Nearing the end of the trip

Well, of course I knew living on a boat with other people would have it's own set of drawbacks. Lack of sleep seems to be my problem today. It seems that when anyone walks around on the deck when you are laying in bed, it sounds like a herd of elephants is above you. There are some on the boat who are late nighters, and some that are early risers so.................sleep has been a little difficult for someone like me who is a light sleeper. Even with ear plugs in. Ah well, all part of the adventure.
And some on the boat are neat freaks and some of us are not. Thank god, I am kind of in between the 2 and so are not really bothered by either side. But there has been a little tension in the last couple of days between some of the guys and their habits. I am having a fabulous time but will really be glad to get back into my own quiet, comfortable bed.
We found a beautiful sand beach not too far away. Went with our dinghy. Had a wonderfully refreshing swim. There was a man fishing there. He caught a 2 foot shark. A few of us went running to check it out. He was desperately trying to get the shark off the line but was unwilling, for some reason, to put his fingers in the sharks mouth to get the hook out. Many little teeth. So brave Pat grabbed a hold of the shark by the neck and the wrestled with the line to get it off the hook. Someone there took some great photos. Then the poor terrified shark was let loose and was so disoriented that it kept swimming back to the shore. Pat kept grabbing him by the tail and kept throwing him back out and he would come in again. After 4 or 5 times, he finally swam away. Pretty exciting.
Pat, Ian, and Eamonn went to Key West yesterday and met a nice couple on the bus. They invited them over for supper. Hillary and Charles are a lovely young couple from MA who are living on their racing catamarand worth $300,000. Apparently it can go 21 knots. Charles doesn't race this one though. He does race on another one that can go 25 knots but it doesn't have a head or anything to weigh it down. Very interesting people. They run a company that puts on huge trade shows and make a lot of money.
They had met a man George in the Hurricane bar who runs the fishmarket across the street and invited him for supper as well. George gave us an incredible deal on the fish and shrimps and we had huge feast. George gave directions on cooking the shrimps and he grilled the fish on the barbeque on board. Lots of fun was had by all.