The adventure continues back in the USA 26◦44'.820N 80◦02'.837W

Well we made it back across the Atlantic to the USA and this on Dad's 85^th birthday.  So first off we need to wish Dad a very happy birthday and wish we were there to celebrate with the rest of the gang.

We had a very nice final week in the Bahamas.

I spent most of the week  collecting and sorting pine needles and carving bases. I must admit I certainly garnered some curiosity from people as I sat on the top deck sorting these long needles, some up to 30 inches long! I have completed a couple of baskets now. Not too bad for a French girls I'd say.

 

I also got to  some fresh Bahamian Lobster tail. They were very yummy and I know that my daughter-in-law is drooling as she reads this. Sorry honey, the fisherman arrived after you guys left.

We also had our bottom taken care of. Get your mind out of the gutter. I meant the bottom of the boat! We hired a lovely young man named Remi and his assistant Shelly to come check our props, rudders and zincs. For those who are not boaters, allow me to attempt to explain. First we have zebra mussels and barnacles that attach to the surfaces of the boat that are under water. These critters can slow us down quite a bit, not to mention the fact that they can foul up our running gear. 

We painted the boat with anti-fouling paint prior to leaving. This is a special type of paint that peels off slowly and takes these little critters along with it. However we still need to keep a close eye on it and scrape the bottom if they start building up.  

The other issue is corrosion of metals. We have bronze props, aluminium supports for the swim platform and stainless steel shafts. I will not pretend to know how or why these metals all interact and corrode, but I do know that the corrosion is real. Zinc is a metal that corrodes very easily. In order to keep corrosion off the other metals, we install sacrificial zincs to these metals. The little bump you see on the shaft and on the rudder are made of zinc. These zincs corrode first and keep the other metals form corroding. In salt water they tend to corrode off a lot faster. Our new friend Remi dove under the boat and installed new zincs as the old ones where almost eaten away. We should be good to make it home now with no corrosion of important parts!

So now with the boat all cleaned and zincs installed, we set off at first light this morning with two other boats. The weather called for very light winds and waves. Although it was not quite as light as predicted, it was still a nice, safe crossing. We are now in Lake Worth Florida with a plan to make it to Fort Pierce tomorrow. 

We would like to make it to Cocoa Beach before the 25^th as there is a shuttle launch scheduled for that day. Sure would be cool to catch a launch from front row seats! That's about all for tonight, we will now resume blogging on a daily basis. Good night all.