None of the above

Okay, now we know what we plan to do next.  And it's to not take our boat anywhere, but to go aboard another man's boat and crew with him to the Bahamas.

How did this happen?

There's a man here who has for two years been converting his 50 foot Catalina into his home as a cruising boat.  He's finally finished and has been waiting for a weather window to leave on a four-month or so trip to the Bahamas and back.   We knew he knew his stuff and visited with him on his boat about "going outside" (in the ocean, rather than the waterway) to see if that's something we might want to do ourselves.    And we learned a lot, spending much of the afternoon on his boat, then all three of us coming back to our boat to look at an electric problem and eventually have dinner.   We said "Goodnight" and that was that.

When Tom and I talked the next day re what to do next, we decided that we would like to get off our boat and leave it here a while, then come back and go north in the spring.   To fill that time we talked of taking a cruise from Charleston to the islands or flying down to Belize and hanging there a couple of weeks.   Then we came to the idea of offering to go along with Barry (the boat owner) - he's been looking for companions/crew and so far not come upon the right ones.   He's smart, charming and kind and a very good sailor.  

Today when Tom talked with him re the possibility of us going with him, he immediately said "You're on."    So the next week we'll plan and shop and organize and maybe next weekend, when the weather is right, we'll all take off south.   We three agree that we'll stick together 'til any of us want to do something else.  Tom and I think there may be a time when we get dropped off in the Bahamas somewhere where we can fly back to Florida.  But we'll wait and see what seems right at the time.

To go with him will be a "real" cruise, not just a purchased adventure.  It will be a combination learning and socializing trip with the goal for all of us to get there and enjoy.

Barry's boat is large, luxiourius and comfortable.  He's spent a lot of time, money and labor making it "state of the art."   We'll get a chance to show you it and  him sometime soon.

The plan is to have our transmission installed this week and otherwise ready our boat for leaving it a while.   We'll keep you posted as to how this all plays out.