The time has come for us to prepare for our passage to the
Bahamas. A small weather window has
opened so we are going to take advantage of it.
There have been a number of boats that have left the past few days. We think it is a good time for us to leave as
well. One of the things holding us back
was getting the proper boat documentation.
We finally received our paperwork and the boat is now properly documented
with the US Coast Guard.
We didn’t
fully provision the boat in Galveston as we knew we would have the opportunity
to do so in Florida. This meant for a
huge grocery bill and a whole lot of bags needing to be dinghyed from shore to
the boat. Hindsight is always 20/20 and
it probably would have been better to have provisioned in Galveston, but we
were able to get it done.
A few of our staples
Particularly hard was saying “Goodbye”
to new friends. We met a wonderful
couple, Butch and Susan, that made it VERY hard to say, “See you later.” We had spent a lazy afternoon with them at
Sombrero Beach, followed by drinks and dancing at Sombrero Key, while being
entertained by Gary Diamond and watching the locals go wild. Another night, everyone brought an appetizer
and drinks and watched the annual Harbor Lighted Boat Parade, once again
followed by dinghying to Sombrero Key to be entertained by Gary Diamond. Our departure dinner with them was a wonderful
night out, eating pizza and talking about the upcoming trip. Susan, “The Hostess with the Mostest,” was
wonderful and even made us homemade cookies, which we were so thankful for and devoured during our passage.
Wednesday morning, it was time to leave. Butch and Jim hoisted the dinghy motor back
onto the stern rail and secured the dinghy on the bow while Sherry was below
securing EVERYTHING so we didn’t have a repeat of the Gulf of Mexico crossing. We made way to fuel at 9:00 am., and were met in
the harbor by Butch and Susan bringing us sausage biscuits for breakfast. We are not sure of their travel plans, but have
greatest hopes of meeting up with them sometime in the islands.
A shout out goes to Marathon’s Boot Key Harbor City Marina. They are very welcoming to the cruising
community. Their facilities are
excellent and their staff is really nice and quite accommodating. Boot Key
Harbor is centrally located so we could get to our favorite store, West Marine,
and spend more money. There are also a couple
of grocery stores, Kmart and pretty much anything else you could want in
town. We are going to miss our Tuesday
Night Cruiser’s Forum, where we all gathered at the Tiki Hut to discuss
different cruising interests. We are
really going to miss our 9:00 a.m. Cruiser’s Net, which is like a soap opera
first thing every morning, but it worked out really well as we were able to
exchange a diesel fuel can for a gas fuel can, amongst ridding ourselves of other
items we originally thought we could not live without while pocketing a few
dollars to cover the cost of laundry ($3.00 to wash, $3.00 to dry each load). Water is at a premium in southern Florida.
With preparations complete, we made the turn to Hawk Channel
at 11:00 am. And set our route at 75°.
Next waypoint… South Riding Rocks
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