Anne and I paid for another day on the mooring ball in Boot Key Harbor. The winds and small craft advisories continue so we are staying put for another 24 hours. The daily showers and wifi internet connection are also alluring. Anne is becoming more confident with the new dinghy outboard. It is good to have a motor that she is able to pull start.
We are both very impressed with our new wind generator (visible over Anne’s shoulder in the image above.) Our older unit was much louder and was never able to generate enough power to keep up with our refrigeration. With the new unit, an AirX Marine, we have steadily added charge to our house bank over the last 48 hours. The steady 15+ knot winds over the same time period have certainly aided in this feat. All in all we are very pleased with the new wind generator.
We have also used our time in Marathon to do laundry, grocery shop, pick up a new fuse and other supplies at West Marine, top of fresh water tanks, etc. Basically we are ready to head out.
We are still looking for a weather window that will allow us to cross the gulf stream. The tropics are void of any potential storms – good news for crossing, but the local winds are consistently blowing from the east – bad news for a crossing. Ideally we are looking for 24 to 48 hours of south winds. We could make it on some southeast breezes, but it would likely mean a long day/night of motor sailing – yuck.
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