Erika!!

Well, Erika is meant to be over us right now... but you wouldn't know it. We have taken the boat out of the water (we always do when there is a tropical storm or hurricane) and will go and get her later today to put back in the water. For those of you who are unaware, Erika is a Tropical Storm, and she is making diving a little difficult for us! It is always hard to know what exactly to believe in the weather forecast. Normally we rely on Windguru for our day to day weather reports, and then when there is something larger, a tropical depression, tropical storm or hurricane, we use the National Hurricane Center and also stormpulse.com. But even using these websites, they sometimes contradict eachother... it is confusing. Our strategy is simply to plan for the worst and hope for the best.

It is giving Chris and I time to collaborate on the design of the new boat, so that is good, however, we always hate to cancel diving. Not just because we lose diving, but we also understand that our divers have been looking forward to diving for a long time. Perhaps they are only here for a few days, so when we cancel, sometimes we take away the opportunity for them to dive for another year. Saying this, however, if we feel it is unsafe, we won't go out. C'est la vie.

Chris and I went to see Porto Cupecoy the other night. This is a new gated community on the border of the Dutch Side and the French Side (it is just on the Dutch Side). It is currently in development to open in November, 2009. We were invited for cocktails and a little tour (we never say no to free drinks, plus it was a good opportunity for networking. The website is http://www.portocupecoy.com/ The premise of the evening was that it was a "bloggers" night. So anyone that blogs was invited. So, I felt obliged to mention them in my blog (hence my writing this.) Also, however, it is nice sometimes to see the other side (the top side) of Saint Martin. The whole village looks like it will be really nice, hopefully full of potential Octopus divers!

They took this photos of us ...

For those of you that have met us, I love this photo because it makes me look so tall. Normally I come up to Chris's armpit, but I am on my tippy toes and Chris is bending his knees a little bit. So it gives me about a foot extra!

It was a nice night.

They are just saying on the radio (I listen to Island92) that there was loads of hoopla about the storm, but really it has come to nothing. So that is fantastic.

Alright, keep your fingers crosses that Erika passes us fast...

(sally wrote this blog :) )