All aboard!  Dragonfly has headed south again.  She's fueled up, the
water tank topped off, fridge and freezer filled.   Our first few days
found us sailing along under sunny skies, mild tempertatures, very
comfortable in 7- 8 knots a steady breeze. Since Tuesday we
overnighted in Scituate, Cuttyhunk and Wickford, RI.  The new anchor
and chain works great and Rick has solved one intermittent engine
problem during the sail south, so things are happening. We'll are
visiting with friends here, then we'll be b hopping down the  CT coast
to NYC and then on to the Chesapeake.

Many friends have asked what we learned during our first year and what
changes we have made as a result.  There are many differences, not the
least of which is a certain confidence with the boat and our abilities
as long distance cruisers.

On the practical side of things, Rick made many improvements over the
summer; some focused on "quality of life" and others required
maintenance.  These include additional shelving, new ceiling &
lighting in the main salon, engine cleanup & maintenance, a new
holding tank system, larger anchor and extra anchor chain.   Our
provisioning has been much less since we'll be visiting many ports in
the U.S. before heading to foreign ports and we know that almost every
little store in every port sells chicken, eggs, rice, onions and UHT
milk!  Most of the same clothes, tools, electronics and gear are on
the boat – no more and no less.

As far as our travel plans go, this year's plan is much looser than
last year's.  Our basic itinerary is to stay north of FLA until
hurricane season ends.  Then we will head to Key West and the Dry
Tortugas before heading offshore to the Yucatan Peninsula in early
December, when a weather window appears.  We will travel along the
coast of Mexico, Belize  & up the Rio Dulce in Guatemala before
turning back – only visiting four countries instead of 30.  We expect
to have to be more assertive in meeting other cruisers this year as we
will not have the built in social circle provided by the Caribbean
1500 and  traveling with a large group of cruisers.   We also have far
fewer "hands" helping us this year – again a result of our knowledge
of the boat.

On the emotional side of things, I found it hard to leave our friends
behind after this summer of fun, it felt like a continuous celebration
and renewal great friendships. And I found it difficult to say goodbye
to my new summer playmate – our British racing green Mazda Miata.

Last year we found that we have plenty of free time so I decided to
pursue some additional "I've always wanted to…" activities this year:
I brought along a guitar and watercolor paints --  I hope I make my
mentors proud.  Of course we have restocked our library to have plenty
of books and periodicals since we don't really know if we'll run into
lots of book swaps in Central America.

And this year we have a website.   I'll be distributing the URL soon.
I hope we will have enough internet access to update it often, we'll
see how it goes once we head out of the U.S.  It will provide a
gallery of photos as well as logs and other info requested by our
readers.

So, stay in touch and let us hear from you (our cell phones will work
all the way down the coast)!