The Waiting Game

Here's Wayne waiting to leave for the crossing. Next picture is the lovely park where we run each day. Final picture is the Ritz-Carlton ballroom entryway. Coconut Grove is fabulous! Post-Christmas shopping is great, as anticipated. The weather is warming up again and our window to the Bahamas should be opening Wednesday early morning.

We went to Coral Gables last night to the First Friday Artwalk, but it was nothing like before. The city has unfortunately taken over the event, and transformed it from an elegant evening strolling between galleries, enjoying a little wine and cheese at each into a "fair" with vendors, etc. What a shame! We did enjoy one of the galleries particularly well. The owners are two charming French gentlemen who offer a variety of european and latin american art, with heavy emphasis on europe. They even had a Salvador Dali original ink/watercolor. They had a number of interesting sculptures, and Wayne was particularly interested in a Spanish sculptor's work in bronze . This sculptor, Carlos Mata, is one of just many vibrant modern artists they represent. You can see all kinds of exciting art at their website: www.patoufineart.com We wandered about for a brief while in other galleries until the rain came, and we took shelter in the trolley. The public transit here being excellent, we were able to take a free trolley to the train station, and then a local bus or "circulator" back to the Grove for 25 cents! We stopped in at Scotty's Landing again for dinner, as we figure on leaving pretty soon and are hoping to repeat our most enjoyable experiences before we go.

Tonight it's tapas at the Cafe Tu Tu Tango, tomorrow checking in with our new friends Wayne and Karen with any luck. Mostly we will be looking at charts, learning how to use the new GPS, and planning, listening to the weather, and feeling the good vibes (or not). Wayne's friend Bob Belanger was kind enough to lend us his Explorer charts, so we really have all the info we need to make the crossing. Wayne did this 10 or so years ago with Tim Preston, and they seemed perfectly capable with less info/technological tools than we have now. OK, that's another great story but you'll have to ask Wayne about it when we return or Tim about it if you see him. At any rate, after reading a bunch and listening to a bunch of stories, it all boils down to this: it's a 42-mile day sail. If you pick a good day, you're going to make it. We are not sure if Claude will join us after all, as he is leaning toward staying in the keys. Since our ultimate goal has always been Georgetown, we're in go mode.