Sailed for the rest of the day today on a nice reach in 15 knot west winds. Dream Catcher and Zarnista continued on ten miles farther to Fort Worth, but Good Goose and Wee Happy stopped here and got a mooring ball early–around 3:00pm. We dinghied over to the marina and got a ride to the beach.

There we met up with Lala’s friends Erin and Josh from New York. We’d met up with them early on our trip back in Troy, and they came out with us for a little sail on the Hudson.

Now we’re back on the boat, and the moon is rising over the calm waters. We’re about to grill up some steaks and oysters for Sherry’s last night. She flies out of Fort Lauderdale tomorrow. Then Roark picks up his mother at the same airport, and she’s going to visit him on Good Goose for a while.

So the time of our four sailboat fleet has unfortunately come to an end. Roberto has to fly out to Boston on Sunday, and Sam is continuing on to Miami.

We have yet to figure out where we’ll be for Christmas.

Steel Dreams passed us today. They are having hard times and are going to have to end their trip. We learned from them that Kimbel on s.v. Kestrel decided to stay here for the winter. So with Steel Dreams having to sell their boat and Turbulence still on stands awaiting repairs, that first four sailboat fleet that we traveled with has disbanded also.

So it is on the ICW. Not all boats make it. Many have mechanical troubles. Many have crew problems. Others have financial problems. We’re counting our blessings that we are still in the game and guided on our path, even though we know not where it leads.

We’re currently thinking that we want to cross to the Bahamas, but that is dependent on us receiving our Coast Guard documentation and fixing Wee Happy’s forestay chainplate. That’s coming in the mail as I write this, and hopefully we’ll have both by Christmas eve. If not, then we’ll probably continue south along Florida to the keys.

Capt’n K.