Anchored in Bahia Honda

We left Coral Bay Marina at 9 a.m. in 18 knots of wind. The bay was choppy and we were heeling without any sails out. After we made a turn, probably 9:45 a.m. or so, the water was less choppy so we pulled the sails. We turned the motor off and sailed until 1 p.m., when we turned the motor back on to help us make better time. We sailed all through Florida Bay, through the Channel Key Banks past Marathon to Bahia Honda. We had following seas and wind at our back all day. Winds were 15-20 knots for most of the day and calmed to 10-12 knots late in the day. SOG averaged 5.5-6.5 knots.

We're anchored in Bahia Honda near a state park and plan to go to Boot Key Harbor/Marathon in few days and will be there through Christmas. Tomorrow we'll take the dinghy over to the beach and explore a bit. We plan to stay here for at least two nights. The water is a pretty green and pretty clear. We took a bunch of photos of Bum's Rest.

If anyone needs to get something to us, you can send it c/o Bill Kerstetter. He's a childhood friend of Chuck's who lives down here. It needs to reach him by Dec. 23 so he can get it to us. His address is 58950 Overseas Hgh. Lot 19, Marathon, FL 33050. We're looking forward to the butter cookies our grandsons made! If anything arrives after Christmas, we'll make it a point to swing back around after New Year's in Key West before crossing to the Bahamas.

I begrudgingly took the wheel for a little while today when winds were about 20 knots and Chuck had to adjust the sails. I can be at the helm for hours under motor or at 10 or 12 knots under sail, but I am not comfortable in charge when winds are higher and we are healing!

I'm back to typing with one hand again. My right hand is hurting today. Tried to unplug something yesterday and it had a good hold and hurt my tendon. Ouch. So I'm babying it for a few days.

I made dinner tonight...salad, london broil (first time we used our railing grill), mashed potatoes, asparagus and strawberries and cool whip for dessert!

Winds are 9-10 knots at anchor and the sky has very little light pollution so you can see thousands of them. Haven't seen that since we were in Utah when Ryan was about 10!