It gets better by the day here.  We're enjoying the laid-back lifestyle, the hot and sunny weather, the food, the rum punch, music, people, parties and more!  I've had to reduce my intake of rum punch from the copious amounts I was putting away (well it goes down so easily) so that I don't just lie around groaning all day as I did on Wednesday.  I did manage to rouse myself to greet our friends Richard and Geoff when they arrived on their boat, Fleck and also to watch the emotional arrival of yacht Be-bop-a-Lula who had heroically rescued two other Arc participants whose boat was sinking. We've spent the last few days socialising in the day with other Arc people and partying at various Arc events in the evening.  On Wednesday evening we had a lovely meal with our friends from yacht Tintagel and said farewell to Lem who would be flying back to Savannah the following day. Although we still have tons of food on board, we decided to visit a supermarket on Thursday to get a few fresh things, so we ventured out onto the hot and dusty road that led to it, fascinated by the chickens, goats and bulls which trot around the roadside from the unfenced fields.  It was extremely hot and we'd forgotten our hats so it was a relief to get into the air-conditioned mall after walking for 40 minutes.  The mall was very similar to any other town centre shopping complex, only much less crowded and the Christmas decorations weren't as ostentatious. The supermarket was interesting because of the wide variety of different and unusual foods and products on display but we didn't buy much because we are still over-stocked and had already bought some fruit and veg from our cheery 'come back again man' who has a little boat stocked with a colourful array of produce and who also entertains us with his typical Caribbean accent and humour.

Our good intentions to do more cleaning when we got back never got underway - it was hot and a cold beer was needed followed by an afternoon nap to prepare us for the evening's prize-giving event.  As it turned out we missed the first part of it but we didn't win anything anyway (although Paul still insists we should have got the award for smallest boat).  The ceremony went on for over two hours, after which we got some food from one of the 

stalls, had a very strong rum and coke (no half measures on this island) and went back to the boat.
We get up early here due to the heat so we decided to go on the free bus that leaves at 9 o'clock each morning to take Arc people to a shopping centre.  It's sponsored by a jewellery company called Colombian Emeralds and their representative was on the bus with us and one other couple.  He gave us rum punch, a very nice pen and a gold coin before telling us all about the jewels but I was more interested in looking at the spectacular scenery we were passing.  We decided there and then to hire a car next week to explore some of it.  The complex, about half an hour from Rodney Bay was very much like an out of town outlet village and we were ushered into a plush jewellery shop and introduced to the manager who wanted to show us bargain pieces and explain about emeralds, gold and their unbeatable prices. Other assistants were positioned ready with trays of trinkets and rings to show us, none of which held any interest for me.  In fact all four of us couldn't get away quick enough and edged hastily away, muttering something about coming back later as soon as it was polite to do so.  The other shops were more suited to us and we spent an hour browsing and buying gifts before checking out a nice rum bar to see how their rum punch compared to others :). From there the bus took us to Castries and that was great, a lively, vibrant and colourful town with a market that had all the sights and smells you'd expect in the Caribbean. After walking through the centre's streets we went to the market where we bought some yams and plantain from a lovely friendly lady who explained how to cook them. Then we ambled round more stalls before meeting up with the other couple, Bob and Sally for lunch and arriving back here at 2 o'clock in time for our customary afternoon beer and nap, promising ourselves that we'd do more boat jobs tomorrow.

It's Christmas Eve now and I'm off to do more festive things to the boat before the sun gets too hot!
Season's Greetings,

Kathy.