Farewell, florida!

Florida to Belize (Day 1)

We are off!

Next stop: Belize.

Last night, as we motored through the Palm Beach Inlet (taking us from the Intracoastal waterway out into the Atlantic), we popped open a bottle of champagne to celebrate. I cannot express just how draining the last few weeks have been. Each and every day, it felt like we had a never ending to do list which evolved into a comedy of errors. Nothing was as straightforward as it should have been and everything took ten times as long as we expected. Go to sleep, wake up, put Argonaut back together, repeat. A boat work edition of Groundhog Day. How we all felt was rather neatly summed up by Ben.

Ben: “I hate boats.”

Although we are all tired, that stress now feels like a world away. Less than hour into our passage, we were serenaded by a pod of dolphins. If that’s not a good luck charm, I don’t know what is!

As night fell, we got into the rhythm of our watches. 3 hours on during the night, 6 hours off, 2 hours on during the day, 4 hours off. Keeping watch solo. I struggled to keep my eyes open on my 21.00-00.00 watch, then struggled to sleep with the noise and heat thereafter. But now, my body is starting to adjust.

At sunrise, we were greeted with the view of a rainbow over Miami. By lunchtime, the colours have become more vivid, and we are surrounded by waters which are the most surreal shade of turquoise blue. Ben’s new dive watch has informed him that it is now a good time to fish, so the lure is out, and we have our fingers crossed for a fish braai tonight!

We are currently hugging the Florida coastline to keep out of the Gulf Stream. Later, we will cut across it then hug the Cuban coastline, before making a beeline for Belize. The passage should take us around 5 days. It feels so good to be back on the water!

SOG: 6.0 knots

TWS: 8.8 knots

TWD: 71

TWA: 99

AWA: 62

Sails: Main, J1 (we are hoping to assemble the new Code Zero shortly!)

Leg: Riviera Beach, Florida to Key Largo, Florida