We’ve spent the last few days making final preparations to head south to cruise on the sailing vessel Toucan.  She’s a 36′ PDQ catamaran, with two queen berths, four solar panels and a nice open feel.

Though she has some age on her (’92), Toucan is in decent shape.  And we’ve made some improvements to help her do her best – a new toilet, lazy jacks, new rigging, an extra sail, new wind generator – she’s all spiffed up and ready to go.

We’ve kept her for the past few months at Brunswick Landing Marina, in company with a couple hundred other boats.  They’re all lying in wait, ready to head south with their humans when the cold weather comes and the holidays are over.

Though some wait until after Christmas, we are heading down the Florida coast this weekend to take advantage of beautiful weather and calm northern winds pushing us down.  We will get as far south in Florida as we can, possibly going several days and nights on the ocean.  We plan to tuck in somewhere, for rest and relaxation, every couple of days, and then continue further south, possibly to Miami.

I will head home for Thanksgiving to visit with my kids, and when I return we will look for the right southerly winds to cross the Gulf Stream to islands-to-be-determined.  Right now we’re thinking about heading from Miami over to Bimini, the closest islands to the mainland.  If weather prohibits it, we might just go down to the Keys.

There are no bad choices.  Who knows?  We are not on a schedule.  We have no itinerary.  We are just headed for warmer climes.

We are looking forward to hoisting Toucan’s sails and letting her do her thing.   She will take us where she can.   Fly Toucan, fly!