A New Year, A New Adventure

January 13th, 2014.
 Sitting poolside, partly cloudy skies, 80 degrees. Not bad!

We've been here a couple of weeks...working on the boat, having fun, and preparing for our departure to the Bahamas. We hope to leave this weekend--if the winds are with us (and if Barry finishes his projects). He installed hardwood floors--very difficult because of the slope of the floor, but it looks gorgeous! Now he is working on servicing the engine and generator; fixing leaks;

8-10" of rain last Thursday helped us find the leaks in the boat

 installing new davits to hold the dinghy; and moving the VHF to the cockpit. My jobs include  running to Home Depot, cleaning up the mess, painting the ceiling,

polishing the stainless, and/or staying out of the way.

Our marina is in Stuart, FL--on the Atlantic Coast about 90 miles north of Miami. I can walk over a drawbridge to the downtown area--where there are nice little shops and cafes. On the weekend, there is a market at which you can buy produce, honey, crafts, jewelry, hand-crafted hammocks, etc.

We have a guest on this journey--our cat Pearl. She didn't come along willingly--she earned this journey by attacking a bat that wandered into our house--leading to health concerns for Pearl. We had to watch her for 45 days--which are now almost expired. She is healthy--but she doesn't have her kitty cat sea legs yet.

While in Florida, we always try to visit with our great friends George and Sue Stock. We used to be backyard neighbors--but now they live in the Tampa area. So we split the difference and met in the middle of Florida at an amazing botanical garden called Bok Tower. 

Long entry....now that I've taken the plunge, I'll try to blog  more frequently with shorter entries. Thanks for reading this! We miss all of our family and friends back home. (Don't miss the cold, though:)