Well, we made it to Florida today. We had planned to go to Fort Worth, but after a few miles in that direction, it became clear that we would not be able to make it there before dark. So we said good-bye to our buddy boat, Spar Trek, jibed and headed more westerly.

Our sail today was quite active. Waves were much larger than forecasted. Spartan’s autopilot, Irving, is generally a very helpful member of the crew. But whenever there are large waves and a deep broad reach, you’d swear that Irving had drank up all the rum in our stores. He was zigging and zagging all over the place. Ultimately, I had to dismiss him for the day.

I’m a bit pooped from the relentless hand steering with my eyes glued to the compass. But all went well and we arrived, anchored and checked in without a problem….Well, no border-related problems, at least.

Technologically, we are almost completely snookered. We have five devices that accept SIM cards on board and SIM cards from four different companies. But somehow, none of these are working and we can’t seem to cobble enough connectivity to reactivate any plans. So tomorrow, we will need to dinghy to shore and get ourselves yet more SIM cards for our collection. Urrgh!

Once that’s done we can start shopping by phone for marinas and trucking vendors. Thanks very much to everyone for the many kind offers of help. We appreciate it very much!