OK Folks, Here's The Plan

This time it really is Doug who is posting this note.

The boat is now ready to go... or at least as ready as she's gonna be. We could stay here for a year and each day think of new modifications we'd like to make or new things we should get in the way of food or spare parts, but no. We've done all the preparations we're going to do. The only thing that would stop us from leaving tomorrow would be the weather, but the forecast looks good and so I think we're outta here tomorrow for sure.

Here's the plan. We can't leave until mid-day tomorrow (Monday) because we need to return the rental car and they weren't open today. So rather than try for a full day's worth of passage making tomorrow, we're just going to leisurely sail down to where the river we're in meets the sea. (The marina we're in right now is about a two-hour journey by boat inland up the Saint Lucie river. Far up a river like this is a great place to be when a hurricane hits and so that's why the previous owner docked the boat here.) So tomorrow afternoon we'll just go down the Saint Lucie river 'till we're almost at the ocean. There are several places there where we can drop anchor and so that's where we'll spend the night on Monday.

On Tuesday morning we'll sail straight south until we get to Palm Beach. It should take us about eight hours to get there. There are some good anchorages there and so that's where we'll spend the night Tuesday night. Then on Wednesday morning we'll get up really early and make the big jump. If we start early enough we can get to the Bahamas before the customs and immigration offices close for the evening. (If not, that's OK too. We could just anchor in the harbor there overnight and wait for them to come back to work the next morning.)

Now all of this is contingent on the weather forecast being true. If the winds are stronger than forecast then we'll sit and wait. If the winds end up coming from a different direction than is forecast then we might forgo sailing south to Palm Beach and instead sail directly to the Bahamas from our anchorage at the mouth of the Saint Lucie river. (The present weather forecast says the wind will be coming from a direction that makes doing that direct jump from Saint Lucie to the Bahamas unfavorable. That's why we're planning to sail south first and then cut over. But if we get out on the ocean on Tuesday and see that the wind is coming from a direction that makes the direct route favorable, they hey... that's what we'll do.)

Either way, it could be a few days before you hear from us again.

For those of you on our SPOT satellite e-mail list... when we are en-route to Palm Beach and then again when we are en-route to the Bahamas, we'll activate an "en-route" message I've pre-set up on the SPOT web site that will tell you we are under way. When we arrive at Palm Beach and then again when we arrive at the Bahamas, I'll activate a "check in/OK" message that I've pre-set up which will tell you that we've arrived at our destination. (The satellite e-mail message won't tell you in words what our destination is, but that's OK. The messages will all come with a link you can click on to see on a map exactly where we are.)

So even if we aren't able to connect to the internet for a while, those of you on the SPOT message distribution list will know where we are and that we're OK. If anyone reading this blog isn't on the SPOT distribution list and wants to be, send me an e-mail and I'll add you to the list next time we're in a port that has internet access.

OK then. Talk to you later.

Doug