Alan keeps saying he is going to do the next blog. I thought I would give you a brief update in the meantime. Monday morning was time to say our goodbyes. The hardest part of cruising is leaving friends behind. We ended the Vega rendezvous with Kristin and Hans and said goodbye to other friends. We have many places to visit over the summer. We filled up with fuel and water and left Green Turtle Cay in a northeast wind blowing 25-30 kts! We sailed a close reach under double reefed main and about 80% jib of the roller furling genoa. Voila! handled beautifully and I never felt out of control. We only saw one other sailboat and they were motorsailing in the other direction. The weather was cool and cloudy all day and we arrived at Allen's- Pensacola about 4:30. It is a beautiful spot and it was the first time we had an anchorage entirely to ourselves. Too bad it was cold and dark and we were leaving in the morning.
The next day we had several options charted into the chart plotter because the forecast kept changing. In the end we chose to keep sailing through Matanilla Shoals towards Fort Pierce based on a prediction of light east winds and subsiding waves. It was cool sailing along looking at the millions of stars with the iPOD playing. It even played a Girl Guide song called Barges as I passed the transom of a huge barge headed north up the Gulf Stream. Well surprise, surprise, the weather man got it wrong. The waves and wind did not drop and the crossing was more than a little bumpy. Alan did a great job doing almost all of the steering and we arrived in Fort Pierce just after noon. We anchored and promptly fell asleep. We are definitely back in the States with all of the accompanying noise and traffic.
Today we had to call a cab and head to the airport to clear customs and get a new cruising permit. We headed north along the ICW after lunch. The wind was about 15 from the North - so no offshore hops today. We are on a mooring at Vero Beach Municipal marina and will head off again tomorrow. I'll let Alan put up what few pictures we have.
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