Thar she blows!

This is what I woke up next to this morning...pretty sweet...

Today started out without a breath of wind.  It looked to be a good day to sail over to Sombrero Reef for some diving.  Ah, no.  Checked the marine weather forecast, winds and seas building through the afternoon.  Sustained winds 25-30mph with gusts, and seas 7-11 at the reef, higher in the Gulf Stream (which is now about 10 miles off shore).  I made french toast and sausage for breakfast, the kids headed to the pool, and Donnie dove under Marquesa only to discover barnacles growing on her hull from eight months of living in the canal.  Add scraping the hull to the to-do list.  I took a walk around the marina to check out the other boats and to look for some wildlife. For Ava, Eli, and Tayte- see if you kids can identify what I found in the water (remember this is saltwater :)

This fella has a mouth full of razor sharp teeth.  Don't let him see a shiny gold
 ring on your ringer...he might mistake it for a fishing lure and try to bite you!

There are four of these fish in this photo.  The colors don't
do them justice as these fish are all different colors- yellow,
orange, green, blue, and violet. What are they?

The wind began to pick up, so we decided to go
for a quick sail out on the Gulf- check out the
new mainsail- she's pretty :) 

This was a first for Erica, and Michael took a turn at the helm.

Cap'n kicked back and let First Mate and the crew sail.

Even Agnes got in on the action.

Sailing in 5.8 feet of water...that's the Gulf for you.  We finally
hit seven feet of water, about seven miles out.

Willis came topsides for a bit..albeit a brief bit.
He's not yet comfortable with crawling
around on a moving vessel.  He'll get there
eventually. At least no seasickness!
He loves the salty smells- he cracks me up.

Erica and Michael had the catbird seat, up
on the bow pulpit.  Didn't see any dolphins
today, only a few rays and jellyfish.

Remember that dolphin fish you saw yesterday?  That became tonight's
dinner- fried mahi-mahi, fried potatoes, green beans, cole slaw,
black eyed peas, corn bread, and mango cobbler for dessert- OMG!

Dave and Diane...they wouldn't like each other much :)

Danny called Donnie just after dinner to come back to the
boat...the wind is really cranking now, at least 25mph or
more.  He threw out some extra line and fenders. 

The wind is gusting over 30mph as there's whistling in the rigging.  Willis
is safely tucked in bed between Donnie and I.  The adults all opted for
dramamine or some tylenol pm's tonight- Marquesa is rocking and
rolling for sure! Time to batten down the hatches and call it a night.