June 5, 2011 Day 1

Daddy with his oldest & youngest

Barry & Ruth
Thank you for EVERYTHING you two!! Hugs~

Capt' Dean & Kewl Klyde

Dad relaxing & chatting to Mom

Sunset over Miami

Dad

It's been a great first day....Klyde is exhausted

Katie:
 Almost ready to cast off and Capt Dean decides to pretend he's at "Hurricane Harbor" (for those of you who don't know....that is a water fun park in Arlington, TX!)  He felt the need to cool off in the pool & being in a bit of a rush he tryed to avoid Ruth's camera at last minute to keep it dry....slipped on the tile...bounced down the first 4 steps to the landing...made a slight left turn and went down the last 3 to the dock. Now mind you this happened so fast...somehow he ended up on his left shoulder...head first! I didn't have time to yell or anything! He managed to avoid knocking Ruth off the landing and bounced right back up soon as he hit the dock! Dang...."Honey, are you OK?" He said "Yeah I'm fine! I only hit my head & my shoulder!" Well...he does have a hard head (I've seen him smack it pretty hard and it never phases him!) and a little bit of a scrape on the shoulder but I can assure everyone he is fine. He bounced right back up  and went about the business of Goodbyes and departure. Honestly, now as I look back at it I giggle cuz it reminds me of him going down a water slide at the park only head first! It was funny, but not funny, if you know what I mean!!

Capt' Dean, Admiral/First Mate Katie, Assistant Helmsman Klyde, Deck Watch Capt'-Katie's Dad "Al", and last but not least...."Edgar" (our auto-pilot named after Dad) cast the lines and departed "Marina Sol Bu" about 2 pm. Friends Ruth, Barry, and my baby sis Kristy were there to see us off & take pictures. (Kristy spent the first night onboard with us and was such a big help to me shopping & provisioning. We wish she was coming with us too! Thank you Kristy for everything!! We love you so much!!) We took our time out the channel...fueled up at Two Georges @ the Cove ($184.38 for diesel-much cheaper than our power boat used to cost us!!) and then begin to relax and feel at home. Working on gaining our "Sea Legs" as it has been awhile for us & Dad's first time on a sailboat! :) Therefore, Dad & I have decided we will not put a pole out today. Besides the freezer/fridge is full & I just know Dad woulda caught a whole school of em'!!

At 4:05p we enjoyed the cool breeze & turqoise water's  of "The Big Blue" (The Atlantic Ocean) She is gorgous today! Only 8 knots of wind...E/NE...good day to start out slow and acclimate to Our Way Too! Sails went up and off we go! Our maiden voyage is now officially in process! In the first hour, we seen a huge Sea Turtle off our bow...and a large school of Flying Fish! They are just too darn fast to photograph!!

Russ & Kristy spent time texting Dean....they wanted to set the SPOT up so that they and Mom can track us on a regular basis. (Like every 10 mins....sorry to the rest of you whom only need the every 4 hours or so!) Mom is missin' Dad I think!! Absence makes the heart grow fonder...50 years should say something huh? This is a totally new adventure for my whole family! They are learning technology!! ;) And...I think Mom & Kristy are addicted to the SPOT!!!!

Winds died even more so we motorsailed the rest of the evening. We received a call from our dear friend Ken whom just arrived in Maine from a winter in Nova Scotia. He left Whitehall MI last year and has been single handing around thru the St Lawrence Seaway to the East coast. Ken give us alot of pointers along with all the information from John (Our Way Too's previous owner & our wonderful new friend!) to help us along the way in our navigating the FL waters around to Tampa. While on the phone, I got all excited because I saw fins sticking up out of the water off our port bow....bunches of em'!! Sharks I think.....NOT! ;) It was our first encounter with Dolphins!! (Actually-Porpoise's) By time I hung up the phone and grabbed the camera I missed part of the show.  I thought we were gonna run them over! Dad and Dean saw the really Big Guy jump out of the water and roll to look at us 2' away from our starboard bow. He splashed our head sail bigtime!! There were probably about 10 - 12 of them. They crossed in front of us...and kept going. Again gone before we took pictures! We also saw a really big fish jump but it was way out in front of us and we couldn't tell what it was.

We watched the sun go down over Miami about 8pm while "Edgar" kept us on track.  We found our way into the anchorage John suggested (behind Fisher Island) and set the anchor @ 11pm. The only problem was our "marriage savers"(headsets-gift from John & Nelly) wouldn't work because of other radio interference. Dad relayed for us & we did just fine! We had a snack of cottage chez, sliced tomatos, & lettuce, a toast to our first great day with a cold Blue Moon beer, then to bed @ 1am.

43.1 nautical miles (nm)