Ahoy Matey!

So the best way for me to describe the last few weeks here in Florida are to compare them to the movie “Swingers”. Two guys spontaneously decide to “screw it, Lets go to Vegas!” As they get into the car the excitement is infectious as screams of VEGAS BABY! VEGAS!! fill the air as they peal out of LA. Three hours later they are still on their way, tired and hungry and although still excited, their screams have turned into subdued mentioning of “vegas baby, vegas. Interstate 15 is a long and tiring road.

Well after 27 days in Florida, 13 days looking for a
boat to Central America, and 14 days after the initial excitement of finding the boat and waiting for it to arrive, we have finally done it. THE BOAT BABY! THE BOAT!! Yes that is right! All the excitement we initially felt is back as we are now aboard Cinnabar! Lars and Inger, our new Danish sailing family, are wonderful and the boat is beautiful. After waiting out some choppy seas to get to where they were anchored, we climbed aboard what will be our new home for a few weeks. Our introductory night was spent toasting to our new President Obama and to the fair winds we hoped would accompany us south.

And as luck would have it, the weather window we were hoping for came right away. A day after we boarded the winds changed and we got our North Westerlys to head South. Thirty straight hours of good winds, and beautiful turquoise seas later the comforts of our Florida friends were just sweet memories as we pulled into the crowded harbor of Key West (the southern most point of the Continental United States). We’re settling in nicely, our bunks may not be big but they are cozy. The conversation is great and we share all of our meals (with Inger being the expert in galley) Our introduction into meat, after years of veggies came as an open-faced liverwurst, and pastrami sandwich topped with lettuce and onions (a Danish specialty and actually much better than it sounds). All and all we are having a great time and we’re thrilled to be sailing again.

Until getting aboard we have the generosity of one more family to thank- Rouven, Tanya, Koen (3) and Caraina (2), your over generous hospitality, the conversation and the wine were all wonderful! Thanks for a great few days!