Day 80, Year 10: Ready or Not . . . Here We Go
Date: Monday, December 29, 2014
Weather: Overcast and Rainy, High in the 60’s F
Location: R Dock, Lightkeepers Marina, Little River, SC
Ready or not, in less than 12 hours we will pull out of this slip and be on our way to Florida. As always, we are working down to the line to get everything done. Right now Mark is sending an email via ham radio just to make sure things are working properly. We will attempt to post this log via ham radio tonight, but I have this vague memory that posting our logs via radio didn’t work on the passage from Quissett to Norfolk. Neither of us can remember exactly what the problem was, if there really was a problem, but if there is we will find that out in the morning and attempt to get things worked out before we leave. Since we will be offshore for the next two nights, we won’t have internet. If there is a problem that we can’t get fixed, logs won’t be posted on our website until we reach a destination with phone service. So no worries if a log does not appear for a few days.
It rained off and on all day today which made getting things aboard a bit messy. It is turning cooler and will continue to do so over the next day or so. The forecast for tomorrow calls for an overcast day, so our first day out could be a bit chilly. Hopefully by Wednesday we’ll have sunshine and by Thursday morning we will be near the Florida border and the temperature should be a bit warmer than here. Our first destination is Cumberland Island on the Florida-Georgia border. We should arrive there on Thursday morning and will spend a day or two exploring the island. Then, depending on the weather, we will continue our trek to Fort Lauderdale either offshore or by traveling in the Intracoastal Waterway. If we do go outside, we will make a stop or two along the way. For sure we are planning on going in the Lake Worth Inlet and spending a couple of days there. Basically we have a general plan that will evolve depending on weather and interest. But by January 13, we hope to get temporarily settled in Fort Lauderdale. Mark’s first treatment in Florida is on January 14 and Lynda and Lee need to pick up and install their solar panels. So we’ll be in the Fort Lauderdale area until Monday, February 2 when we will sail down around the Keys and up the West Coast of Florida to Fort Myers Beach. At this point, we are thinking that we will head to the Bahamas around the first of March. So basically our sail plan is Little River to Fort Lauderdale to the West Coast of Florida, then back to the East Coast, and then on to the Bahamas. We’ll be in the Bahamas for a month to six weeks and then it will be time to sail back to Little River and then on to Cape Cod for the summer.
So ready or not, we are excited to get started. We love the cruising life and are really looking forward to this trip. But the pull of family is always there. We said our farewells to Patsy and Joe tonight and that was really hard. Goodbyes are certainly not my forte. We have so enjoyed our time here with them and appreciate everything they have done for us. We’ve been using their washer and dryer, their kitchen, and their car since we arrived in November. So thank you, Patsy, for being the best sister ever, and Joe, for being the best brother-in-law a person could ever ask for. We will miss you.
