Warm Welcome to Portsmouth

[Maryanne]We had arrived, and caught up with a little sleep and were finally hanging out and deciding on a plan of action. VISITORS! Bill & Laurey from the Gemini Solstice visited briefly and shared some of their sailing and Gemini Randezvous stories. Our first plan of action was to research options and costs of staying in the area. When visiting Tidewater Marina, we bumped into our good friend Peter Youngblood, tinkering on the Sara C, the boat he had built; he took us for a ride about the water front and was his usual wonderful self.

Finally we managed to meet up with our good friends Kate and Mark, and were spoilt with great food and company (and spent a couple of hot nights at their home, with air conditioning), celebrating the joint birthdays of Maryanne and Mark. AND becuase we arrived so much earlier than we dared to hope, we also got to meet up with our good friend Angie.

Cool Mark and manic Maryanne prepare to eat our Birthday Cake - made by the wonder cook Kate - it was Yummy!

A busy and friendly welcome to Portsmouth, the place that was home for so long. It's great to be back. Now however we have a HUGE list of jobs to get done, and a host of friends to visit with, before we set off for our next leg. Hopefully we manage to mix work and pleasure in the right proportions. :-)