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I Have a New Website

It has been a long time since I have visited this blog and it was fun to read about our first couple of years cruising. I found that it was easier to post on FaceBook and more difficult to post on both places. However, I have just started a new website about diving and snorkeling and the critters you can see.

Spiraserpula--What's That!!???

The boat’s unique name is the result of Bill’s desire to follow the time honored tradition of naming a boat after a wife, girlfriend, or daughter, with a “logical” twist (as in If A=B and B=C, Then A=C). The logic follows that If a worm is named after Gayle AND the boat is named after the worm, THEN the boat is named after Gayle. Indeed Gayle has a marine worm named after her, Spiraserpula plaiae in recognition of her discovery of the species-specific structures found in the worm’s tube. The logo shows the structures in the tube for Gayle’s worm. The tongue-twister name is often perceived as Sassparilla which we have learned to respond to. So far we have not met a boat named Sassparilla.

Saturday, January 5, 2013

Waiting to Cross


The first time I came to the Keys, somewhere around 1968, I left a little piece of me there and every time I visit I feel like I am whole again.  When I leave I feel this  rip as that part separates.  I also found the same piece of me in the Exumas the first time I went to Lee Stocking Island in 2003.  Miami was very close but during the trip today down Card Sound I felt it settle in--I am back.  We are now anchored at Pumpkin Key, a small private island at the northern end of the Florida Keys.  This is our staging point for the crossing to Bimini.  It is south of Bimini which will allow the northerly flowing Gulf Stream current to help us along.  We actually will head for a point well south of our destination to end up where we want to be.

A comfortable crossing the Gulf Stream requires a certain set of weather conditions and we would also like to be able to sail most of the way.  If the wind is from the north then it fights the current and creates large and potentially dangerous choppy seas—east and northeast winds are on the nose and beating us backwards.  Of course if the weather is generally bad (thunderstorms like the last time we crossed to the States from the Bahamas) then the trip really is miserable.  So we pour over the weather forecasts and attempt to second guess with a look at the front movements--looking for that perfect day to cross. In the end we have to make our own decision—never trust the weather reports.  Things looked pretty straight forward all week for a Sunday or Monday crossing but the front has dipped lower than forecast and there is a possibility of having to wait a week or more.  I know people who had to wait several weeks for a good weather window to cross.  Right now we are going for it tomorrow—the window appears to be quite narrow but we only need 7 hours to make it.  If we leave tomorrow afternoon we will get to Bimini after dark but there is a harbor nearby that is easy to get into to anchor until morning (we did this last year).  We do not want to navigate the entrance to Alice Town, Bimini at night.  If later looks better, we will leave around midnight or so Monday morning and arrive just in time for sunup. 

Right now I am AOK and happy to be back where the sun is strong and warm. 

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