Steve and Laura's Excellent Adventure

 After a long - and very hot - three week stay in south Florida, I'm happy to report that our new hardtop bimini has been installed, as have our new lithium batteries and solar panels! We've gone from 420 Watts of solar power to 1500 Watts, and from 60 usable Amp-hours of battery storage to 1200 Amp-hours.  With the new batteries alone we no longer needed to run the generator every night - or even at all - to keep the batteries above the minimum voltage level, even with the original solar panels.  With the addition of the new solar panels we don't expect to need the generator at all for typical daily living (without air conditioning), even if we have a spell of rainy days.  Our goal is to use the generator only when we need a/c or for running a water maker, which is a future planned addition to our on-board equipment. New hardtop bimini New lithium batteries Spending a significant portion of the last five months on a dock, without a car, too far away from friends and family

With our newly shortened mast and new lines, Steve and I set sail for Lighthouse Point, FL (just north of Fort Lauderdale) on June 2.  Based on the weather prediction we thought we would have to motor the whole way, but the wind was better than expected and we were able to sail without motor assistance for about 6 hours.  It was wonderful to have the wind in our faces and the serenity of traveling under wind power.  I was at the helm during the early night-time shift.  The seas were incredibly calm and the view of Port of Palm Beach as we cruised past was beautiful. (Sorry for the photo quality...my intent was just to show how glass the sea was the day before the season's first tropical storm arrived.) Steve wasn't so lucky, and the wind and waves picked up and rain began sometime after I went to bed. We arrived safely at the Hillsboro Inlet the next morning around 7:30 am as planned and had Starry Night docked and prepared for the tropical storm that afternoon.  The storm itse