[131219, 0500 UTC, Kolonia, Pohnpei, Fed. States of Micronesia

06º57.7' N / 158º 12.1' E]

Dear Friends;

It's hard to believe another year has vaporized and the Christmas season is once again upon us. It seems quite incongruous to us to visit local stores and hear Christmas music about frosty air and sleigh rides, when the air outside is steamy and we glow with perspiration. The dry season is beginning now, and with it we are beginning to enjoy sunshine and northeast trade winds, punctuated by squalls that might only last a few minutes or even seconds. The surf's up too and we listen at night to its mesmerizing roar on Pohnpei's north reef just a mile away.

We've been in Pohnpei over one year, the longest we've stayed in any one spot since we started cruising ten years ago. It has been a good year for us; a year during which we stayed healthy, accomplished some big projects aboard and got the chance to meet and know interesting people from a multitude of cultures. Leslie even got the chance to make the long journey back to visit family; a rare but wonderful luxury in our nomadic lives.

Our shopping this Christmas season is not for toys or gadgets but for provisions - flour, honey, tinned food, boxed milk, oatmeal and other such essentials necessary for self sufficiency. Our plan is stay an additional 2-3 weeks, celebrate Philip's birthday and bring in the new year, and then leave in January for points west. West of here we would like to visit rural island atolls in Micronesia, plus the islands of Yap and Palau and then the Philippines. That is the current plan but, as with all cruises aboard small boats, it is subject to change.

We wish you all a bright and blissful Christmas surrounded by family and friends and a prosperous and healthy new year.

Your friends of the yacht Carina,

Philip, Leslie and fat cat, Jake