Florida!

24 November - Florida was a milestone.... for some reason. Somehow, crossing the state line made us actually feel like we'd come a long way. After missing cheap diesel at the Fernandina petroleum port, we shelled out $3.59 a gallon for 70 gallons. Since we only sailed about 4 days coming down, we burned 185 gallons from Annapolis to Florida at a cost of $587. We overheard some powerboats chatting in NC hoping to make it to Charleston on 1200 gallons. I'm not complaining.

We motored into a wonderful, desolate anchorage at Pine Island by the Guana River State Park. There aren't a lot of anchorages around there, so by dusk 14 boats had settled in. Some of them, such as "Scandia", we recognized from St. Marys. As the sun went down, we heard the strains of pipes in the distance. On deck, we could see that it was the crew of S/V Strathspey helping us settle for the evening. The lovely sound, so appropriate in the lonely setting, reached even the farthest boat, and everyone was on deck listening. It went very well with single malt Scotch.