Ready to leave the States?

Where to begin its been almost three weeks, and we've started a new year. Well, Happy New Year to everyone. We spent two full weeks in Key West, enjoying all that the town has to offer, from its nonstop parties, to the wonderful old neighborhoods with the great houses. When you visit be sure to sample the fun along Duval Street, but make sure to get off the beaten path and see the surrounding neighborhoods.

There are great places to eat and the locales are always friendly, check out the Coffee Plantation on Caroline or have a pint at Finnegan's Wake. However you spend a visit, make a trip to the end of the line.

Celebrating the New Year in Key West has its own appeal, and by the time the party was over we were definitely ready to move on. The weather doesn't always cooperate and although New Years Eve and New Years Day were great, the first night of the new year really cranked up the winds and the waves. Boto drug her anchor resulting in our having to pull up and reset elsewhere, all after dark; this turned out to be fortuitous, as long about 2100hrs there was some excitement when another boat broke free of its mooring and ran helter skelter through the anchorage, directly through where we had been anchored, better lucky.

After several days with our friends Paul and Sharleen it was back to reality for them and time to plan our next leg, jumping off on a nice clear sunny, if cold and windy January 5th, we took the short hop up the east coast of the Keys to Marathon and Boot Key Harbor.

Here is where you will find the flotilla waiting for the perfect weather window to cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. Some folks come for a week and stay for a year, others make a month or two of it. We've been here two weeks now waiting for the cold winds to blow out and for the weather to move to the SE to give us a nice smooth ride across to Cat Cay, our choice of gateway to the Islands. As we sit here on a warm (75*) rainy day we are all set with food and drink, fuel and water. There will be a number of boats heading across in the next several days so we will not get lonely out there and it's really a short trip, actually two short trips. A hop north to Rodriquez Key (40nm) then across to Cat/Gun Cays (60nm). With our boat speed of 6.5k and the Gulf Stream at 3+k, well make the trip across in day light and find a nice place to rest up before crossing the Bahamian Bank towards the Berry Islands where we will turn south and head along the Tongue of the Ocean (REALLY DEEP, 2,000+ ft) on our way to the Exumas. After that who knows, but we're sure that after all of this stress and strain of getting here we'll need a vacation, good thing we'll already be in the islands.