Finally home!

The Gulf Stream crossing was a great day. When we got out at first light, we weren't so sure as the waves were much larger than predicted! The 2-4 foot waves predicted were in fact 8-9 foot Northerly ocean swells, coming right on our nose. Luckily, they were just swells - meaning they were large, rounded and had good spacing in between. Even though it wasn't too bad, it is still a bit daunting when you look ahead and only see a wall of water!

We mostly motor sailed the whole way home and were happy to make it in to West Palm around 5 pm that afternoon. The trip had taken longer than expected since the waves were on the nose and slowing us down quite a bit, but we made it in before dark and we were finally home!! What a relief!

We spent the next few days provisioning, catching up on laundry, getting together with old friends and just walking around the city and taking in the sights. It is quite the culture shock to go from almost barren South Bimini to the hustle and bustle of downtown West Palm!

It was great meeting up with some old friends from when we lived there a few years ago. And the best surprise of all was that we crossed paths with some sailing friends who were bringing their boat up from Key Largo to Ft. Pierce. We had met "Insatiable" on our previous trip to Georgetown two years prior and hadn't seem them in two years! They anchored right behind us and we enjoyed a night of sundowners and catching up.

The following morning, we both upped anchor and set out for Ft Pierce. It was a beautiful day sail and we even hoisted our spinnaker for most of the trip! We made it in well before dark and then got together with them again for dinner! Two nights in a row after not seeing them for so long was great!!

Tomorrow we head our separate ways again - us up the ICW to Melbourne and them to the Ft Pierce city marina, "Insatiable's" new home. But we have lots of other boaters that are also heading up to the Chesapeake and we are looking forward to crossing paths with many of them along the way!

**Side note: about 30 miles out from the Florida coast, we ran into a group of finches who decided they were going to hitch a ride with us. They landed on the deck and even in the cockpit, some of them even flying downstairs. We enjoyed our little hitch hikers and were happy to give them a lift!!

Outboard Woes

This week has been an eventful one. Our outboard decided to go tits up this week and just stop working completely. Although Brad gave it his best shot, we couldn't figure out the problem.

Hoisting the outboard up on the mothership with the cowling off is like waving the white flag.

Since we are on a mooring ball a mile from the dinghy dock, that was a bit problematic. We tried rowing in, to the great amusement of all of our boat neighbors. This was largely unsuccessful in the strong winds and after going in circles for a bit tied along with a few expletives thrown between myself and Brad, some of them offered to tow us in. Thus started the three day hell of having to rely on our neighbors for rides and tows, as well as outboard repair assistance. Everyone was very obliging, but it is taxing on them and us to have to tow another dinghy a mile. We had a line of people offer to come over and look at our outboard to see if they could impart some wisdom and every one of them went away just as perplexed as we were. So, while we learned this was the quickest way to meet our "neighborhood", we realized they would soon tire of us and thus we found ourselves in the market for a new outboard....as it were.

As luck would have it, there was indeed one outboard available on craigslist in Marathon. We have been lucky enough to befriend a young couple here with a car and so he and Brad drove out to put it through the paces. After a bit of haggling and some test drives, they decided it would do and we found ourselves the proud owners of a "brand new" Suzuki 15hp!! It is a 2010, which is the newest anything we have ever owned and it is a gem! It starts on the first pull and idles quiet as a mouse; and even I can work it!!!

When we returned with the outboard out to our neck of the mooring field, we were greeted by applause and laughter from our neighbors, who were obviously relieved not to have to tow us around anymore. While this outboard was certainly not in the budget, we are glad that if we had to have an outboard issue, it was here in the harbour. We were able to find a relatively quick solution, thanks to the generosity of the boaters.

So, now, with our new outboard in hand, we are waiting on weather....the story of our lives. But, while waiting, we have been reunited with some boating buddies we met down in the Exumas. They are also waiting for weather and it seems that we will all be making the crossing at about the same time. In the meantime, I'm sure there will be lots of rum consumption, good laughs and volleyball games for all. All in all, there are worse places to be "stuck"...