Our quest to get everyone signed up for the Small Vessel Reporting System was a success. Now we can check in with Customs upon our return by phone. Florida  Caverns State Park could not accommodate us tonight , so we pushed on through Tallahassee. We’re at a little campground in Lamont, FL called “A Camper’s World.” We ate dinner here and watched a movie. We’re now about to go to sleep. Our plan for tomorrow was to go to Lake Panasoffkee, but since we’re further down the road today, we might go further down to Fort Pierce. That would make our drive to Key Largo on Saturday shorter. All our crew are safe, happy, well fed, and soon to be well-rested.

The dates for the summer trip are July 12-27, 2018. We’ll be sailing the 45′ Lagoon catamaran, Adagio. She’s a beautiful boat ready to take us to the Bahamas.

Here is the basic itinerary:

July 12-14, Depart Ocean Springs via RV, drive to Florida Caverns, Lake Panasoffkee, and ultimately Key Largo.
July 15-25, Sail to the Bahamas, Bimini, Great Isaac, Gun Cay, North Cat Cay, Berry Islands…
July 25-27, RV trip back home

Here are the pictures from our most recent trip! Thanks for being such a great crew!

Been rolling all day. Had a fantastic group meal this afternoon at Sonny’s BBQ in Marianna, Florida. The boys are all looking forward to getting back to school tomorrow (not!).  Our ETA back in Bay St Louis is 8pm. 

We left Gun Cay at daybreak and sailed across the Gulf Stream once again. Our crossing was quite pleasant with a 10 knot breeze and mild seas. We are at anchor at Rodriguez Key, just a mile or two from Port Largo. The kids have been exploring the mangroves by paddleboard here. We’ll have fresh mutton snapper and mahoghany snapper, mac and cheese, and fresh broccoli for dinner.

We spent the morning hand feeding stingrays at Honeymoon Harbor at the north end of Gun Cay. We pulled anchor around noon and headed to the wreck of the Sapona. The wind kicked up making it unsafe to snorkel the Sapona, so we ate lunch and waited there for a couple of hours for calmer conditions. We finally gave up and went southward to North Cat Cay to top up fuel, water, and ice for the trip home. We are now at anchor on the west side of Gun Cay. We’re in the lee of the island so conditions are excellent. Even better, after a delicious dinner of pork chops, mac and cheese, and beans, the kids (young and old) are tearing up the fish.

When we awoke this morning, we went back to Three Sisters reef. The mighty hunters got a good mess of fish. We went north to try to find some dolphins and, while underway, decided to go all the way to Great Isaac. Conditions were magnificent for the trip. We explored the island and, of course, did more spear fishing. Gordon speared a blue runner (jack) about 6 pounds – what a beauty. We found some dolphins on the way back and we put a couple of guys overboard to engage them. Unfortunately the fun was cut short due to the sighting of a big shark deep below. We thought it would be a good idea to let him have this part of the ocean. Tonight we’ll be at Honeymoon Harbor at the north end of Gun Cay.

We ate some good food at C.J.’s Deli today –  conch fritters, plantains, fried conch, chicken, burgers, etc. Ty tried to catch a seagull, luring them with french fries. We did some service work at a local church. We snorkeled at Three Sisters. Lots of spearfishing – about 8 fish caught. We saw big bull sharks in the harbor including a feeding frenzy. The kids made a friend with a local boy named Narj. We saw an old friend named Caleb. Currently at anchor off the northwest shore of North Bimini. Had a delicious dinner of cheeseburgers, complete with live entertainment – guitar music ala Gordon and Mr. Bob. Fishing late into the night – William caught a shark; Mr. Bob caught a mahoghany snapper; lots of snapped lines. Some technogeeks spent some time watching funny videos.

We spent last night at the Big Game Club Marina and enjoyed a beautiful day at a beach picnic. We brought chicken and sausage gumbo to share, thanks to Chef Bob. The kids did a lot of snorkeling right off the beach. Big Game has a pool, pool table, and ping pong too to keep all happy. We will stay tonight again at Big Game. All our sailors are doing great.

We are at anchor off the beach of Bimini. As predicted, we arrived in the wee hours of the morning. To avoid the hassle of docking at night at an unfamiliar dock (Weech’s was destroyed in Huuricane Irma), we chose to anchor instead. It is absolutely beautiful. We slept in to recover from the long drive and Gulf Stream crossing. The kids are enjoying snorkeling in the pristine water.