Grenada is a former British colony, and as such, celebrates Boxing Day. The conventional view is that the national holiday comes from a time when the wealthy in Britain would allow the servants the day off after Christmas, since they were needed to serve the Christmas feast. They would take a box with gifts, bonuses, and perhaps leftover food to their families on December 26. ?

The chainplate project is moving along. See how we transformed our cockpit into a metal shop? We do have to clean it every night, though, because we live here.

Before going cruising on a sailboat, we heard amazing tales of sunsets, dolphins, and foreign lands. Now, after over 7000 nautical miles in just over a year, we are living the dream. Chainplates are large pieces of stainless steel that help hold up the mast. Kinda important. Before removing Miles' chainplates, we heard frightening tales involving power tools, pry bars, and Plan Cs that didn't work. Now, after a few weeks, we're living the nightmare.

After seven months, we continue to accumulate daily "firsts." Transiting our first lock was at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

After a couple of longer sailing days, we took a day to provision in Marathon, Florida, then went snorkeling at Sombrero Key.

Our house is a fifty-foot sailboat. We are blessed to be here during the pandemic shutdowns.

We all need to practice social distancing, right?

Fishing off Rodriguez Key, Florida.

We were beginning to think we would never leave the marina. Yes, I know it was only a month, but we were getting restless, and knew we would learn more by doing, than by studying. On December 10, 2019, we began our circumnavigation with a four-day shakedown cruise from Hilton Head Island, SC, to Brunswick GA. We did, indeed, learn.

NOT the Miami dolphins. Atlantic spotted dolphins, we think. They didn't actually introduce themselves. Our first day two-handing our boat went well. A few challenges, but that comes with the territory. We were thrilled with our choice of weather windows, and we made better time than we anticipated.

We hauled out our Sparkman & Stevens 50 at Cracker Boy Boatworks in Ft Piece Florida. With a long list of projects, our "week on the hard" turned into two, then three weeks. As for the list, I think it's actually longer than before...

A little more about where we came from. As OTR (Over the Road) Truck Drivers, we are used to living in a small space, and taking advantage of tiny living. It's a fad now, but we have been doing it for over thirty years.

Part of doing an engine check before going out is to check the raw water strainer. Because the water is, well, raw. It is seawater that helps to cool the engine and move the exhaust out of the boat. Grass can show up in seawater, so can critters. We opened the strainer, and something popped out. I told Cindy, "Keep track of that spring!" Then the spring kept flopping around. WOW! Truckers would call the procedure a pre-trip. I never caught a fish while pre-tripping a truck.

According to the charts, the bridge is supposed to have 65 feet of clearance at mean low tide. What the heck does that even mean? In any event, we have learned while trucking that not all clearances are to be trusted. We also wanted to run some old gas out of the dinghy tank. We also wanted to check out some dolphins. So we did Dinghy Dolphin Discovery Day. We saw a bridge, birds, fishermen, and yes, three dolphins! No video on the dolphins, though.

We turned in the keys to the truck in Tunnel Hill GA yesterday. The last message we sent to U.S. Xpress via the DriverTech satcom was "Turned in tractor 03709 to Tnl Hill shop. So long, and thanks for all the fish." #overtherode

Boaters are creative on their Christmas decorations! Every day we enjoy walking Shelter Cove Marina to see what new lights or daytime creations have been put up.