7/11/16 ... Ready for the Off

After a relatively relaxed weekend overall, we've spent the morning readying everything to depart just before high tide this afternoon - it started raining yesterday afternoon so we decided to spend another night in the marina.  This involved taking the new dinghy and outboard out for a spin up Egan's Creek ... quite a turn of speed, and that's whilst we're running the engine in at under half throttle.  I was also pleased to see how easy it was to hoist the outboard onto the deck using the new gantry and "four to one pulley system" ... no effort at all to lift 90lbs of engine.  I'm glad Paul no longer has to manhandle a heavy motor, often in less than calm conditions.

So today we start the journey south. After seven months on dry land I'm feeling a little apprehensive but know I'll be fine as soon as we're underway.  We'll have to spend a few hours at anchor at Cumberland Island so we can time our arrival in St Augustine to coincide with high water tomorrow afternoon, but Cumberland Island is beautiful with long sandy beaches, wild horses and the homes of the Carnegie family.  We've been before but are looking forward to a quick revisit.  So at around 2am Tuesday morning we'll be upping anchor to experience our first night-sail of the 2016/17 season.  I'd forgotten how tide-constrained we are in Florida, hence the middle of the night departure.  Oh well, at least it's warm at night!