Warm weather, BAT sandwiches, and some pictures

So, they're getting tons of snow up in TN.  About 5 inches, according to my aunt (via Dad, of course).  What's it doing down here?  Sunny and 78, with a nice wind blowing to keep it from getting sweltering.  Trevor and I took the boat out for a couple of hours this morning.  We intended to go out past Sombrero Reef to see the blue water, but we didn't even make it to the reef.  There is crud growing on the bottom of our boat from sitting here for a month, and it's slowing us down.  We were also going into the waves, which is always a big slow-down in our boat.  So with both factors working against us, we were lucky to make 4 mph.  I definitely need to get in the water and scrub off that growth.  Maybe some hot day this week when I need a swim.

We had a meeting at 1:00 with a bunch of people planning to head over to the Bahamas.  Some are first-timers like us, some have been doing it for 40 years.  The meeting was a little chaotic, but we still gained some good knowledge.  And we know a few people we need to single out and talk to.  One of them is a softball buddy, and I liked his perspective on the crossing.  Why wear out your crew doing a 36-hour crossing, when you can hop over in 8 hours?  That's what I'm thinking!  We also just ordered charts (The charts, apparently) for the Bahamas.  Expensive, but worth it.  Sink the boat running into rocks, or spend $120 on good charts?  It's an investment.

Yesterday, of course, we played softball.  It was hot.  I think my team lost the game, but I think we were all just happy for it to be over.  Besides the heat, we had to get ready for the SuperBowl!  It's the one football game a year that I watch.  I expected to miss it this year, but the marina came through and let us have a big SuperBowl watching party after they closed.  Awesome!  It was pretty noisy at times (whistling in a concrete room with a high ceiling is a horrible thing to hear), but we made it through with only mild headaches.  We also managed to lose $10 betting, but the money goes to Relay for Life, so there's nothing to complain about there.

What else has happened since Thursday?  I got my hair cut.  Yay!  And I dyed it back to dark blue (it had faded to sky blue and looked pretty sad).  And we had mahi mahi sandwiches for dinner Friday night (with jerk seasoning).  They were delicious!  And then we had BAT sandwiches for dinner Saturday night.  (Bacon, Avocado, and Tomato = crazy delicious!)  Seriously, look how tasty:

BAT sandwich

Not much else exciting around here.  Making new friends all the time.  Making plans for the Bahamas.  Getting really excited about the trip over!

And as I've been promising for weeks, here are some pictures!

It's Trevor!  Look how tan he's getting.

7-Mile Bridge from the Atlantic

Boot Key Harbor sunset. This one was particularly good.

Manatee hanging out under the boat

Manatee (see how big it is!)

Manatee trying to drink our exhaust water. Silly manatee, that's dirty water.

Look how ugly-cute they are!

Guy on the dock spraying fresh water for the manatee to drink.