Category Archives: Activities

Things we have done during our travels.

Days 2 – 4 on the Passage from North Palm Beach, FL to Deltaville, VA

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Friday, June 20 – Sunday June 22 — On Thursday, we’d mentioned that our speeds inside the Gulf Stream were incredible. Eric had had calculated that if we could maintain a speed of 10.2 knots, we’d get in a full day ahead of schedule, so he’d increased RPMs to 1750 to get us up to 10.2 knots. Then our speed picked up even more, eventually getting to 11.7 knots!

After that peak, our speed slowly crept back down, and by 0800 on Friday, we were doing 10.4 knots. While the extra speed was exciting, we were on track to arrive in the middle of the night, so Eric dropped the RPMs back down to 1650 for a daylight arrival. At 1650 RPM, we were still doing a blazing fast 8.8 knots! The speeds continued to slowly creep down the rest of the day, and by 0800 on Saturday. we were down to 7.1 — which was still a great speed.

On Saturday, the speed slowly crept back up. Eric kept reducing RPMs to keep us on track for a daylight arrival. By midnight on Saturday night/Sunday morning, we were doing 9.3 knots at 1500 RPM! On Sunday, our speed was a yo-yo, but we were still averaging a fast enough speed that Eric continued to gradually reduce RPMs to 1425 — and we were still averaging 5.5-knots at 1425!

On Sunday evening at about 2000, Eric changed our course to avoid the shipping lanes in the Chesapeake Bay. The new route added more miles, which was fine as we needed to arrive later, anyways. Once he’d re-routed us, he increased the RPMs to 1650.

On Friday, for most of the day, the sea conditions were the same as they had been on Thursday: 2 -3 foot swells at 5 -6 seconds with 1-2 foot wind chop. But on Friday evening, we were hit with a squall at about 1830. It was ominous on the radar.

The wind went from nearly dead to strong in an instant, and the seas rapidly worsened. We’re pretty sure it rained a little bit. But it passed relatively quickly, and all went back to being calm almost as fast as it had picked up. We could see the silent lightning from the storm for a long time after it had passed.

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Keith’s Perspective on Our Trip to San Diego and Last Few Days in Florida/Le point de vue de Keith sur notre voyage à San Diego et nos derniers jours en Floride

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On Saturday, May 24th we flew to San Diego for three weeks. While we were there, we saw a bunch of friends and family, finished a bunch of science projects that were hard to do on the boat, and I also went to a D&D camp. 

Samedi 24 Mai nous avons volé à San Diego pour trois semaines. Pendant que j’y étais, j’ai vu beaucoup d’amis et de familles, j’ai fini beaucoup de projets de sciences qui étaient difficile à faire sur le bateau, et je suis aussi allé à un camp de donjons et dragons. 

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The Beginning of the Passage From North Palm Beach, FL to Deltaville, VA

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On Thursday, June 19, 2025, we spent the morning getting ready to go to sea. Johnny came to Kosmos to say goodbye and pick up his car. We untied at about noon and headed south.

Given that it was a Thursday, the ICW was surprisingly busy, especially around Peanut Island, and the ride was a bit rocky from all the wakes. The current was about 1.5 knots against us, which made the autopilot sometimes struggle to stay on course. Making the trek through the ICW a little stressful in the tight quarters.

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More Boat Work, North Palm Beach, Florida, USA

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Dawn in Punta Gorda on Monday, June 16.

First thing in the morning, we said our goodbyes to Christy and headed back to Kosmos in North Palm Beach. This time, we took the Highway 70 back, which, for most of the drive was a two lane highway. The road took us through several small towns and a lot of farmland. It was a nice drive, with a lot more character and local feel that we’d gotten from I-75.

When we arrived, there were already workers onboard. On the exterior, there were people detailing the boat, one finishing up the waxing and one polishing the stainless steel.

Inside, someone was working on the VHF radios. We’d upgraded the radios in 2024, but there was a buzzing when the battery chargers were going, which interfered with our ability to hear/be heard. DC to DC voltage converters were installed.

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Visiting Friends on the West Coast of Florida

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Sunday, June 15 — Our trip to San Diego was wonderful because we got to see many loved ones. It was a reminder of how blessed we were in terms of deeply rooted relationships. The crazy part was that, even though we saw loved ones every day, we still didn’t get to see everyone that we’d wanted to.

And we have loved ones in Florida, too. In addition to Johnny and Joanne, we have two sets of very long time, dear friends on the west coast. Today, we drove over to the west coast for an overnight trip to see them.

While Christi unpacked and re-packed, Eric finished preparing for the workers to come on Monday morning. He removed the electronics panel and steering wheel, and moved stuff out of spaces where they’d be working. 

We departed at 0915, taking the I-75, a toll-highway, across the state. it was dubbed Alligator Alley because alligators were known to wander out on the road, though we didn’t see any. In contrast to Southern California, Florida was flat, very green and had tons of ponds and waterways. With so much water around, it was no surprise that alligators flourished here.

We exited the highway in Bonita Springs and navigated to Scott’s house. Scott was a friend from college who we’ve stayed close with all these decades. We’ve been through so many of life’s ups and downs with Scott, and there are few people who know us better than he does. It was great to see him again! While we’d spoken on the phone with his girlfriend, Sheila, before we’d never met her in person, and it was lovely to get to know her.

Christi and Scott
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