We have about a week before the tide is high enough for us to leave Boot Key Harbor in Marathon, Florida. We've enjoyed this month, especially the last two days we visited the Everglades. Now eager to see more National Parks as we travel about. We'll be going to Georgia and the Carolinas after the Bahamas, so will visit some more. Due to it being the "dry"season in the Everglades, all the animals and birds congregate in the pools that are right at the most visited spots with trails and boardwalks. It was fabulous! See photos here!

In a week we'll be bound for the Exumas in the Bahamas. We are eager to go see it all. We'll be taking some gifts for kids and hope to meet local people and enjoy all the lovely cays --small islands attached to a bank of shallow water that is quite large. Due to the depth of our keel, we'll be looking for relatively deep places to anchor and travel between the cays.

Just before New Years, we arrived in Marathon, Florida. It's part of the Keys and we've not yet explored all the natural spots of interest and been to Key West, but we have a month here, so will get to it all!. Had great Holidays with Hilary and Joe, her boyfriend. It was fun exploring the areas south from Miamai to Key Largo. Joe was thrilled to catch a very nice Dorado and we'll have photos soon from Hilary to post of that! Very cold here. Not really Florida weather. Still wearing jeans and layers and foul weather jackets!

Boat projects underway--- wiring, electrical, sewing covers for things--good to be working as we've been waiting for sunshine to do the fun things.
The boat looks spiffy and we'll be ready to cross the Gulf Stream sometime in early Feb to the Bahamas!

I have finally gotten around to starting a Facebook page and am figuring out how different it is from the blog. I think this continues to be the place for longer stories of our adventures! If you reach the blog and can't get in, please give me an email and I'll get you all set up. Because of the big gaps in time, you've probably forgotten all about how to do it!

So, Mike and I are just about to start our Florida-Bahamas-East Coast year on Finisterre. Mike leaves Saturday to work on the boat and then comes back in two weeks for a few days. Then, by the 23'rd of November, we will both be on Finisterre in Fernandina, Florida and the boat will be in the marina, and close to being ready to go. Close, but probably not completely! From past experience, I know just putting everything away and assessing what's missing, going to get that and all the provisions is a big process. I think we should start out with just doing part of the provisioning as we'll be in Florida through the holidays and Hilary wll come visit with Joe for Christmas. Maybe we'll be in the Keys then.

Well, I did not continue the story. Got busy with the rest of chemo and other things. The guys did deliver the boat all the way to Florida and managed to get through some storms and wild sailing. And now it's time for Mike and I to return to Finisterre for new adventures.

I will continue to use Bob's journal to tell the story of the trip, so wait for more in the next few days!