Hi Nassau!

We are here!

172nm and 29 hours and we are in the Bahamas....... Was a great sail over, very quiet and comfortable.

Will have to update later but just wanted to pass this along to friends and family.

Good bye Miami……..we hope anyways!

It's Sunday afternoon and we are motoring down to No Name Harbor for an expected departure for the Bahamas tomorrow morning.  The north winds are laying down for a day and a half, turning west so perhaps we'll have a downwind sail (cross the fingers) and get into Nassau before the strong N winds come back in.  Right now that is the plan.

It has been cold and windy for the last week or so and we finally decided to at least go south for a few nights to get out of the crazy city.  It seems to be more busy and noisy every time we pull into Miami.  I guess it's just not our thing for very long.  Some people like it more than us that's for sure.

So off to Barnes Sound for the best conch fritters in the "world"!  Yes, we made our annual migration down to Alabama Jacks and we timed it perfect!  The music was blasting and the place was packed.  We were the only sailboat in the anchorage but who cares.  Dingh-go took us to the dock and we had our dinner with music….

The sign says it all……

This is real "country"!

Just what is closed??

Anne & Janie

Our anchorage is at the top left

We were able to spend another night down in Biscayne Bay before the next northerly came through so we went over to one of our favorite anchorages at Sands Key and thought we would have it all to ourselves……well, almost as two other cats saw us and came near.  Not too bad but we had to have a boat in our sunset shots.

Not Nati….

While in South Beach "Cruz" is loving life….now we have a flowering orchid going across the Gulf Stream with us!

Cruz blooming again!

Teagan…..we have the latest butterfly for you……

See you all in the Bahamas……ah warm, clear water!!  We can't wait!!!!

Guess where we are???

Any ideas at all?

The new Centro bus coming to Syracuse!

Think its big enough?

Clouds are non-stop lately

Wrapping up a few items and we are are ready to cross to the Bahamas.  Hopefully by next weekend.

Alright! Nati is on the go……and oh yea…Happy New Years!

As promised we did get off the dock in Melbourne on Christmas day.  It was a good present to ourselves as we made it down to one of our favorite anchorages just north of Vero and had a nice, quiet Christmas dinner of ahi and shrimp.

Christmas dinner

Florida sunset!!

Next stop was Stuart for a few days with the Chief and Mom and also we got to see Dane & Ellen's new digs in town.  Dane was wrapping up the last of a huge home improvement project with their friend Melissa and invited us over for a drink and to see the work.  Sorry to say the pictures didn't come out but it was good to see Dane again.  The home looks great!  We also got to spend some time with some of our friends….Vinny on s/v Flight Plan is getting his boat ready for a Bahamas crossing and Jim & Irene (s/v Escapaid) are putting the finishing touches on their planned trip to the west coast of Florida for the winter.

Yep, we had some laughs

Dane's dock is in the center right on the  ICW

After our visit we continued to head south and spent a night in Lake Worth.  We had a little of everything during our 18 hour visit as you can see.  We have seen our share of strange weather since continuing south but one thing we know……..we ARE MOVING!

Our evening shower

and our morning sun…

Since the wind is howling we elected to continue down to Ft Lauderdale before jumping outside to Miami.  We will make our crossing to the Bahamas when the crossing window is right but in the meantime we will wrap up provisioning and boat work from somewhere in the Miami/Biscayne area.  Today the watermaker was turned on so now we are independent from shore!  No more lugging jugs to the dock or going to a marina just for water.  Now we have our own RO (reverse osmosis)  water factory!!  The Cape Horn is some of the best money we have spent!

Our anchorage in Ft Lauderdale

Christmas Eve ….. update!

We made it over to Tom & Jean's for a good dinner at a local "crazy" pizza joint.  We believe…..no we know the staff had been nipping in the back room all afternoon…….but  the food was good and we had a lot of laughs.  We thought it was really funny when the waitress showed Jean the pictures of her lovely??!!  pit bull.  She said he (the dog) snuggled better than most men and mentioned he really liked putting his paws around her……and I followed up with.. "as he opened his mouth to wrap the jaws around her neck"!!       Florida girls, they are "out there"!!

After dinner we went through the Wickham Park parade of lights.  OK,  it was pretty cool but a parade is supposed to move.  So why didn't we?  Very slow………  I guess we did move since we are back at Nati but it was funny and we all believe Tom was the only person that accelerated into the non existent passing lane in the park………we just couldn't take it any longer!!

pulling out of the lights on the lake!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE……..NATI HAS SOME MILES TO MAKE TOMORROW!

Merry Christmas!

We are back from the "Great White North" and no longer have to put on "real shoes" and fleece jackets to go anywhere.  It is a good thing someone likes snow because we have seen all the snow we need to see for a very long time.

During our trip north we were able to see Teagan & Evan.  They both are growing up so fast and it will be soon that they will be driving Nati and we will be able to sit back and just do nothing!  Hah…..can't wait for that day!!

Irish dancing moves

The future engineer in the design stage!

Dinner with his pal, Bradley

Impossible, they are quiet!

We have been able to put together a few Christmas decorations for this year.  The lights have their own solar panel and work on a timer……….

Christmas on Nati

If all goes well we head out of Melbourne tomorrow for our own Christmas Day on the water.  We are 90% provisioned for the Bahamas so it is time to continue our trek south. Then we get ready to cross over to the Magic water…….can't wait.



Merry Christmas to all and lets make 2014 a very good year !!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

That is ….Happy Thanksgiving - Melbourne & Intercoastal Pools style!!

Anne and I have heard about what Tom & Jean pull off every year for Thanksgiving but this is the first time that we helped out and yes……it is really something to see…..

working away in the "galley"

This year we ended up frying 18 whole turkeys for many of the employees of Tom's company, Intercoastal Pools.  Jean & Tom have been doing this for years as a little "thank you" for the folks and it started really early this time.

A good turkey is a fried turkey!

This one is ready!

Tom got the oil for the two fryers going about 6am.  We pulled in about 8:30am and he already had the first two turkeys going.  Over the rest of the day we did 18 turkeys!  It was quite a sight as at one time we had ten ready to go on the kitchen counter.  The folks came in waves; stopping for a beer and snack along with chatting with their friends/fellow employees.  It is quite a sight and we think they really appreciate the act of giving by both Jean & Tom.

Before & after

Only a few more to go!

By 3:30pm we had a wrap…….a new record has now been set and we all were ready to sit down and have a "cold one"…..