We arrived in Mayaguana, Bahamas without a working stove, watermaker or windlass. Then our dinghy ouboard broke on the way to town. Feeling a bit overwhelmed, here we met 3 other boats that became our companions all the way to Luperon. This was our first experience with buddy boats. Alex, Cory, Coral and Kai on Wildly Intrepid, a 43 foot C&C Landfall; I can remember Cory at the helm, calmly cruising into the bay with their headsail up, looking for a good anchor spot. Costa, Amanda and son Victor on Island Home, a Catalina Morgan Ketch, headed for Puerto Rico to settle into land life. And Jaques,  with his son Pierre on 30 foot wooden boat Malamuk, sailing together for a year before Pierre started University.                                                                           We waited in Mayaguana for the same weather window to continue throught the Turks and Caicos to the Dominican Republic. At each stop along the way, we would reconnect and check in to see if anyone needed anything or to confer on weather, check in procedures and where to buy groceries. We were by far the greenest of the group, and really appreciate all the help,  advice and tools our new friends shared with us.