Harmonie took off from Fort Lauderdale like a race horse out of the barn. Perfect winds, and a fast running Gulf Stream had us running 10, 11, even 12 knots over ground. In the first 24 hours we covered more that 250 nautical miles, a new best for us.

Overnight the weather gods decided to punish us a bit for the fun we had. What was forecast to be a spot of rain, turned out to be 6 hours of winds between 30 and 40 knots. While it kept our speed up, it was a bit more than we consider comfortable.

The winds brought us a small visitor, a tiny yellow and black Cape May Warbler who sought refugee status on board at the height of the storm. This is pretty common offshore, but this little guy has made himself at home. He darted into the cabin, and after exploring a bit, decided that our bananas are just the perfect thing to refuel with after 200 miles of flying. Every once in a while, he pops up on deck, decides he doesn’t like all that water, and goes back to the bananas. Since these guys migrate from the Caribbean to Canada, he might be less a refugee than a hitchhiker, even so we haven’t found the heart to kick him off.