Countdown Underway.....

Guess I'm still in space center mode with the "countdown" stuff.....anyway......

Persephone and THE CREW are still in Vero Beach, FL working on our checklist.  We have been very
busy with provisioning and waiting for spare parts to arrive.  For example, we have loaded 25 pounds of boneless chicken, 15 lbs of hamburg, 20+ boxes of pasta, and tons of can goods.  We are lucky the  boat still floats !  Trudie has spent hours with the Food Saver (vacuum sealer) making dinner sized portions for freezing.  In addition, sugar, flour, rice etc are all sealed in the Food Saver to prevent moisture, and bugs (yes we are in the sub-tropics).  The last of our spare parts should arrive tomorrow (half a dozen fuel and oil filters, a spare starter motor, spare solonoid for starter etc).  Engine parts are difficult to obtain in the out islands of the Bahamas and we don't want to depend on a mail boat which may or may not arrive at a remote island once a week....never mind the lack of ability to order parts from the US and duties to inport them.  So, we are trying to be pro-active and self-sufficient.

We have joined a weather routing service to obtain specifie weather forecasts for the trip across to the Bahamas and for wx info while we are there.  Weather forecasts are spotty at best, and there is no weather  radio in the Bahamas.  So, we must rely on old fashion short wave radio broadcasts (now called marine SSB) and the weather service which we can speak with each morning; again by short wave.  Sort of like being thrown back into the 1930s. 

If all proceeds as planned, we should be able to leave Vero on Saturday and make a 2 day "inside" run down to Lake Worth were will stage out of for the Bahamas.  We will wait in Lake Worth for a weather window, which may be as soon as Monday-Tuesday next week.  We will leave Lake Worth in the early evening so that we will arrive in the morning at Lucaya, on Grand Bahama Island.

We will keep you all updated on the weather window.....   THE CREW