We're back in the USA!!!

We sailed three days and two nights - about 280 miles from Isla Mujeres to the Dry Tortugas. We narrowly escaped disaster heading out of the reef north of the island. The depth is fine for Santorini, but there were breaking waves coming over the reef - like 8 to 10 feet. The Mexican Navy was helping boats over the reef and here we were heading out! As big as our boat is, she was tossed about like a tea cup after leaving the protected waters. As we crossed the Gulf Stream we felt as if we were in a giant washing machine. In short, it was a very rough ride most of the way.

Laurie did great, in fact letting out a "whoa -who" as we crossed the reef - not realizing the danger of the moment. She must have been a sailor in a prior life, because the rough seas did not bother her a bit and she loved every minute of our sail. It was so great to finally drop anchor just after sunset in the protected anchorage of the Dry Tortugas.

On Tuesday just before sunset we were about 80 miles from Ft. Myers. We were having cocktail in the cockpit and Chico was with us with his harness and leash on. A little bird appeared and flew around the boat, trying to land. For some reason, he decided to fly past Chico. That didn't happen as Chico's orange paw quickly nabbed him out of the air. Chico took off downstairs dragging his leash. All that was left were a few long wing feathers. A kill at sea - bravo Chico!

We arrived in Ft. Myers on Wednesday morning right after the sun came up. We are not very used to coming into port in such shallow water, but followed the buoys in with no problem. We headed for moorings off Estero Island, which involves going under a bridge with a 65' clearance - our mast is 62 ft. Tom measured it before we left Mexico, but it was rather frightening to see how close to the bridge the top of the mast was!

We got tied up to a mooring but it turned out to be too small. We couldn't find another one so I called the marina office. It turns out 20 mooring are out of commission due to maintenance??? There were a bunch with floats so the manager told us to tie up to one of them. We did, offed the dinghy and headed for dry land.

We wasted no time finding all day Happy Hour at Nervous Nellie's - a great waterfront bar/restaurant. We even went back for dinner as Laurie treated us on the last night of her vacation. Tom and Laurie had giant steaks and I dined on plump sea scallops.

It's Spring Break and this town is hoppin'. It's a cute beach town, with ugly beach traffic. We were glad we were walking. We found the grocery store - it was quite an emotional experience! Cell phone service, grocery stores, English on the TV - it's GOOD to be HOME!

A nasty storm came through yesterday and cold North winds mean we'll stay hunkered down here until Sunday. From here it's about 300 miles to our new home in Panama City - we can't wait to get there.