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Writing this newsletter has been a lot of fun and there should be at least another half dozen episodes in me before the summer, ugh, work break. I especially appreciate getting comments back from you. It's nice to know that they are being read and I won't deny that I get all fuzzy when they are complementary. There are some readers comments that I must pass along to everyone as they are perfectly great. I promise not to divulge the sources.

One reader said that they trashed the first several episodes without reading them because they thought "The Adventures of Francesca" was some porn letter. Another comment was that they were not certain what a dinghy or dink was, but felt that in the context, it must be something nautical. The latter comment indicated that perhaps more explanations and a glossary are needed. OK, I will parenthetically make such additions where appropriate. Please let me know if I am successful in that regard.

First, the boat was named "Francesca" in honor of my late mother. Her name was Frances, but for a boat and considering our intended zone of travel, the name needed a little latin accent.

Second, a dink is not a part of the human anatomy (usually or hopefully). A dink or dinghy is a small, often inflatable, often powered craft used to shuttle cruisers from boat to shore when at anchor, e.g. our car substitute.

Now back to the Bahamas.

Arriving back at Gun Cay late on the evening of March 19th, after an excellent Banks crossing, we were a little nervous about going to the place where we would normally anchor as there were several sand shoals about that could spoil the day. Instead, since the weather was settled, we anchored a few miles to the south in relatively open water on the banks. At daylight, we would navigate around that shoals and through the cut between Cat and Gun Cays out into the Gulf Stream. (a cut is navigable channel between islands).

About 25 or 30 miles out and about the same distance from the US mainland, we ran across an afro bahamian man in a 17 foot "Carolina Skiff". First, he ran to the Heide and asked for a screwdriver to fasten down his center console. Heide obliged, but that wasn't satisfactory. Next, he wanted to tie off to Heide. That's a no, no. Something was screwy here. Heide steamed away.