Saturday, 7 January 2017 - As mentioned in the last episode, my last day of preparation was interrupted by rain and high winds. I also discovered about 7 or 8 gallons of water in my bilge sump. I discovered water draining into the sump from forward, so I spent much of the day opening each sole compartment and many of the side compartments looking for leaks. When I got the boat several of them would have water leaking in from the stanchions and chainplates, but I thought I had sealed them all. I have. No water was found in any of them, however, I did find water that had come in through the interior of the mast, but all that water that I found couldn't possibly have come down the mast from the little bit of rain we had yesterday. The search will continue tomorrow.

Sunday, 8 January - Brrr!!! I hope today is my last day to prepare to take off south. Yikes!!! The temperature got down to 35°F here last night and I could see my breath for a couple of hours this morning. I brought a nice little propane catalytic heater along with me because I already had it for winter trips to Jackson Hole to do photography in years past and because I couldn't have gotten anything for it. I thought that it just might come in handy someday, and today was the day...except, I couldn't find the hose for it. The propane tank, yes, but the hose, no. It was in the cockpit until recently when I decided it needed a better, safer location. I searched for it today until the morning sun warmed things up so much that I didn't need it, then I gave up and moved on to fixing the leak in the refrigeration's cooling pump, again, I got some more water to replace what has leaked out, tried again to figure out why my tachometer won't work, stowed the generator below and outboard motor for the dinghy on the aft rail, and stowed other items so they can't fall or move around when the boat heels while sailing the next three days. There is still plenty of wind, but it's going to be a cool sail south.

Monday, 9 January - I had planned to get up about 6:30 this morning in order to have breakfast, raise anchor and head south at 8am, however, late last night, after I had removed the outboard motor and gas tank from the dinghy and mounted the engine on the boat's railing, I remembered that my bicycle was still ashore; therefore I had to get up at 5am in order to lower the dinghy, lower the engine and mount it, and reinstall the gas tank, motor over and get the bike, then come back and remove it all from the dinghy and raise the dinghy, all in the dark. I weighed anchor and headed out of Matanzas Pass at 8am sharp. I had a small escort of dolphins on the way out and had an almost perfect day sailing. Winds varied as they almost always do, and I was really surprised to actually see my speed over ground register 6.4 knots at one point since I didn't get around to cleaning my hull before leaving this time. I had near perfect winds, about 10 to 20 kt. off my port quarter all day and I arrived at the mouth of Big Marco Pass with another porpoise escort in at 4pm and motored into Factory Bay, a trip of approximately 35 nautical miles, where I've stayed two times before, to anchor for the night. The chart plotter, alternator, engine temperature, and new halyard all worked just fine. The only glitch all day was as I entered the mouth of the bay and tried to furl the mainsail. One of my spare halyards got tangled in the furler at the top. It didn't, however, take long to untangle, but I definitely need to figure out how to keep that from happening again so it doesn't occur at some critical moment.

Tuesday, 10 January - Since the winds are predicted to be out of the east for most of this week, I've decided to slow my itinerary down. I had planned on making today a very long day, getting up in the middle of the night to start, allowing me to arrive at Little Shark River anchorage before dark. Now it's 9am and I'm going to go only about halfway today and arrive there tomorrow. I'll just drift or anchor out overnight, depending on the depth I'm in when I decide to call it a day. I also thought I'd get this out a day earlier than my usual, if there is such, because for the next few days, there will be absolutely no way to do so. There's no WiFi in the Everglades, and that's where I'm headed. I may stay overnight and I may stay longer to explore. So don't worry if I don't answer emails or the phone for the next few days, I'll be totally out of reach and emerge on the other side down near Key West or Marathon, if the gators don't get me.