We have been working here in Brunswick GA helping other people get their Amel sailboats ready to help them with their cruising dreams, and now it is time once again to make OUR dreams a reality.

Our plan is to be moving south again, with a destination of Fort Lauderdale. We have our regular maintenance haul out of the boat arranged, and will be likely staying in and around South Florida until the middle of January when we plan to head off to the Bahamas. Plans past that point are a bit “fuzzy” and will depend a great deal on world events over which we have little control.

We are taking a bit of a detour on our route, not sailing straight down the coast, but heading far offshore, on the eastern side of the Gulf Stream. Our intermediate destination is the area surrounding a weather buoy that is anchored in water almost 1/2 mile deep, 120 miles due east of Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Why such a spot? Anything floating in the open ocean quickly becomes the focus of a local eco-system. Fish accumulate, sometimes by the thousands. What might start out as a school of baitfish that use the shadow of the buoy to hide from bigger fish rapidly grows to include more kinds of fish, and bigger fish. Very much a case of, “If you build it they will come.” Not only do they come, but they stay! We are hoping to add some wahoo and tuna to the freezer.

We are watching the weather forecasts now with care, and it looks like we will be leaving Brunswick tomorrow afternoon. We will be traveling a total of about 400 miles over the course of three days. Maybe longer–if the fishing is fun enough to cause us to linger.

Our last minute preparations are well underway. About the only major thing left is to top off the fuel tanks.