Still in the UK!
June 26^th

I thought an update was long overdue especially as I keep getting emails asking where we are! Well we came back to the UK in late May, supposedly to see Dave’s daughter Flick get married and for a 3 week break and, but we all enjoyed being back and seeing family and friends again, combined with the fact it is hurricane season in the Caribbean, and we had another two more wedding invites so we have decided to stay for a couple of months.

Dave and I flew back last week, it was a whistle-stop tour and involved a two night stay in Miami where we sadly said goodbye to our Canadian friends from Windancer, their year long trip has come to an end and they flew back to Canada on Wednesday. I think that is the worst part of the cruising lifestyle, you meet such great people and then have to say goodbye. In previous emails I may have mentioned that we were considering leasing their Cat from them and sailing around Florida for the summer, but events over took us and we have put those plans on hold for now. We also spent 3 days in Nanny Cay in the BVI getting ChilliOyster out of the water and preparing her for the hurricane season. We have rented a special cradle which is approved by our insurance company and she was hauled out the water on Monday. We had to clear all cardboard food boxes off the boat (rats), cover all the windows with silver foil, flush the loos with vinegar and olive oil (prevents the seals drying out!), pickle the watermaker, remove sails and stow every piece of deck equipment below decks! It was a very busy few days and we couldn't believe how hot the weather had got in the three weeks we'd been away. It was well over 100 degrees with very little wind and high humidity, not great weather to pack up your boat in; it was almost a relief to come back to the UK! I must admit, I’m not sure I could have spent the summer in that degree of heat. We have been very lucky with Molly; she is now staying with a great family in the BVI. Whilst working on our generator, one of the men, Lincoln, mentioned that he was considering buying a dog for his children, we enquired as to whether he would like to "try" one on loan, he agreed to take her for a trial weekend whilst we were still there, this worked out well and hence Molly is now very happy in a nice air-conditioned house by the marina. We expected her to be sad to leave us but when Lincoln came to collect her before we left; she heard his voice, leapt off the boat and went off with him wagging her tail without so much as a glance backwards! Dave was actually quite upset as he always thought she was his dog!  We didn't see here when we went back last week as we didn't think it was fair to her, but we saw lots of pictures of her being entered into the local dog show and looking very pretty with ribbons in her hair.

So we are now back and in the process of looking for/buying a small apartment. Having been away a year we are now starting to run into issues because we are no longer on the electoral register, in addition the welcome we receive from parents every time we arrive with 2 overactive children, 8 suitcases, 4 laptops and a mobile office is understandably getting less and less enthusiastic! And as we don't plan to be away from the UK for extended periods of time due to family commitments, we felt we needed a small place to come back to and a current UK address. We are still undecided about our plans for Cruise Hill and now would not be a good time to sell anyway so a small apartment seems like a good idea. The children are still doing well. Jordan was 16 last week and took his motorbike CBT, I can't believe where the years have gone, he is still as keen on fishing and sailing, whilst we were in the US last week, he did another channel crossing and sailed with Steve to Cherbourg to stock up on booze for the local sailing club. He is also booked to complete his Day skipper exams, practical and Theory whilst we are here.

As to our future boating plans, we have definitely decided that we would like to buy a catamaran; it will give us the space we need and address my dislike of heeling over in strong winds! I know a Cat will not sail as well as ChilliOyster, or probably be as safe, but given we spend far more time 'living' on the boat than we do actually sailing it! Then I think a cat is a much better option for us. So we have now put Chilli on the market, so in addition to preparing her for the hurricane season we have also had to make a show boat out of her, think copious amounts of decorative cushions, folded posh towels, candles and a bottle of champagne! We also polished all her wood with orange oil and cleared out 15 black bags of acquired stuff (aka rubbish!). I must admit she looked great when we left. So the future will now depend on whether or not we sell her in the next few months. If we do
then the boat hunting starts again, given the current value of the dollar v the pound and the fact we are selling Chilli in dollars, we will probably ending up buying in the US. If we don't, then we plan to return to the Caribbean in September and continue cruising.

So that is probably the main news in a nutshell, I have uploaded some pictures of Flick's wedding to the Picasa website. I will also try to update the website in the next month which is sadly out of date at present.