March 5, 2001 -Back on home turf!!
We left Isla Mujeres, Mexico on Feb 15th and arrived at the Dry Tortugas on the 17th. We enjoyed the island where Ft. Jefferson was built in the late 1800's to passively protect the Gulf. It is a powerful looking fort. It never was completed due to lack of drinking water and malaria outbreak. It was used as a prison for many years before closing.
Next, we sailed about 70 mile up the Keys to Marathon Key and had to rent a car to go back to Key West to check back into the USA. We turned it into an outing. From Marathon we sailed up the Hawks channel to Rodriguez Key and than up to Key Biscayne, where we are anchored in the Dinner Key Marina Anchorage. The weather has been wonderful, a little cooler then we are used to, but nice. We will get the much needed parts and repairs done on Sorrento here and will take advantage of visiting uncles and cousins who live in the Orlando, Miami and Ft. Lauderdale areas.
We hope to go on to the Bahamas from here for a few months. Then back to Florida to put Sorrento in storage during hurricane season and fly back to see family on the West coast.
It's good to be back on US soil!
Fran and Dave
We have had a wonderful time here in Coconut Grove, Florida. We have rekindled acquaintances with cousins Joey and Cheryl and their wonderful children. They came sailing with us for a day and loved it!
And we have done a lot of work on the Sorrento. We have a new generator that works great! We sold our dinghy and bought a new and better one. David has had a chance to caulk a lot of spots on the boat,and we got our water catcher modified. We replaced our bimini zippers and we are filled with fresh water and diesel, so we are ready to take off! Our plan is to sail 3 miles across the bay to 'No Name Harbor' at Key Biscayne. Then we sail for Bimini and on to the Bahamas. We will be in touch as soon as we arrive there.
Miss you all!
Fran & Dave