroves some 200 ft away and rescued by fellow sailors who we thanked profusely with butt connectors for boat wiring. We ended up staying on Roatan on the nice side of the island for a week while Barry and John completed their dive course and I tagged on some dives with fellow sailors. Joining John and Barry on their dive was slightly amusing since John preferred diving completely upside down searching for treasure which he never found. I think the only weight we have lost on this trip was in the form of blood taken from us by hordes of Roatan mosquitoes and sand flees. We look like a boat of chicken pox victims. We left (with Barry) on Friday to head to the Yucatan some 300 miles north. We had our share of incidents (the centerboard came off again and we got to blue water swim to tuck it back in) and our main traveler broke (again) but we are used to this by now. I am sure you are not surprised that we arrived at Isla Mujeres at night again. This time was particularly interesting because our chartplotter decided to give out on us completely and our only charts showed a pin point of an island as detail for where we were going. I think we skimmed past a major shoal upon rounding the island. I suppose I should not have been shocked when I looked to my right at one point at night and saw the silhouette of a Mexican navy vessel 40 ft away anchored offshore with no anchor light on a moonless night (did I mention the boat was camouflaged too?) So it goes. We arrived safely and awoke this morning to a lovely spot with tons of sailing boats anchored in a calm turquoise bay. We are leaving for Florida on Wednesday when there is supposed to be a weather window granting SE winds (preferable to beating into them the odd 350 miles). John and I have never heard of a weather window before but for once we will take experienced sailors advice and join the troops north and in doing so also avoid getting our boat confiscated in Cuba (which we had intended to visit). It is strange to be so close to home -- kitchens that donīt move, water that doesnīt smell like rotten eggs, windows that donīt dump salt water in you bed, grass instead of sails for Spot to pee on. I am sure I will have a reflective email missing all the little pleasures of boating life like the thrill of midnight sailing into port but that will be later, after a fresh water shower and after the tedium of traffic really hits my nerves. Regards from Mexico! Ruth __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Friends. Fun. Try the all-new Yahoo! Messenger. http://messenger.yahoo.com/