Happy New Year to All!

We are still in Lake Sylvia, Ft. Lauderdale where we have really enjoyed the New Year's Holiday. The small anchorage has filled and emptied so many times in the past 48 hours as boats have come and gone. Some have come for a night or 2, some just to enjoy the fireworks or go for a swim and some have come only for lunch or a quick spin around to check out all the other boats.

We spent the first day of 2007 preparing TOBIAS for the Big Water! It has been almost 3 months since we have sailed. Tomorrow we will go outside and down to Miami. There is a bridge on the ICW that is just not really tall enough for us. Maybe we could make it under it but our blood pressure just can't take that close a call! And it will be really fun to be out on the ocean again. We have missed it so much!

So we hauled the dinghy on deck and cleaned the bottom. It hadn't been cleaned since we left Nova Scotia and there were a few little barnacles growing but it really wasn't too bad. We deflated it and tied it down good and tight. We took the sail covers off in hopes of sailing tomorrow. We have stowed things that could go flying around and attached the jack line - that is what you hook the harnass tether too when you go out on deck - it's purpose is to keep you on the boat should you fall or get knocked down by a wave.

We will leave here at first light and go on down to Biscayne Bay. We are hoping for a good weather window (that means good conditions for sailing) on Friday and we will scoot on over to Bimini - our first stop in the Bahamas.