Business Trip

 My sister Desiree arrived back in Orlando last week. She attends college in New York and has been missing out on all of the sailing fun. Her vacation coincided with my business trip to Key West. I dropped her and my daughter off at the family house in Islamorada and then continued along the Overseas Highway to Mile Marker 0.

I was only in the Keys for about 24 hours, but was able to give Miss Marisol some attention and even get some wind in her sails. Or as my daughter says: "Let her hair down."

We've been getting to know Miss Marisol since March. I've enjoyed watching passengers react to sailing for the first time. Some people love it, others don't. A few could take it or leave it. Tonya (seen above at the helm) has really seemed to enjoy sailing. She wants to go fast, and make the boat "tippy" with our toe rail on the waterline. Our best speed was around 5.4 knots in beautifully calm conditions with winds around 10 knots.The brief cruise ended with a swim at White Marlin Beach. I dove under to check the bottom for barnacle growth. It was interesting. The bottom was fairly clean, but the propeller has some big barnacles. I'll need to pull it off and have it cleaned to get better performance while motoring. This could explain some of the difficulties we experienced while cruising from Port Charlotte to the Keys.