Look out Marathon; Here we come

At Sea
N 26 17 W 80 03

Yesterday we repaired the Monitor self-steering apparatus. We also spent a half day cleaning and repairing the bottom side of the dinghy. Leaving the dinghy in the water for long periods, as we did in Vero, is tough duty. Most people have inflatable rubber rafts. We have a very nice fiberglass hard dinghy of the Fatty Knees brand. It is excellent to row, roomy, and it can haul big loads. However, the fiberglass is paper thin and it gets injured with every hard knock and ding. So, like everything
else on a sailboat, it takes a lot of maintenance.

Today a cold front passed by and the wind shifted to the North. So off we went. Right now we're doing about 6 knots and coming up on Fort Lauderdale. The sun just came out and the wind is freshening. It's really nice. We passed the edge of the continental shelf a ways back. 3 miles off shore, the depth is almost 400 feet, rather than 80 feet typical when we cross over the shelf. It's very apparent in the water color. Rather than turquoise, it is dark blue.

We have friends on Viking Rose and on Raven and Heron who we would like to buddy with to cross over to the Bahamas, but they are all more than a week behind us. Impatience rears it's head. We don't want to hang around for another week.

Both Libby and I have the urge to go to Marathon before doing the Bahamas, so that's where we're heading now. If the winds hold out, and it we don't decide to stop and snorkel, we should be there by tomorrow. Look out Marathon; here we come.