Sorry for the late report. The delay was intentional in order to allow sufficient time to recover from the despondency incurred from the realization that my sailing dream won't materialize into what I had hoped.
First off, let me state that it was great to be back in Florida again. Our first stop in that great state (OK, I'm a little partial since I was born there) was to spend the night in St Augustine. I had heard of St. Augustine but didn't realize it had the distinction of being the oldest city in the US. The next morning, my wife, having spent time there before, knew I would enjoy touring the
Castillo de San Marcos which is the oldest and largest masonry
fort in the continental United States. We also toured The
Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine which has quite an interesting history as well.
Just after heading south out of town, we both were getting hungry so we stopped at a little seafood shack along side the road where I had a huge crab-cake sandwich that was totally awesome. Try as I would, I just couldn't eat the whole thing. I really tried because it was so delicious but I just couldn't. As the waitress brought us the check she asked if we would like some desert, maybe a piece of key lime pie? OK, we'll both have a piece to go. As I was waiting for my change, I took a little bite just to see if was as good as the sandwich. Folks, that was the best bite of pie I have ever had! I took just one more little bite because it was so good. Even thought I was already stuffed from the crab-cake sandwich, I couldn't stop eating the pie. (JT's Seafood Shack is highly recommended)
So far we were off to a great start and we haven't even gotten to the boat yet.
Our next destination was Key West since my wife had never been there. As expected, there was the typical Spring Break crazies but we did manage to get through the crowd and pick up some more Kino sandals.
Once on the boat, we had an enjoyable sail to Seven Mile Bridge. Even though the wind was up, we decided to head out to the ocean side and anchor in a protective cove for the night. Shortly after I was certain we were secure, several other boats joined us in the cove. They appeared to be full time cruisers so that made me feel better that I had chosen a good spot.
Well, we were all wrong! The wind shifted just enough during the night that our little cove was no longer protected.
Even though we took Gunni's advice and got our neighbor to prescribe her a scopolamine patch, my wife was starting to feel queasy. Even though I had planned to make her favorite egg omelet, she wasn't interested in eating anything.
Heading out, directly downwind to Sombrero Reef, she kept feeling worse. Bad enough that by the time we arrived and picked up the mooring ball, I was single handling the pickup. (Wish I had the video camera on at the time because for the first time ever in my life picking up a mooring ball, I did it single handed and performed the evolution flawlessly.) Of course we arrived early enough that there were no other boats to witness.
We did accomplish our goals set out for this trip.
1.) The boat we chartered would be adequate for my wife to be content on out at sea.
2.) The performance of the boat was certainly adequate.
3.) My wife seasickness is not something I would wish for her to experience on a regular basis.
After having a rainday at work yesterday, I got out on our Goman Express 30 for an afternoon sail in near ideal conditions.
Nothing but pure joy for the whole afternoon.
My only remaining hope of experiencing my dream is that when the refit is complete, the seakindness of our Allied Seawind would be sufficient that my wife could tolerate short passages between the islands.
PS haven't had time to edit any of the video yet, so there is more to follow.