Boaters- Call your mates to the computer-this email is boater friendly Greetings from THE WIFE: I'm officially canceling the tuna rescue. Thanks to all of you who volunteered. The beauty of the listees (boat people) is the quick response to any and all types of SOS, no matter how trivial. We were rescued by perfectly lovely people who gave us a dock, power, water and fed us till we couldn't eat one more bite. We met them at the MTOA (turtles) Northern Rendezvous in Portsmouth, Virginia where we served as mentors. Our mentees invited us to visit their home in St. Leonard Creek, a little farther up the Patuxent River than Solomons, Maryland. For those of you who frequent Solomons I strongly recommend St. Leonard Creek-it is so beautiful and a great anchorage, one of the quietest places of the entire 7 months-no trains, planes or traffic of any kind. We even saw a fox run across Dick & Carol's yard as well as deer too many to count. I don't think I'll ever love boating as much as Charles does, but I have gained insight as to why people do. We've seen truly amazing places but the thing that made the trip so much easier and lots of fun was the people we met. I am always overwhelmed by the kindness of boat people. One of the fun things for Charles was meeting his Ebuds. I can't tell you how many times someone called us on the VHF or dinghied up to us in anchorages or stopped by on those rare occasions when we were in marinas. They knew our names, the boats' name (even after Ernesto took one of the C's and the starboard side of the boat became C Rider) they knew that we had covered the lovely, albeit leaky, teak with bed liner and that I was sometimes given to writing whiny diatribes and so many other tidbits of our lives. Today as we're on our way to Baltimore to haul this boat out for winter hibernation, (Thank you God for this gorgeous weather and calm seas); a flotilla is coming into Solomons for Trawlerfest. It's like a moving boat show, all shapes, sizes and configurations. As usual we're headed in the opposite direction.. I'm looking forward to going home (I mean seriously we've traveled more than 3800 statute miles @ 7.5 mph, or something less than 7 knots for you nautical types) but here's the surprise: I'm also looking forward to next years' cruise to Maine. Who would've bet on that one? Have a great winter and keep in touch.... Pat & Charles Culotta Soon to be lying in our own bed M/V CC RIDER SUPPORT OUR TROOPS CHARLES C. JR. and PAT CULOTTA PATTERSON, LA. http://www.geocities.com/charlesculotta/