Leaving Summerland Key!

The wind is supposed to kick up on Tuesday and Wednesday, maxing out at 20 to 25 knots. Preferring not to be out is such conditions on our very first outing in the Nimble, we decided to leave today. The predicted wind strength also caused us to cancel plans to anchor out tonight.

Today's wind is light and variable. Perfect for our first trip in the Nimble. After a little over 10 nautical miles in less then two hours, we were tied up to a sea wall in Bahia Honda. Aside from the quirky steering necessary to keep the Nomad on her course, the trip was delightful. Breaking away from Summerlamd Key was dramatic. It was difficult to find deep water even with the chart plotter, making only a knot or two, we picked our way into deeper water, we finically made it out of the Summerland Key area as we rounded Little Palm Island.

Along the route, I tried the autopilot. It worked, but I can't imagine it can keep up with the oversteering required to keep this boat on the straight and narrow.

Bahia Honda is still paradise, although in the intervening 21 years since we been here by boat, she has aged. The campground remains popular and is always filled to capacity except perhaps for a few days in the summer. The park was crowed today, probably due to the fact it is a national holiday. The dive boat was packed. The dive master suggested today was the best day in January to dive the reef. 

We caught the sunset from the top of the old Bahia Honda Bridge. It was spectacular! We took plenty of pictures to prove it. All in all, we must have added 20 pictures to our thousands of sunset pics. Unfortunately, there was no green flash today.

Back aboard, Anna Marie prepared her first meal on this vessel. Spaghetti and white clam sauce made up the menu.