June 10

Just completed our second longest passages of the trip and among the hardest. 430 miles in 67 hours. But we have really been on the go ever since leaving Guatemala. Anyway, the ship and crew are glad to have a bit of a respite while we wait out some east winds. We faced everything from big choppy waves on the beam, gulf stream current ripping up a turbulent washing machine over the banks west of Cuba, 10 knot sailing in the lee of Cozumel, hard motoring into the wind when it shifted east... Eclipse is one tough boat. It was tough, but a very fast passage. I kept thinking of Eclipse like the horse that knows she is heading towards the barn.  We also were kept busy keeping our distance from the busiest shipping lanes we have ever been in.

Key West may not be the best place to get reoriented into US lifestyle... Or is it common to see guys in pink speedos everywhere now? We have a couple more days in key west while we wait for a wind change.

June 20

We travelled in the Intracoastal Waterway yesterday up from For Lauderdale., 18 opening bridges!  This afternoon we will negotiate a fixed 65' which is always a nail biting experience. Tomorrow will then be our final 30 mile push northward to hit the final two 65' bridges at the lowest low tides.

We will be triumphantly flying all of our country flags as we come up the St Lucie waterway and through the bridges to our new 'home port'.

June 22

On Thursday we completed our journey with the final leg taking us under two 65' bridges. We had it timed perfectly to transit the bridges at one of the lowest low tides of the month but it still is a hair raising experience. 

In all, our journey was 10000 miles (9200 nautical miles) since Texas. I had dreamed of what it would feel like to sail back into our home port flying the colors - and I can tell you it really was a special feeling. Eclipse's crew was very excited and hoisting the flags was a thrill. Our friend Oscar was on board (he helped me sail Eclipse on the initial voyage from Texas) and our friends John and Sue came out in their boat to escort us in. When we cleared each bridge I blew the conch for all to hear.

Thank you all for watching our progress and making sure we reached each new port. We will let you know when and where our next adventure is headed.

Transiting one of the twenty opening bridges between Fort Lauderdale and Stuart.

Hoisting our country flags as we sail into the St. Lucie Inlet.

The men of Eclipse

… Antigua, Martinique, Dominica, St Lucia, St Vincent, Grenada, [Venezuela, Bonaire - missing], Curacao, Aruba, Colombia, Panama, [Honduras missing], Guatemala, Belize, Mexico

Jerome heading up the 65' mast to check bridge clearance.

Jerome in position as we approach the bridge at .5 knot.

Jerome signals that we have 6 inches to spare

and then, just 200 meters from the marina…. ERRRR.  We had to hover in the current for 40 minutes while two trains went by.

Our poor tired flag that is retiring.

A view from the top.