Decisions on the Ocean - March 30

When we last updated we were getting ready to head out of Marathon- that was 4 days ago! As we have come to expect and are getting used to, the weather is really the one in charge of where and when we could go. So here we are on Monday having planned to leave on Friday. Finally we have re-entered the ocean and are heading east along the outside of the Keys. Since we’ve been in the Keys we have been able to do more ocean sailing because of the ease of getting in and out and the protection the large coral reef provides. We have been intrigued by the few small Keys on the ocean side where we could be anchored out in the ocean. So today we set off for a 50 mile stretch to Rodriguez Key – an island just off of Key Largo (in picture above). It felt great to be underway and going somewhere new after being relaxed on the mooring ball for over 6 weeks. Christopher is excited with the prospect that we are starting “Part 3” of our journey. The seas were fairly gentle and the wind was almost right on our nose, which meant we motor sailed most of the way. It was wonderful to spend the whole day gliding over the crystal blue waters being both excited to be moving on but a little sad that that part of the journey was over. By 5 o’clock we were tucking in behind Rodriguez Key where we met up with friends Jack and Alois on Adventurous. It was Alois’ birthday and so we went over for cake. And then the talk turned to our next major decision – can we make the crossing to the Bahamas still? Adventurous is going and we would like to travel over together. But they have a lot of time to cruise over there and we are now down to a very limited time since our journey north has to begin soon. Not only has it been long waiting for the weather to cross ( and tomorrow’s forcast has generally nice winds but possible thunderstorms and waterspouts!) we are also anticipating having to wait to cross back again. Had the favourable weather window come a week ago it would have been much easier. We need to talk long into the night…