Doesn’t the Satellite Image look impressive? Sweet Caroline is close to the center in the image.

Just spoke with Sweet Caroline to get an update on the storm. Seems the only damage was when the Captain was preparing for the storm and bumped into a barnicle which made a small hole in the dingy while tying off the boat to the mangroves. Weather Report from Sweet Caroline — Winds just normal - blue skies overhead and no excitement to report.

Continuing on with the saga of Elf. They finally came into our anchorage, Thursday 7/24/08. As soon as John & Louie (from Au Gre Des Vents) heard that Elf was coming into the harbor they went out in their dinghies to the entrance to help guide them in. What a relief to see them and get them safely anchored. To catch up on their exploits we had cocktails with them Saturday 7/25/08 before Carol left. It seems they spent Friday night 7/18/08 on the reef. They put their dinghy with their motor on it in the water to try and kedge off. The dinghy was bouncing around so much they lost the engine overboard. Marcel had to dive in the water to retrieve it and later cleaned it all up and it still works (amazing)? Another cat life lost. The next day they had the locals tow them off. $8.95 plus?????. They dove the boat and only had a few scratches. They were so lucky they were alright and never lost their boat. You need to always be prepared for the worst scenario of problems that might occur. As John keeps saying “everyday is a new adventure”.
Enough on Elf and back to the exploits of John & Carol. John & Carol, Louie & Marie went into Puerto Plata on Friday 7/25/08. We boarded a gua gua (a minivan) that seats 12. As we went along we stopped at every crossing and picked up more passengers and ended up with 25 people aboard, some on top of each other. What an experience? Cost for the 1st part of the trip was $1.50 US. We then boarded an air conditioned bus in Imbert and continued on to Puerto Plata with another $1.50 fee. As we arrived in Puerto Plata most of the mode of transportation is mini bikes. Sometimes 3 or 4 persons were aboard going every which way and touting their horns. Puerto Plata is a fairly large city with lots of stores to visit and John took away Carol’s credit cards and told me to knock myself out. The guys naturally had to visit an auto parts store. They were in hog heaven. Carol took lot’s of pictures which are already on the web. One Dominican wanted $1.00 for me to take his picture and I said maybe tomorrow. There were a lot of Dominicans with their hands out who wanted to be our guides for the day and show us around. You have to shake your head no and continue on. We had lunch at a restaurant right on the ocean and it reminded me of Fort Lauderdale or Miami. After lunch we walked to the grocery store and found a real ice cream store that had real ice cream cones. What a treat. Of course I couldn’t read the Spanish but we just looked at the ice cream and wound up with a Butter Pecan, Carol’s favorite. We continued on our walk to the grocery store and walked through the grocery store and checked out prices. They didn’t seem as high as the Bahamas. As we didn’t need anything since Carol was leaving in a few days for the states and John doesn’t cook much we helped Marie & Louise with their groceries in hopes that they would feed John occasionally. We also took note how to do navigate Puerto Plata so we could find our way around Puerto Plata the next time we came in. After walking all day, (lots of exercise), when we got back to Luperon we were worn out.
Sunday approached and our Taxi driver picked us up on the government dock for our trip to the Puerto Plata airport and Carol’s trip home. John got me settled in the airport with two hours to kill. I wondered why John had that big smile on his face, (probably not seeing Carol for a few weeks). I (Carol) boarded the plane for Puerto Rico, (and this is where my troubles began). After we landed in Puerto Rico they unloaded our luggage and we had to go through customs and only had 30 minutes supposedly to spare. I set off the bells and lights when I went through the scanner. I was told to go in a cubical where they waved their wand all over my body and it kept going off when they went over my right hip. I told them I had a card that showed I had a hip replacement last year and I asked if they wanted to see my scar and they said, “No thanks”. I guess I wasn’t a threat to the country. I hurriedly went to the American Airline counter where my plane for Orlando was scheduled to take off from and soon discovered that it was postponed till 2100. That didn’t seem as bad as that was only 3.5 hour wait which was just in time for my siesta. I called John that I made it and then my son, Steve who was picking me up in Orlando that I would be delayed. American Airline gave us a $10 dinner coupon which unfortunately was not good at the bar. I was still sitting in the airport with about 100 others waiting to get to Orlando. Everything closed in the airport around 1900 and no more food was to be found unless you went out side the airport, which I didn’t want to do, because I would have to go through security again and the bells and lights would go off again. I was so glad when we finally boarded around 0330 on Monday and I saw the last of Puerto Rico. I thought I was there for a long time because their next flight wasn’t until 1630 the next afternoon and who knows the same scenario would happen again. I was never so glad to arrive in Orlando and get out of airports for awhile. If you are out of the county you are at their mercy. Now I’m considering chartering my own jet  for the trip back but hopefully that flight will be better for I am not going through Puerto Rico.
Carol was back in Florida for three weeks and had a full schedule of doctor visits, friends and family. We had a family get together with my sons their wives, grand children, Niece & her children from Boston, Niece and Nephew and children from Jacksonville. Many pictures were taken as everyone had a great time. Carol’s time so far in Florida has been ordering, buying and packing spare parts for the boat to return with her when she leaves. She had to get two more suitcases to take everything back and I’m afraid problems are surely to arise with weight and custom charges, (hopefully this won’t happen, but I am holding my breath). Soon it is back to the boat and no air conditioning and just when I got used to it again. Actually I haven’t gotten used to it completely for John’s car doesn’t have air conditioning as it broke and Carol has been driving all over Melbourne, Rockledge and Palm Bay and really sweating up a storm. She also has to make do with no Wal-Mart’s, K-Mart’s, Ace Hardware’s or Publix’s around.