Hi All,

We are currently sitting in St. Martin waiting for our windlass to be repaired. A couple of days ago we planned to spend a night at the dock cleaning the boat and making some repairs. When we went to pull up the anchor there was no power at the windlass and I almost broke my back pulling up the 60 pound anchor. It turns out that salt water somehow got to the wiring and short cuircuited everything. We have desinged a simpler way of wiring it and are waiting for the electrician to do the re-wiring on Monday. We have, however, had some eventful times getting here.

The big fight...

The sail from Bermuda to Anguilla was less than perfect. Though any sailor should not complain about being on a beam reach, 25kts and big seas for 4 days without a change can be trying. Around day three we were both hit with a general crankiness about life. The boat was heeling too much, it was impossible to do anything comfortably, sitting outside was just too wet, and the walls of the boat seemed to be closing in on us. We expected a lot of ups and downs but when the downs hit sometimes sheer reason just doesn't work. It was early afternoon and we had barely spoken all day when I heard a loud crack. Colleen slipped while making a sandwich and banged her head quite hard in the kitchen. I looked up to see the angry contorted face of my wife glaring at me, a moment later a string of expletives too bad to write here came crashing down on my head. 'How dare you laugh at me, you stupid, fat !@#%$ idiot'. I answered 'what are you talking about, I'm not laughing, calm down'. I should have known never to tell a person with a banged head on a rolling boat to calm down. After being yelled at again I went totally over the edge and we started screaming at each other. Doors were slammed, by both of us I might add, so hard that we broke the door frame. Ten minutes later we were best friends. As we expected, placing two people in small boat necessitates a fight once in a while. What we did not expect was the intensity that can build while people's nerves get shattered by an endlessly rolling ocean. After our explosion we realized that this is just what we need to force us into some intelligent reflection about ourselves and each other. It also forced us to go from knowing in theory that this trip will build tolerance and patience, to knowing it in reality. One can wax poetic all day long about patience but actually being patient is something all together different.

Scarry drinks...

After our long trip to Anguilla we were very happy to finally arrive, however, our second day on shore proved to be very unexpected. We went out for a couple of drinks at sunset on a beautiful beach with a nice little bar. Colleen ordered a rum punch, which is the drink of choice on these islands. She drank her first over the course of more than an hour, then we ordered one more round and the check. Half way through her second drink i noticed she was worse for wear and suggested we go home. Halfway to the dinghy, about 150 meters away, she collapsed on the beach. I was surprised at her state of inibriation, but figured that she must have had an empty stomach or something. With much effort I got her to the boat, where she vomitted and then collapsed in bed totally unresponsive. I called 911 where the local operator berated me for being a bad husband and said that there was nothing they could do until I got her to the main road. I must say that carrying a 120 pound unconscious person is not so easy, especially from boat to boat in the dark. I was able to contact my GP and another friend who is a toxicology professor at Harvard in Boston. They both told me that even if she were drugged or over intoxicated it was very improbable that there would be ill effects lasting more than a day or two. Considering the situation they both thought that a date rape drug may have been given as she had the exact symptoms. I was also told to wake her every two hours and monitor her breathing. Horribly, while trying to get her to bed she fell and I caught her only after she banged her nose quite hard, and to wake her I had to slap her quite hard as well so now she is a little sore in the head. (I hope that that is the last time I have to beat my wife!!!!) Anyway... she is fine now and we are convinced that the bar tender was trying to drug me as he most likely assumed that I was having the stronger drink and that would have given him a chance to take advantage of her on a relatively empty beach while I was incapacitated.

We have no idea what actually happened. We went to the clinic to have blood tests but the wait was so long that we eventually left and Colleen is now totally recovered after two days of rest and a lot of water. It seems unlikely that 2 rum punches would have this effect and whether there was maliscious forthought we will never know. What we do know is that we now are very much on alert that a young couple travelling together are likely and easy targets of people's bad intentions. We find it funny that while we brave the open ocean together on a small boat, all along, we still have more to fear from our fellow man. Despite this sad commentary we still have our youthfull optimism!!!

Once we have a functioning anchor we are off to St. Barthes for Thanksgiving, then we will spend a couple of days hiking on Saba Island to recover from whatever festivities may find us in the coming days.