Well, it has been a very long time coming but here is a catch up on what we've been doing!

We left Great Harbour Cay as planned, at 7 am on Sunday, March 13th and travelled 72.6 nautical miles to anchor just off Bimini in 10 feet of water. There were just a few tower lights in view on Bimini - otherwise water all around. It was a quiet night, and just before sunrise we pulled anchor to cross the gulf stream.

We had a sunny and warm crossing with 10 knots of wind and .5 meter waves so a motor sail. We arrived at Fort Lauderdale at 4:30, tying up at Las Olas Marina. We got clearance over the phone but must also,report in person. The person on the phone said they were open until 8 am so we taxied over...only to find out the office we needed closed at 4 pm! Taxi was $22 each way!

Next morning we go again - this time we find out they can't give us a cruising permit because I don't have the most recent boat registration on board. They issued us a Permit to Proceed to Port Canaveral and assured us that if we had the new registration, Canaveral would issue a cruising permit.

So, off we go, stopping at Boca Raton, Lake Worth anchorage, Fort Pierce to visit Jim and Pat Rossman, vero Beach, and finally Titusville, where we will stay for a couple of weeks.

Sunday, March 20th - While Ron stayed with the boat to get some work done, I drove our car home, visited the kids over Easter, then flew back. I was able to get the new registration while I was at home.

On Friday, April 1st we rented a car and drove to Port Canaveral to CBP for our cruising permit. Well, the rules are different here and they won't give us one! Because we have been back in the US for a couple of weeks, we would have to leave the country with the boat to qualify! Instead they issued us another Permit to Proceed, this time clearing us to Canada as long as we keep moving - stops of no more than 24 hours unless we check in with Customs and Border Patrol "in person", so we'll see how that goes. We plan to leave here on Sunday, April 3rd when the weather improves.