We are underway! Should get to Bimini in the wee hours.

We made it safely to Key Largo a few hours ago. We’ve been transferring gear to the boat and getting things ready to go.

The road trip is going well. We’ve put about 600 miles on a new set of windshield wipers! The sky is clear now and we’ve got about 3 hours to Key Largo. All is well…

We’ll be leaving in hopefully less than 1 hour from SSC and driving to Tallahassee tonight. The weather forecast during the drive is for rain, so we’ll take it slow and easy. We’ll continue our journey by road tomorrow (Friday) from Tallahassee to Key Largo. There is a good chance of rain in Tallahassee tomorrow morning too, diminishing as we drive south. The weather in Key Largo and the Bahamas looks great for the week.  We’ll be staying on the boat in Key Largo on Friday night before we leave out on Saturday morning. Thank you Suzanne! Our Gulf Stream crossing Saturday should be in quite good conditions: 5-10 knots of wind Saturday morning, increasing to 10-15 in the evening as we come into Bimini.

There are only two weeks before we head out! Now is the time to be getting your stuff together.

First, and most important, make sure you have a passport and get it to me as soon as you can so I can input the data into our float plan. Along with that, if you still need to turn in any paperwork or money, please do so as well.

Next, make sure you have snorkeling gear: mask, snorkel, and fins. Trust me, you need this. Not swim goggles, please don’t tell me you can swim just as well without fins or you don’t like using a snorkel… I’ve heard it all. So just make sure you have these 3 items, and we’ll help you with any difficulties you may have. It is going to be amazing underwater and we don’t want you to miss a thing.

Then, make a pile in your room of the things that you think you want to bring. Try to keep the pile to just the things you really want to bring and not a ton of things you don’t need. Remember that you want to pack this in SOFT luggage, not a big bulky hard suitcase. Soft luggage works best on a boat.

I hope you are as excited as I am about the trip! Mr. Bob is also pumped and is working out all the details on the food. As always, if you have any questions whatsoever, please come see me, call me or email me.

Pretty soon, we’ll be sailing into the Bahamas as the sun goes down…

Our next trip to the Bahamas will be over Easter holidays March 29-April 8, 2018. We’ll be sailing the 45′ Lagoon catamaran “Adagio” out of Key Largo. Most of our crew are “repeats” meaning that they enjoyed the trip so much the first time, that they want to do it again. Now is the time to act if you would like to go – we are almost full. Contact Captain Dan right away if you would like to go!

During the spring trip, we do a lot of fishing, island-hopping, and reef diving. The dolphin sighting high month is in April, so we will probably see a lot of them. Be sure to check out the Galleries to see what the spring trip looks like!

The itinerary for the trip is as follows:

Departure by RV – Thursday March 29, 2018, right after school, drive to Tallahassee
Arrival in Key Largo – Friday March 30
Sailing Saturday March 31 – Saturday April 7
Departing Key Largo by RV – April 7
Returning home – April 8

Last night we stayed in Cat Cay Marina – very nice. We left there at 7am today and pulled into our anchorage at Rodriguez Key at about 7pm. The Gulf Stream crossing went very well with winds about 15 mph and moderate seas.
Tonight we’ll grill some burgers and enjoy one last night on the boat. We’ll also clean up and organize.
Tomorrow will be very busy unloading the boat and transferring gear to the RV. We’ll check in with U.S. Customs in Miami and then drive to Lake Panasoffkee, FL where we’ll stay for the night.
Looks like we made mariners out of everyone!

Wow, what a day! We started with bacon, eggs, and toast and it just got better and better. We helped our friends get set up for a picnic on the beach. At the picnic, we had Bahamian mac and cheese, chicken, ham, potato salad, pineapple, and much more. The kids snorkeled and swam off the beach, played frisbee, and otherwise had a great time. Mid-afternoon we sailed up to the north end of the island. The sail itself was magnificent. We anchored at The Three Sisters and snorkeled and spear fished. We sailed back to the harbor at dusk. Mr. Bob whipped up some baby back ribs, beans, and potato salad. Captain Dan diagnosed a problem with the fresh water pump pressure switch. All crew members are healthy and happy and ready for a great day tomorrow.

Today was a relax and recover day. We started out with bacon and eggs thanks to Chef Bob Sayle at 3:30 am. I cleared us through customs and immigration. Some activities during the day: church, beach, snorkeling, explored a shipwreck, Bob was almost eaten by a shark – oh wait, it was actually a rock, C.J.’s Deli, naps, explored island via golf cart or scooter, dinner of salmon and green beans and rice, played on phones, exploring the bay via dinghy. Looks like everyone is up for a good night’s sleep.