Daydreaming.....

Everlasting Moon was making almost 6 knots on a close reach with a good and steady 10-12 knot breeze blowing over the sparkling blue of Hawk Channel, and sitting on the lee side coaming I could see ahead well enough to dodge the lobster traps that dot the shallows north of the head pin at South Sound Creek. With Moon heeling gently into the breeze like this I can get really comfortable with my butt on the rail, my shoulder and head resting on the bimini frame, and my foot on the wheel. I had taken a left when I came out of the channel, and was headed north east under a bright blue sky with a scattering of white puffiness. With about 10 miles of open water ahead of me before there would be any shallows to worry about I enjoyed drifting off into daydream heaven......

Keep this heading, dodging a few coral heads up near Carysfort Reef, and in a day or so I could be at West End, Grand Bahama poised to make the turn to head up into the Abacos. Or, hang a left at Angelfish Creek and I could spend some time exploring Biscayne Bay, then toodle down the ICW to Florida Bay and points south and west. So many options and opportunities!

My plan is to be retired by this time next year, or at least not working a regular job for a while, and it is getting harder every day to maintain my focus on work. I love my job and the folks I work with, but every time I spend a few hours on the boat I think about moving my timeline up and starting the trip this year.....hurricane season ends this month, and now would be a great time to finish getting the boat prepped and start The Trip (a Figure 8 - clockwise circumnavigation of the Caribbean followed by a Great Loop) after Thanks giving.

For now I can't bring myself to bail out on the commitments I made to finish a pair of projects, though, and the sound of my work cell phone ringing brought me out of my reverie and back to the real world. Tacking around, I enjoyed a great beam reach back to the channel before dropping the sails and motoring down the creek and back to the marina.

Here's a short and sort of shaky cell phone video from the sail back...thanks for reading this, and I hope all is well in your world!