I’m sorry, but we just think having a monkey climbing around on our boat is the coolest thing. How many places in the world could you experience this?

Still in the grips of steady rains, we discovered a leak in a cabinet. The house was torn apart and of course I was sure the problem must be due to the rain. I had to cut holes in the back of the cabinet to be able to see, but couldn’t find anything obvious. After way too much searching and frayed nerves due to being cooped up inside, we finally discovered that the source of the leak wasn’t water from outside, it was water from inside. The air conditioner we’d been running for days while the boat was all closed up for the rain, had been leaking. I never did figure out where it was leaking from, but shutting it off solved that problem.

The sun finally came out, and on Christmas Eve morning it was time to say goodbye to friends and go find a spot to wait for ol’ Saint Nick.

Felt great to be underway again, even if for just a few miles. Beautiful day running along the south side of the island with a nice wind coming from the north to cool us but not enough space to kick up any waves. One of the very few times where raising a sail would have felt great. Of course, these conditions are all too rare.

We pulled into Jonesville. Not a particularly pretty spot, but at least we were on the hook where Santa could find us. Unfortunately we all took one look at the water and shook our heads. No way we were going swimming in this bay.

Spirits were high this day. Christmas Eve! What could be better?

Put out the carrots for the reindeer, the cookie for Santa (the kids left him the big one, but only because it wasn’t done enough for their liking), and everybody get to bed. Big day tomorrow.