Hurry Up and Wait

Overdue entry.  Our cruising life FINALLY started on May 26th.  We left the dock of Cathy and Pete Petersen.  It was like leaving the nest...two better support people don't exist anywhere.  THANkS SO MUCH, Cathy and Pete, for getting us "out there." 

Our first jump was to Boot Key Harbor, Marathon in the Florida Keys, 200 miles in 48 hrs.  Soon after arrival, we were stopped by weather.  See more below.  While in Boot Key, our longtime friend from SSCA, Capt. Marti Brown, came for a visit and made our marine single sideband (SSB) radio work.  She spoke to a man in Western Colorado and another man in Memphis with our radio.  It worked!!  Marti literally wrote the books on marine SSB, and signed our copies which we'll treasure.

As many of you know, we are on a passage from "home" to Baltimore.  Usually a passage has a start and an end.  This one has had several starts and stops; we are only 1/4 of the way to the Chesapeake, lying Ft. Lauderdale.  The weather and winds have not cooperated.  We spent a whole week in Marathon, and another 4 days now here at Las Olas Bridge.  Headwinds have caused us to "sit" as much as sail.  Hopefully in a day or two our luck will change, and we can jump off for North Carolina.

For our next leg we have the good fortune of having our sailing friend Lynn with us.  Standing watch through the night is much easier with extra crew.  We're making busy provisioning and taking on water, diesel, fixing things, and temporarily installing the radar before putting some real sea miles under the keel.