We are snug as a bug in a rug in Dunedin Florida. We
started our day yesterday Nov 29th with a lovely 2hr walk on the beach just
after sunrise. And yes we tied the dinghy this time!
There is a lovely piece of property for sale on the island if anyone is
interested?
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| Property for sale on Dog island |
There are many jelly fish that got washed up on shore and
got stuck. Poor little guys!
As it turned out, we had a wonderful crossing with our
companion boats. There were many of us doing the crossing last night. Some said
as many as 25. I saw a total of 12 during the night but some were faster or
left earlier. We were accompanied by "Ta
Ta", "Sea Horse",
"Mara Beel" and "Serenity". Once the sun set and
twilight was over; which was 6:30pm; we started checking in with each other
every 30min on the top and bottom of the hour. This was to ensure that everyone
was well and to make sure everyone was awake! 24 hrs and 26 min after starting the engines, we got to turn them off as we docked.
Once we left land behind us; we had nothing but water in
front of us until 9:47 this morning when we finally saw land again. Although we
started out a little rougher than anticipated, we saw 1 to 2 foot waves most of
the night and all of these from the front and just off to the left a bit, so it
was really easy to take. I guess we really did not need to tie down all the
furniture and tape shut all the drawers.
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| Sunset on the Gulf of Mexico |
We laid a course on the GPS that had us slowly moving away
from the other boats. Once we got about 1/4 mile away from them, I got a call on the VHF from 2 of them making sure everything was OK and double checking our course and
speed against theirs. Sure did make me feel safe and looked after.
Jim and I took turns navigating and napping in 3hrs blocs.
So I had the first shift from 6 to 9 pm, then Jim took over from 9 to midnight
etc... By 6 am the sun was rising again and although it was Jim's turn to nap,
he barely laid down for an hour before getting up again.
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| Sun rise on the Gulf of Mexico |
It is beautiful weather here now. A high of 78◦F and Sunny.
To top off this wonderful crossing and beautiful day, we got a message from
Jeff and Susan; who were already in Dunedin. They said we would all be too tired
to cook and needed to rest, so they hosted a celebratory dinner for us after we
had a brief nap. John and Mark brought Champagne to toast our arrival. How lucky can we get?
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| Popping the corks on the Champagne |
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| Left to right: Dan,&Angie, Mimi& Jim,Roger& Mary, John and his wife, Becky & Mark, Jean and Hubby |
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