St. Petersburg

The last few days Earthling has been docked in St. Petersburg, Florida. She is going to take a break for the next few weeks meanwhile I fly back to Chicago! Since I got to this marina, I've fixed things and finished projects that were left unfinished! Still need to climb up the mast and replace the wind indicator and anchor light!
First day I got here I got to meet Dave, whom helped me with the docking and invited me over to Solarice for a beer. Dave and Bonnie are cruisers and just started their adventure. Bonnie made her first sushi aboard and I was happy to join them for dinner. I will be meeting them at various locations in the future. All cruisers I meet are retired and have a steady source of funds. I am the opposite, traveling around with Zero budget! I've done that many times before but not to this level!

First saltwater passage

Earthling experienced her first saltwater passage from Apalachicola to Clearwater, Florida. She sailed smoothly on the 8-10 foot waves and recorded highest speed under sail of 9.5 knots. The wind was NW 12-15, gusting up to 22, and no clouds in the sky. During the 28 hour passage, we saw the sunset, moonrise, the milky way surrounded by all the stars in the sky and kept our course by following Orion's belt, and when i couldn't keep my eyes open anymore, the sun rise!
The Autopilot did not hold the coarse, so somebody had to be behind helm and I'm so happy that Dee was aboard and helped me with this passage. Nothing serious happened during this passage beside that we lost one of dinghy's oars in a wave and snapped one of the mainsail sliders!
Sailing in the ocean is like taking a saltwater shower all over your vessel! There are salt crystals everywhere, I must rinse all the salt off before it corrodes everything!
Last week I was in Pensacola, 3 days ago in Apalachicola & right now I'm having a Coke Cola, what a world!