Well the good news is…WE ARE IN THE BAHAMAS! The bad news is…wait, there is no bad news! We are in The Bahamas and nothing broke. I’m so used to taking the good with the bad while cruising, that even as we were tightening our dock lines at the marina, I was sure the engine would crap out. Or the dinghy would fly off the davits. Or our bilge pump would break. But none of these things happened. The weather turned out to be just as nice or even milder than predicted. We made great time despite fighting the easterly winds and found ourselves in Bimini in just 9.5 hours. All in all, it was a rather boring day. When it comes to sailing, I’m 100% in favor of boring.
Category: Weather
Exploring the Keys
With strong winds in the forecast, we would not be crossing the Gulf Stream to The Bahamas anytime soon. This gave us the opportunity to spend some time in the Florida Keys.
Marathon—Boot Key Harbor
What a crazy place Boot Key Harbor in Marathon is! At night the sky is full of little lights. No, not stars. These are anchor lights. Each one representing a boat at anchor in the harbor. It is really a city of liveaboard boats. The harbor is conveniently located near grocery, marine, and hardware stores. There are plenty of restaurants and happy hours to choose from. You can take your dinghy to the beach, the gas station, or to do laundry. There’s even the Cruisers Net that meets on the VHF every morning to announce daily events, welcome new arrivals, and barter. Marathon has it all. Well, everything expect solitude.
Cruising Down the ICW
We left the Regatta Pointe Marina on Thursday, Feb 11th at noon. We said goodbye to our C Dock friends whose warmth and helpfulness made the beginning of our journey so enjoyable. Well, as enjoyable as 2 months of boat work can be. It was a perfect day–light winds, 70°F, and sunny.
Goodbye House
Okay, so that blizzard I wrote about in the last post WAS a joke. We didn’t get the 12 inches that was predicted…heck…I don’t think we got more than an inch. But it’s the last snow the dogs will see for awhile, so we went to the park to play.