We are leaving on Susan's birthday (5th Dec) for Barbados. The new gearbox was supplied an inch too long and we had to send down a diver to slightly modify the inside of the rudder. Mike and Mayla from Sunshine Maritime have been of immense help with everything. Without them we would still be here at Christmas. As too has Chris Fox. He even took Susan and Margaret for a tour of the North of the island whilst Will and Mike were struggling with the gearbox.

The main reason for writing this letter so soon after the last one is to wish you all a HAPPY CHRISTMAS and a PROPEROUS 2005.

We hope you will accept this as your Christmas card and Christmas letter. The new millenium has certainly brought some changes to the way we communicate. Maybe next year we could put some video on the web as well.

We hope to arrive in Barbados between Christmas and New Year. It may be longer or shorter depending on the wind. From the 5th we will have the irridium phone on between five and eight in the evening G.M.T everyday or you could send us an email by following these steps:

1) open the webpage http://messaging.iridium.com/

2) enter +881621464 etc (our iridium telephone number in full) in the "TO" field

3) the "reply-to" address is optional

4) enter the message and "send"

5) please do not send attachments

We will be thinking of you as we wing across the Atlantic. Another letter next month.

Love from Atlantia