Hello and welcome to the first severe cold front of the 2013-2014 cruising season. Currently we are experiencing 25 to 30 knots sustained out of the north east with gusts to 35 and we’ve seen 42+ in the last squall that blew through. We are anchored up off the monument in about 12 feet of water with three other boats and so far no one has drug anchor.

I actually had to go back to the log book and check to see when the last time we had bad weather was. Turns out it was June 5th, so I guess I can’t complain too bad about the current cold front. According to Chris Parker and the goat rapers at NOAA, tomorrow should be the worst of it when the wind peaks at 30 to 35 sustained. By Wednesday, it appears the front is moving out with winds down to 20 to 25 and then on Thursday, we’re back down to a respectable 15 knots out of the east.

In other news, I started the cruiser’s net a week ago today. So far, the longest iteration of our net took 6 minutes, with the shortest coming in at 3. I think I could have had a career in radio journalism, but Amy says I am delusional. In any case, no one has complained about it yet and four people have actually complimented me on not wasting people’s time with some of the ridiculousness we’ve had on the net in the past.

Four boats have shown up in the harbour, plus three French Canadian couples have flown back in to rejoin their boats as well. I organized a propane  fill-up party last Friday and twenty people showed up. Of course our propane connection, Clarence, was 1 hour and 55 minutes late, but that another story. Suffice it to say that I am trying to make plans with his competition to take over our weekly fuel delivery service.

Several of the local bar and restaurants have re-opened. Palm Bay re-opened this past weekend and we were all surprised when the yacht club opened back up at the same time. Amy and I actually went up to the yacht club to get the story so I could relay it on the net. We were pleasantly surprised by the new staff as well as the new (read: cheap, simple, delicious) menu the yacht club was sporting as well. I guess now it just remains to be seen how quickly Eddie (former Formula 1 driver and the current owner) manages to screw things up this time.

Yesterday we took Megabrella #2 to the beach to hang out. We were joined by twenty odd others over the course of the day. I think everyone wanted to try and get one more day in the sun in before the current bad weather got here. On the way home, our outboard started acting up, so as soon as the weather permits I need to pull it apart and see what’s going on there. My guess is a gummy carburetor and I suspect a good cleaning will resolve our issues.

With the high winds, we actually got to cook inside the boat today. I think that is the second time since July. Fortunately, the stove top still works as advertised. I haven’t tried the oven yet, so we aren’t completely out of the woods just yet.

I’ve gotten word from several friends back in the states that they are on their way back down. It seems the migration has started in earnest. Ok, that’s about it. Remember, be safe, it’s dumb out there …

P.S. – This little guy took shelter on our boat for the duration of yesterday’s storm.