Rolling waves that rise and fall as
foam erupts from the cut of the chine.
The swell expands with a following sea,
and a million fire flies sparkle amidst a
dazzling flash from the sun's rays
sneaking through the overcast clouds.

We left Jacksonville on a cold morning heading south on the ICW to St. Augustine. The inlet at St. Augustine has always had a bad reputation for being dangerous due to shifting shoals that required the Coast Guard to continually change the channel markers. We have never gone in or out of the St. Augustine channel, but it was the shortest route for us to get to sea and make Ft. Pierce the following day. Our main objective was to get to Lake Worth, our final south Florida destination before Wednesday the 24th when another cold front came through bringing a continuous band of fronts with high north winds for a week or more. It was a little scary exiting the St. Augustine inlet, but encouragement from Bob Kidd at the Beach marina, and a call to TowboatUS made the venture seem manageable. I really think we were both a bit tense and nervous as we started out, but constant watch for the channel markers and guidance from Towboat kept us on track and as we passed the final STA marker breathed a sigh of relief and realized we never saw less than 18 ft of water. We set a course to round Cape Canaveral and south to Ft. Pierce. The winds were light, so even with all sails up we still motor sailed the entire trip. Through the night was uneventful, we covered 180 miles coming into Ft. Pierce around noon the following day. As we entered Ft. Pierce, we felt a bit conspicuous. Still dressed with foul weather gear, fleece and hats we entered the harbor with hundreds of small boats and fishermen out on a bright sunny day in shorts and tees. We could sense the questions, "where did they come from" as we glided by decked out for an arctic adventure. We anchored and immediately abandoned the heavy clothing and out came the shorts, tees and barefeet, standard garb of the southern cruiser. Believe it or not, it is finally warm !
The next morning we departed for the short run south to Lake Worth. The winds had shifted south, right "on our nose" so it became a motor run, and although the forecast was for light conditions all day, we found by noon winds building to 18-20 knts. The passage was rougher than we had expected, but short enough that it didn't matter, what was more important was that we would make it to Lake Worth before conditions deteriorated, and enjoy the warmer south Florida conditions. We pulled into a slip at Old Port Cove Marina about 4:30 pm, assuming at least a week stay, tied up and secure to sit out waiting through the next bought of bad weather.
Well, now its February, and even in Palm Beach the cold fronts have brought much cooler weather. Diana had put the comforter and "winter" clothes away, but had to break them out again. We have gotten a lot done here the past week or so. The thrusters have been cleaned and I replaced the battery, and we had a rigger tune the rig to resolve a forward mast bend. We won't have that opportunity for the next few months. We looked over the charts and have tentatively decided on a route, depending of course, on weather. This weekend we should be leaving to sail east across the Gulf Stream to West End in the Bahamas. The forecast is for winds out of the south, ideal conditions for an overnight crossing on a broad reach and arrive first thing Monday morning, Provisioning is done, a final run to West Marine and fuel up on our departure. We are both excited, no matter how many times you do this, its always exciting, mysterious and just a bit scary.... but as the old salts always say... "its just an overnight" !