It took 2 years to get Serenity ready for the trip and the preparation paid off. Only three things broke and two of those I rigged fixes for. The engine ran every time I asked it to and never let us down. The sail rigging held up as did all the canvas work I had done.

As far as the engine, I think the fact I had replaced the old fuel tank was one of the reasons the engine was perfectly reliable. Good clean fuel is the diesel's best friend--adequate, clean oil helps too. The leak in the fuel bleed valve was caused by a deteriorated rubber gasket and it paid having rubber and composite gasket material on board to make a replacement.

I had made cockpit wind guards out of Sunbrella and they were great to keep some wind out of the cockpit on cool days. They also gave some extra privacy. But the best thing was they made the boat feel like it had more freeboard. When the Atlantic was giving us 4-6 foot rollers, the boat handled it fine but we felt better looking over the wind guards. I also made sun screens out of Sunbrella screening that spanned the space between the wind guards and the bimini. That was great on hot sunny afternoons and for privacy in marinas. The two sun screens were moveable between the two sides and fore and aft ends of the cockpit.

Navigation with my old Garmin 182C chartplotter was a breeze and the backup Garmin GPSmap76 worked fine after I rigged a fix for the power pin that broke off due to corrosion on day one. I just put a small pointed brad in the female cable connector that made contact with the base of the pin in the back of the unit. It still works but I need to send the unit in to Garmin to have them replace the connector. The Garmin GPS72 that came with Serenity has such a sun faded screen that the main thing I used it for was to set an anchor alarm at night. Of course it would loose satellite reception every few hours and sound an alarm but better that than dragging anchor unnoticed. The best part of all the units was the ability to plot waypoints and routes on my laptop computer and then transfer the data to the GPSs. I use the OziExplorer program (see oziexplorer.com) which for $75 allows you to use free charts downloaded from NOAA. OziExplorer also allowed me to connect a $35 USB powered GPS receiver to the laptop and have another backup chartplotter system. And when thunderstorms came and there was a lightening danger, the computer and GPSs went into the oven for protection and I relied on the old Garmin GPS72 for navigation or anchor watch.

When asked, "What did you enjoy more about the trip on Serenity compared to Puff (Hunter 27)?" The answer was the cockpit shower with hot and cold water. Serenity came with a water heater (electric and engine powered) but I added a simple handheld shower in the port lazerette. It was great to wash the salt and sand off and great for showering on all but a few cool nights. As for creature comfort, that and the refrigerator with a working freezer were high on the list.

My anchor rig consisted of a Delta 22 plow with 20 feet of chain and 200 feet of ½ inch 3 strand rode. I normally anchored in depths of 10 feet or less and used about 90 feet of rode. Then I would hang a 15 pound kellet (actually a barbell weight) on the anchor line about 10 feet in front of the boat. The kellet acts as a shock absorber and keeps the pull on the anchor more horizontal. It worked great even in some 50 knot gusts in Biscayne Bay. On that day I also put out my backup Fortress anchor which took over as the wind shifted.

For electricity, Serenity has two group 31 AGM batteries for a house bank of 210 amp hours. The starting battery is also a group 31 AGM. The house bank was good for 2 days at anchor from a full charge. After that it was run the engine or fire up a 900 watt gas generator to run the 40 amp battery charger/inverter. The electric hog on board is the refrigerator but I'd rather have an easy to get at refrigerator than have to dive headfirst into the icebox in the back corner of the galley. I used the old icebox for canned good storage.

As I did on the last trip, I took much too much canned food. We ate normal meals using fresh food whenever possible. It was difficult (and expensive) getting greens in the Bahamas but by stopping in every grocery shop in the towns, we found broccoli, green beans, onions, tomatoes and lettuce of reasonable quality and price.

For weather forecasting, NOAA weather radio in the states was accurate and always available. In the Abacos, I'd get up at 6:30 and listen to Chris Parker of Caribbean Weather on a HF single side band receiver. Not having an HF transmitter, I listened for boats in the area who were asking Chris for weather information. In fact our return crossing was pushed up 4 days or so due to Chris's long range forecast. We made a quick trip back up the Abacos and over to West End to get a smooth crossing�"and it was.

Every trip generates a Wish List. This trip was no exception. We really want a bigger and better dinghy. Our little 8 footer works but is very wet in any waves and with two of us in it; there is room for little else. After one trip ashore in Marsh harbor, we decided to go to a marina rather than make soaking wet shore runs in the dinghy. Having 2 dinghy motors on board was a help. Normally, one of them would run. A newer motor is on the wish list too. Also on the list are solar panels if I can design a reasonable mounting location for them. Finally, an anchor windlass would be a real blessing. When the wind gets over 10 knots, I can't haul the boat up the anchor rode. When Karen was aboard, she did a great job of running the boat up the rode while I pulled in the slack. Without Karen it was put the boat in gear and run to the bow to pull the anchor and hope the boat didn't stray off line too much.

As for fun places to go, I think Hopetown and Great Guana in the Abacos are the places with the most fun atmosphere. I love the beaches of Nunjack in the Abacos as they are the best get away from it all. Marathon in the Keys may be the most boater friendly place. Key West is Key West is Key West. Oleta State Park in N. Miami is a great place to hang out on anchor with good shopping a short hike away. City of Ft. Lauderdale Marina on New River is a lot of fun with good places to shop, eat, and boat, all in downtown.

Our next long trip was going to be up the west coast of Florida, but BP has ruined the Gulf so we don't know where to go next. Anyone have suggestions?