We continue to hope that the weather patterns of the North Atlantic will settle down some in the next week or so. Our latest peek at the weather models now show that both the European and NOAA models agree regarding the formation of a massive high pressure area by Sunday, June 18th. If this does happen, then we may be able to set sail for the Azores on the 20th, since one of the models show a substantial area of storms on the 18th and 19th just to the north of us. The other model does not show this so we will just have to wait to see how that plays out, but it is encouraging.

Given how unstable the weather has been over the North Atlantic so far this year and how vicious the storms have been and also how we are now getting deeper each day into the summer hurricane season, Mary Margaret and I have been discussing our options. Right now, we are approaching things day by day but we have developed a Plan B if either the weather prevents us from leaving by the end of this month or, we just simply decided that the weather patterns cannot be trusted long enough for us to make it safely to the Azores.

Our thoughts are if we do not leave by the end of this month, we will slowly head south to return to Grenada where we would park the boat for the rest of the hurricane season. We would return to the US for the end of the summer and early fall, visiting family and friends across the US. In October we would return to Leu Cat to ding our way back up the Antilles and then head up to the Bahamas, passing through the Turks and Caicos. We would spend the winter and spring exploring the Bahamas and then sail over to Florida and put good 'ol Leu Cat up for sale, ending our cruising lives and returning to living on land.

We realize that we are nearing the end of our cruising lives. We would like to sail over to the Med to visit friends and spend a few years exploring those lands and breathing in the wonderful history and culture that area offers. However, if we cannot make it over this year via Leu Cat, then we will just have to fly over and spend some time exploring those area via land travel in the future.

We are excited about both options as each offer advantages. Thus, our fate is now placed in the hands of the weather gods and we are looking forward to finding out which path we will be following.