What a ride

Well I have been quite remiss in keeping this blog up to date and have plenty of excuses for not keeping it up to date, everything from no to poor internet connections to a distinct lack of desire to sit inside our boat at a beautiful island anchorage. The boat is now in a storage yard waiting for us and our next season sailing and we are back home now with family and friends. We came home early so that Jeanne could be with mom and sisters for her mothers surgery that went well. All is well at home and all went well on our winters cruise.

I believe I left off in mid December, for a quick recap with more details to follow. We sailed from Green Cove to Jacksonville  once the rail bridge had been repaired. then on to St Augustine and Daytona, New Smyrna, Cocoa Beach, Vero Beach then on to Lake Worth on the inside before getting out into the Ocean at Lake Worth when the weather improved. The southern end with all the lift bridges was avoided and we sailed into Ft Lauderdale's Lake Sylvia and then to Lauderdale Marine Center for Christmas. Christmas Day was a great day to head down to Miami after saying goodbye to new friends and anchored at Fisher Island for a night. We filled up with fuel and water and then went over to No Name Harbour.

Our next destination was Marathon where we were to meet Graham for the trip to Cuba in the first week of January. We stopped at Rodriguez key and then headed west for the sail to Marathon. A nice sail interrupted briefly when we caught a crab pot on our slowly spinning prop. A quick dive in the clear water with a sharp knife and we were free to continue on to our destination. It was first come first serve and all the moorings were full so we anchored where they suggested and dinghy'd over in the morning to pay for shower privileges.

We spent a week waiting on Graham and the day he arrived President Obama announced his intention to allow Americans to go to Cuba. The next morning at ten we were on our way to Varadero for the overnight sail to Cuba. We had to dodge a couple of ships during the night but the AIS helped out greatly and at dawn the Cuban officials were directing us to head into Marina Gaviotta  on the Hicacos peninsula. After two weeks in Cuba we headed to the Bahamas.