Enjoying the Trip

Thursday December 18, 2008
Life had become some what routine of late and that is a good thing. We get up around 9:30 am and have breakfast in the cockpit surrounded by sunshine. We plan a day full of biking dinghy rides or sewing projects. In the morning I set up my sewing machine to work on a project. The light here is grand and the balmy breeze is such a joy. Dick had put his back out from biking yesterdays and wants to lay low for the day.
Friday December 19, 2008
For the week-end Peter added a new dynamic and rented a car. One of Detroit's best to pick up groceries. It was nice to have transportation to pick up the things we needed. In the morning I set up my sewing machine to work on a project. We dug out the charts of the Bahamas today and started studying them. I was happy to discover that the Explorer charts were in meters and not feet even if it is going to be a bit confusing for a while. We are planning our crossing and where we want to make it. People have been talking about the window of opportunity and I wanted to know exactly what that meant.
“Basically, a good weather window occurs when yesterdays breeze was SE at 15 knots or less and todays forecast is clocking toward S at no more than 15 knots and tomorrows forecast is S – SW at no more than 15 – 20 knots.” Explorer Charts page 2 (Near Bahamas) If we leave from Lake Worth
we steer E, SE and the Gulf Stream will cause us to drift north (average speed of current 2 knots). The distance is approximately 54 Nautical miles or leave from Miami and steer E and get blown north east. The distance is around 68 nautical miles. So the other factor to consider is how fast do you want to go. The northern route is against the current more and the southern route is longer but faster as the current is in a position to assist.
After dinner we walked over to the European Village and took in the lights and sites of the season.
Saturday December 20, 2008
Karin e-mailed us some information to set up our web cam for Christmas day. We got to watch Elyssa eat an apple for breakfast. Took a long ride in our dinghy to mail Nick's Birthday card and we could not get close to land to tie up as the tide was out near the public property. When we got back we walked over to the European Village to watch a choir and when we got back Peter and Heather asked us to go out for dinner. We got a call from Dick's family in Woodstock who were celebrating our family Christmas. It was great to hear from everyone. Sitting out in a Cafe watching a jazz band and eating Spinach Ravioli is just not putting me in the Christmas mood.