Had a great ride up from Fernandina to Charleston. Not enough wind to sail, but made the 160 NM trip in 26 hrs, 0800 Sat to 1100 Sun. A sliver moon and a sky full of stars for the overnight part. Got into the slip just before the predicted front showed up, complete with heavy rain. I'll be here for a few days getting DAYDREAMER ready to be left for a month while I head to NY and Sweden, then back to Charleston to continue the trip to NY, which I hope to make by late May. To be continued.

Saturday, 20 Mar, 06:40 - Have made it to the top of Florida, but not without incident. Batteries stopped charging on the second day out of Miami, and had to pull over to a rather fancy marina just north of Ft. Lauderdale and call a mechanic to come fix the problem. When he learned where I was, and that I was sailing a 34 foot boat, he laughed. I think the smallest yacht in the marina was 100 feet. The picture says it all. Also, my laptop decided it didn't want to access the Internet anymore, so I have been unable to communicate. Anyway, problems found and solved, and continued up the Intracoastal until now. I finally got a weather window, so DAYDREAMER and I are heading offshore from here and hope to make Charleston, SC by Sunday afternoon, before the next front comes through.

The trip North has begun. Cleared the Key Biscayne lighthouse and turned North at just about Noon yesterday, 10 Mar, with the intention of staying offshore as long as possible. I didn't last long. The wind and seas combined for a very uncomfortable ride, discretion overcame valor, and I headed back inside at Government Cut, Miami. A whole two hours at sea. Lots of bridges on this part of the Intracoastal, but I managed to make most of them in time for their scheduled openings, and dropped the hook in Ft Lauderdale in a small cove surrounded by multimillion dollar homes, only some of them with For Sale signs. The weather is not scheduled to get any better for a while, so once again DAYDREAMER will be a motor boat as we try to make 50 to 60 miles a day North on the Intracoastal. Have enough food, water, and fuel to last a week, so I hope to be able to anchor out and avoid those marina charges.