Our bottom is wet and we are on our way...

Approaching Charlotte Harbor

OK so I guess it’s catch up time...

First...yes...despite the lack of communication...we are alive!

We worked like dogs getting the boat ready for launch since we arrived in Pensacola in mid-October...scrubbing, stowing, fixing, modifying and provisioning. We launched the boat on Nov 26 but sat at the dock until Dec 1^st when we decided that it was time to just toss the rest of the stuff on the boat (we’d stow it along the way) and go...so we did

We are travelling with another couple from Montana on their sailboat “Quadrille”.  We met them at the boat yard...and as they’ve done this trip before they know all the best anchorages

So we left the evening of Saturday Dec 1 and motored overnight to St Joseph (just past Panama City). We had 15 kts on the nose so it was like a 26 hour slow motion bull ride...not scary...just exhausting.

Monday we had an easy motor along a section of the ICW to Apalachicola and then on to Dog Island.

We stayed at the anchorage on Tuesday to rest a bit and stow and do a few things...like actually get the battens in the mainsail.

Wednesday before dawn we left Dog Island and motored through the day and night and arrived just off Tarpon Springs  just before lunch on Thursday. The wind was still on the nose for most of the trip but only about 8 kts so not as rocky but still exhausting. We did actually sail for a few hours but  there just wasn’t enough wind to move us fast enough to get in before dark...but at least we had them up for a bit

Off again Friday before sunrise to make it to Egmont Key (a little island just inside the channel into Tampa Bay).

And today we are motoring our way towards Charlotte harbour...next stop after that is Naples where we will stop for a couple of days to rest up and provision

So we are working the bugs out. We are still trying to stow things...like now that the sails are on the boat where can we stick the sail bags...and the canvas that was protecting all the bright work from the sun...where can that go. With the solar panels on there is no place for the fenders (currently under the dinette table). The Single Side Band is still in the box...along with the EPIRB and the inverter...and the fire extinguishers still need to be mounted. The new spare halyard and 340 of new anchor rode are still stuffed in the quarter berth and the new life raft is wedge under the chart table still covered in the bubble wrap.  And then there is figuring out all the existing equipment...like how do you dim the display on the autopilot at night...does the radar actually work...why does the chart plotter keep losing its fix...why does the tridata show the sea temp at 1321° F...

The list goes on...and on...ahhhh the glamorous life of yachting...

But the sunrises and sunsets are beautiful, we had 2 huge sea turtle surface just off the portside  near Panama City and a 7 dolphin escort into St Joseph’s and that’s the stuff that makes all the work (and often discomfort)  worthwhile.