Boca Chita Key

I just got off of the phone with mom and dad and they are anchored for the night at Boca Chita in a National Park. They sailed down behind DK and Carlene with the depth alarm going off repeatedly. Dad said they only had a few inches of water between their keel and the bottom but they made it without running aground thankfully. They wandered around the little island before dinner taking in the sights and sounds before enjoying yet another beautiful sunset. Dad said they spotted a Glossy Ibis along with some land crabs during their walk around of Boca Chita. They will spend the day tomorrow there and eventually they will make their way to No Name Harbor to wait for the appropriate weather window to cross. The Gulfstream is the most powerful sustained ocean current and they must cross it in order to reach The Bahamas. The current flows from south to north and it's important that there not be any northerly component to the wind when they cross. As you might imagine, when a strong current flows from the south and is met by a wind from the north, it makes for very high seas. Currently it's looking like the next weather window that will allow for their passage will come next Saturday. There are many boats in the area that are also waiting to cross. The boat that is anchored behind them tonight is from Rhode Island and there are other boats from far and wide that are also looking to cross when the weather allows. It will take the better part of a day for them to cross from No Name Harbor to Alicetown, Bimini.

Our connection was dropped before I could get many of the details but it sounds like they are having a wonderful time. Mom's leg is doing well and she's getting around just fine and they are in very high spirits. I can hear it in both of their voices when we speak and I'm glad the stress and strain of the past many months has been replaced with an "audible smile". There was some other detail about the islands to the north being made of sand and the ones to the south of them being made of coral but I didn't hear the rest of that before I lost them. As the commercial says, "can you hear me now?" Not so much....