Miami at it's best!

New stuff!

We now have a water-maker!  What do you think?  Now all we have to do is connect it up and start taking lots of showers and boat cleaning.

Our new Spectra!

Cruising to Miami

Now this is how to go north in Biscayne Bay doing 7-8 its!

You can see the skyline in the background.  The person on the bow is of course "The most interesting man in the world!"

Technology is coming alive on Nati

One of the nice things with having the ability to carry a few more "things" is that we can actually find out what is happening in the world..........if we want to.

SU vs. UNC Charlotte

Yes, that is our iPad and we are watching the SU game on board Nati and it is coming to us "live"!  Now we didn't start in the cockpit but when we went in to Alabama Jacks to watch the game they didn't have a TV on so we bought our conch fritters and went back to the boat.  During the game the rain and wind came in from the east and of course during the last 5 minutes we started moving backwards.  So to fix that we decided to move over to the east side of Barnes Sound and watch the game at the same time.

This next picture shows how we are getting our weather faxes....

The Sony SSB receiver is tied to a NOAA fax station and is downloading, via audio link, the information to the iPad!  I'm not saying we have it perfected yet but we are working on it.  Can you see Florida??

Now I have to do is figure out how to read the darn thing!!!

All in the days work for the Coasties!

Some of what we have heard on the radio over the last couple of days in the Keys!..........

1.  "Securite, Securite, Securite.  Hello all stations, this is the US Coast Guard, Key West and we are in pursuit of a speeding vessel 12 miles NE of Key West.  All vessels in the area should steer well clear of the area as live weapons fire is being used in the apprehension of the vessel.  US Coast Guard...OUT!"

2.  "USCG, USCG, this is the sailing vessel P.... and I would like you to do something about all the crab pots on the magenta line!  I am staying on the magenta line but there are crab pots all over the place and I'm afraid of catching one on my boat."  "Sailing vessel P...., this is the USCG, we suggest you contact the local law enforcement agency in the area to voice you complaint.  OUT"

And you thought their job was easy!!

The newest project

Our spool of 3mm amsteel is on board and we are starting to put it to good use.  First.....new lifelines.  We are removing the 10 year old stainless and replacing it with amsteel.  It is stronger and has no burs to catch you.  When we have all the stainless pieces together we will weigh it to see how much weight we are taking off.

I can put an eye splice in the line now in under five minutes!

new line on top...stainless below

Captain Splicer!

new vs. old

A real garden!

With a little more room means more "stuff".  We are trying not to put anything on board but having the ability to have fresh herbs anytime is great.  We even made our own flavored cream cheese for the bagels!  Also pizza is even better with fresh basil on top............

I am getting spoiled big time!!

Anne's garden

A quiet night after a SU loss

We motored out of Marathon yesterday and headed NE.  It was time to go to see some more sights and although the winds were not cooperating......it was time.

We knew the Lori' Lei would have the game on so we made it up to see "Feline" one more time and then it was off to see a "bad" game!  Cinci will never shoot 90+% again but one has to hand it to them......we lost but we didn't give up.

Today we moved out to hide from the forecasted NE winds for tonight.  That was good enough for the real winds to go SE........never fails but the hook in down and we are in fine shape.

Besides at sunset........a F27 sailed by under spinnaker along with a monohull and the sight was very nice.

A F27 sailing very well!

Getting artsy

One last sunset in Marathon

we are going to get 39 knot winds tonight!

We have our long awaited Amsteel line so after the last big blow we are north bound.......slowly!

We are still here!

A rather brisk front just came through Marathon and the temp dropped quite fast. It is nice to be in a secure mooring for these blows. Everyone just turned 90 degrees and tugged hard on the bridles....... No problem! As soon as wx permits we are heading north towards Ft Meyers Beach to meet up with the Chief and Millie. They have our new nets!