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 The Christmas holiday snuck up on us quite suddenly. Before we knew it, it was Christmas Eve and Moony invited us and SV Patron over for dinner and celebration. Denise made a pasta salad, Ann made here famous sausage dip, and Ted and Honey of Patron brought a smoked tuna platter. It was good time but poor Bob had to leave as 'real work' was calling 'cause he broke one of his client's computers. Folks were not pleased but it had to be done.
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 Early Christmas Day, we opened
presents on Jule III. Ann got a little angel pin and a Christmas card and Bob got lots of tee shirts. candy and a Christmas card. Later that day, we went over to SV Plane to Sea for some SSB help and a great Christmas dinner. Connie and Jim were very gracious to include us in their Christmas day plans. Sadly, the lame pictures we took were too lame to display here. We'll do better next time. However, we will have to wait for them to get back from St. Barts as they took a short weather window to go there.
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 Back to our routine; watching boats and ships go through the bridge during Happy Hour at the yacht club. This time we had the crews from Jule III, Drifter, Patron, and Moony. There were some hefty megayachts going through. Earlier that day, we talked to the bridge tender and he had some stories to tell. He showed us all of the repairs performed on the bridge when some former captain banged into his bridge. He also gave us a short tour of the 'guts' of the bridge.
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 We spend a bit of time at Barnacles
getting water, WiFi, great food, and of course a Presidente (local beer). They recently started Barnacles and they, like many on the island, are working hard to overcome the effects of the global economic downturn. The picture shows Alberto, Kalli, and their daughter Ellie, in front of their restaurant. We wish them the best!
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 Wolfgang's sister (Barbara) has come to visit so we all decided to explore the island by car and the only car was a very small Hyundai but we did get 5 people in it. The first stop was on the the side of the road to take a picture of Simpson Bay Lagoon. Jule and Moony are down there somewhere. Can you find them? The roads are not the best in the world but they are not too bad. They love speed bumps here. Not sure why.
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 The 'girls' pose at another overlook
of Simpson Bay. The guys were not interested in posing. After this photograph, the gang drove all over the place and amazingly never got truly lost. We went Phillipsburg, Oyster Bay, Oriental Bay, some pretty steep side roads and a la-de-da resort in Anse Marcel where we went drove up (and down) the steepest hills just to be sent packing back where we came. Then we drove to Marigot, crossed their blue bridge, drove around the lagoon, and arrived back at Barnacles in time to get ready for New Years Eve.
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 Did we tell you some of the roads are really steep. They do not use guard rails too much either. Bob was a little concerned that he might die. He didn't. The trek back and forth to Anse Marcel was especially 'exciting'. Wolfgang was our driver and he never faltered. However, we were afraid our very little car might have some problems with the terrain but the Hyundai Getz did a great job.
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 We had dinner at Barbara's hotel suite
where everybody (except Bob) did some cooking. The food was great. We then watched a movie and then proceeded down to the beach to view the end of year festivities. It was a nice setup where there was live music but the conditions were not crowded. At 2400 hours, we saw at last 4 different firework displays on the island. Not bad. Soon afterwards, we headed back to the dinghy dock to meet up with Jule and Moony. Ann had to stay up another hour until 1 am to call her brother Roy and wish him a Happy Birthday. She does this every year.
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