If you've read any of our passage logs you know that Hideko and I don't often leave as early as we'd like to on a long run. We have an SOP that dictates getting things prepped two days in advance so that the day before we can relax. Well this time we're actually doing just that. We spent all of today, putting the boat away and getting things set for departure early Tuesday morning.

We needed diesel (first time since Bimini) and we also filled up our 5 gallon gas can for the dink. The five gallon can was no problem but it took several minutes to pump over 200 gallons into the big tanks. If you get bummed when you fill up the tank of your Prius in LA you don't even want to see this fuel bill. Ma ma.

We had to move down the dock because a 120 foot live aboard dive boat was coming in. I saw them come to the harbor entrance and then just stop. For like an hour. I checked the tides and it was a rising tide with two hours to go to high. Smart skipper. He had hit bottom and lifted off on the tide three times until finally plowing his way into the channel. It was 5 feet out there at low tide when we came in. Somebody needs to rent a crane with a bucket.

I made a final check on all of the diesels after their 250 hour service. Everything was good but I did have to add some water to the reservoir on the genset. We packed up all of the lockers and washed down the boat and got the inside organized.

We're going to take off right when our 7 days runs out. When you clear in to the TCI you can stay 7 days for a small fee ($20 I think it was). If you want to stay longer they issue you a normal cruising permit which is quite a bit more.

We have our route planned all the way over to Puerto Rico via the Dominican Republic and a few of the Turks and Caicos islands on the way down. We're really looking forward to the next batch of sailing and we can fish again since we ate the last of the Mahi Mahi last night!