In the Gulf Stream
19 April 2009
0945 hours: We got into the stream about 4a.m., and we're about 50 miles offshore. It was fairly rough most of the night, finally settling down to about 4 - 6 foot seas. Even though the bow bunks get noisy with the waves slamming the deck and hulls, it puts me right to sleep and the rocking motion helps me sleep. Looks like possible squalls later today. We had an excitging night - we lost our radar for no apparent reason, but after rebooting and resetting, we got it back. We lost our tri color light at the top of the mast - probably shook loose as we traversed through the Port St. Lucie entrance. About mid morning we lost almost all of our wind - it's down to 8 - 10 knots. We are barely moving. Because it was so calm I was able to lay out on the forward tramp and chill and get some sun - ah, life is good!
1330 hours: The winds are picking up and we are beginning to see whitecaps on the waves. Water in the gulf is a beautiful deep sapphire blue color - gorgeous! We saw a couple of dolphins this afternoon playing around the boat, so Jim threw a fishing line out, in hopes of catching fresh fish for dinner. It's so great to be back on the water again, and Jim is really in his element and so relaxed.