Swimming In February

SHIP'S LOG:

Another beautiful day! I won't bore you with the details, suffice it to say that it was sunny and hot enough to go swimming. The water temp is 71 degrees. 'nough said.

I ran into the owner of another Camper Nicholson. He is an economist from Michigan who now lives in Oriental, NC. He and his wife are waiting for the proper weather window to make the dash across the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas which is a trip of but 90 miles. They do this every year and wanted to know if I wanted to "buddy boat" with them on the trip over. I was tempted but I would be very hesitant considering I have no crew and I would hate to make the effort alone. Add to that the horrible state of my finances and it appears that while I may continue South, East is definitely out . . . at least this time.

I found out that the Miami Boat Show is this weekend and I have no desire to drop in and look around. The boat show would have little or nothing I could afford in the way of boats and I wouldn't want to become dissatisfied with ABISHAG. She has all that I need and almost everything works and what doesn't I have been able to live without. I get the impression that the marine industry is really hurting. I am sure that there will be a great winnowing in the near future. To many people are walking away from boats and I don't see how some of the builders and suppliers will be able to survive another year. It has been a real lean couple of years for them.

I laid out the courses today that I need to get down to Key West. It would take five days if all goes well. Now all I need is the "inspiration" to go. Right now the weather is perfect and my location is perfect and it is hard to come up with reasons to pull up and move south. Maybe if it snowed? Truth be told, what more do I need than I already have? I now have 28 days until turn around time, so I suppose, though, that I will probably make a dash into "the Keys" so that I can say that I made it that far. Maybe as far as Key Largo or Boot Key. Of Course, Biscayne Key is but 7 miles away!

The thing I always keep in mind is that wherever I go, no matter if I stay here or go further south, I will only be reaching the half way point. I will have to turn around one of these days and do it all over again in reverse. I think I need some rum and lime!