it blows .................. from P

When it comes to weather, you can't have it all. We are loving this constant daily temp of 75 to 80 with plenty of sunshine. And when we are sailing, the constant wind almost always scoots us along. But there are some negatives to go along with the positives. I just looked at the forecast, trying to pick out a day to take Senara out to the reef to go fishing. No way. The next five days show 15 to 20 knot winds (again) out of the East and NorthEast. That's great for exciting sailing, but lousy for dropping an anchor near the reef and trying to fish, or dive, or swim. I have learned (the hard way) that constant strong easterly winds kick up a huge chop on the reef, as the swells from the 300 foot deep Florida Straights collide against the 20 foot deep reef area. Not the place to be this week. K and I tried to dive on the reef a week ago. As we neared the reef the wave action got progressively steeper; Senara's bow and stern began to take turns pointing skyward, up and down like a hobby horse being ridden hard. Even though it was one of the best diving locations in the world, we decided to turn around and sail away. No way to safely get on and off the boat with diving equipment strapped on. During one stretch of time in February, I counted nine days in a row where the windspeed never dipped below 15 knots. No problem, I'll take the tropical temperatures and sail fast in the tradewinds - no complaints there. But I would like to go fishing one day without having to hang on to the lifelines.




A pretty bank of puffy clouds blowing up around 2:00.









This is what those puffy clouds turned into this afternoon around 6:00. The good news is that I am only one of many lightning rods in the harbor!