ARGHHHHH!

That is because I was trying to eliminate some of the duplicate tracks for this afternoon on the Spot Messenger and completely eliminated all of yesterday and today's tracks!!!  Doggone.

But Merry Christmas to all of our friends, fans, and followers.  Renne' and I spent the night offshore.  We left Daytona Beach and went out Ponce de Leon Inlet, about 15 nm south of where we stayed on Friday night.  Then spent all day and last night off shore.  We were listening to the local NOAA Marine forecast, and realized today and tomorrow was forecast with 5-7 foot waves, and Christmas is meant for relaxing, so we bailed and entered the Fort Pierce Inlet.  WOW, talk about a screamingly fast entries!!  We saw 9.9kts on the GPS.  So I had to take a photo of the event.  Didn't capture the 9.9, but 9.8 is good enough!

This is the view of the Fort Pierce Inlet.  I haven't seen this view in 15 years, when my friend, Frank Goldston, had to get back to Houston, and I was given the opportunity to replace him on a delivery with our friend, Ted Boudry.  Ted, myself, and another crewman entered this channel on a Gulfstar 54 to repair the autopilot which had died the day previously.  Brought back good memories.

Now this is the fastest this boat has traveled over the ground - EVER!  We entered the Inlet with both the current and tide on Max Flood.  In other words, the current was running in at the fastest it could and the tide was going from low to high tide simultaneously!  Combined was 4.5 kts over what we entered under power with.

We are basically in Port St. Lucie in an anchorage off one of the highways above and across the ICW.  How cool.  Renne' and I dinghy'd over to a restaurant and had the best mussels we've ever had and shared an Ahi Tuna steak. 

We are back aboard enjoying a glass of champagne and watching the sunset - oops, sun has set and I missed it!  Oh well.  We leave tomorrow - need to listen to the weather to decide if we will go offshore or down the ICW.

From here, probably down to Marathon.  Our friend, Linda Schoen would like us to stop by Lake Worth.  If we go down the ICW we will see her tomorrow or Tuesday.  Ortherwise we will look up our friends Jim and Linda Delany who are on the ball at Marathon.  Then on down to Boca Chica.  I can't wait.  This evening, however, felt like the first time, since leaving Key West that I felt like I was cruising again.  The rest has been just living aboard the boat and visiting friends and relatives.

So again, Merry Christmas.  We will be in KW for New Years, it looks like.  So come party with us then.

JonNe'