Today's photo is of Nikki writing in her journal. She is such a good writer and captures the essence of the moments ...

We departed Angelfish Creek at 0645 yesterday and sailed 56 nm averaging 7 kts. A big part of that is we found the Gulf Stream for about three hours and saw ground speed jump to a max of 11.1 kts, which means the current at one point was pushing us at 4 kts. Really great and we arrived 2 hours ahead of schedule.

We had hoped to find a slip or a mooring at a marina to weather the oncoming cold front but no luck, so we anchored here in Lake Sylvia. Good protection and holding but it is very crowded with many other boats with the same need/idea. This morning's ebbing tide pushed us so far sidewise AGAINST the wind that we nearly collided with a boat who anchored next to us. I got on the motor and maneuvered away and held a safe position until slack tide and then all was well. The winds have now shifted from SW to NW with sustained winds around 20 kts, which is not bad, but we have seen gusts up to 40 kts and that really stretches out the chain anchor rode and you worry a bit about popping the anchor loose and dragging. That hasn't happened and we should be fine as long as it does not get any worse. However, we are staying on the boat to keep an eye on everything for the day and have therefore taken advantage of the time to do a few boat chores, not the least of which was defrosting the freezer. Nikki jumps right in on this stuff. I really know how to show a girl a good time ...

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and settled, weather-wise, and we plan to go ashore and stretch our legs some. That will be Nikki's last full day in FL as she flies back to VT Tuesday afternoon. I have been trying to arrange to meet my nephew Andrew who lives near Miami and hopefully we can get together tomorrow night. I will continue the trek north Wednesday. The winds are forecasted to whip the seas up this week with strong easterlies causing 10' seas, so I am planning to head up the ditch (ICW) at least as far as Cape Canaveral. Somewhere along the way I hope to meet Dick and Kay Axelsen, the original owners of Kristinly. Uncle Dave (aka uncle Animal) gets on the boat the 14th around St Augustine to help sail north for a couple of weeks.

Will update more after Nikki leaves.