Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2026

Before Christmas, while Gerry and I were in CT, we went to the Mystic Seaport to experience the Lantern Light Tour and had our picture taken with Santa!

We were back in Florida on Dec 21 and closed on our new house in Punta Gorda on Monday, December 22!

Yes, I said closed on a new house! We had been looking in various parts of Florida, but decided that Punta Gorda Isles had everything we were looking for! An on-the-water location with easy access to the open ocean, close to a downtown area, and a vibrant social community were some of the “have to’s” on the list.

We are on a deep water canal with enough dock space for up to a 45 ft catamaran and a boat lift! The older couple that was selling was where we are now, 20 years ago, cruising the Bahamas and Caribbean on their own boat, settling in to the SW Florida area. Since we are out cruising for the next 3-4 months, we agreed they could lease the house from us until Spring, making their transition to their new home easier. When we are back from the Bahamas, we’ll be ready to make it our own home! We will keep our condo in CT for the Summer months and whenever we may need to get back to CT.

On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, we relaxed and celebrated with Bryan, Lori (Island Time), Mike (Easy Riders), and Lori’s parents. We had a great couple of days, including a buffet dinner at Hard Rock Cafe in Daytona Beach. Gerry woke me up to drive to the beach for the sunrise.

Great presents this year, a new house and 3 months in the Bahamas. What more could a girl ask for!

The days between Christmas and New Year's, we prepped for the next four months! Walmart, Publix, and even Winn-Dixie. Food was prepped with the help of a vacuum sealer (Thanks, Lori ), frozen, and stored for use over the next several months.

We also had a nice dinner with my dad’s sister, Gail, and brother, Ernie, and his wife, Jane, at Blackbeard's in New Smyrna Beach. If you like prime rib, this is the place!

New Year’s Eve, another big group of PDQ friends had dinner at Hibachi up in Ormond Beach, then went back to play games together, and I think we were in bed by 10 PM. Which was fine for all of us.

New Year’s Day is Stacy from Catty Shack’s birthday! We started the day with breakfast on AdventureUS, and then the girls all went to Ocean Deck to celebrate!

We are now doing final preparations to head south! We have one boat issue we are trying to coordinate repair of, but we have decided it won’t stop us from getting going!

We decided not to spend time in the Keys in January but to head to the Bahamas a bit earlier. We will have a full itinerary, with Grand Bahama, the Abacos, Eleuthera, Georgetown, and the Berry Islands on the “Schedule”. We can catch the Keys after we return from the Bahamas and head to Punta Gorda Isles to park the boat for the Summer.

Here are a few pictures of the scenery and wildlife we experienced while in Daytona. There is some “wildlife” that walks the streets of downtown Daytona, but we didn’t catch any pictures…

Thursday, 1/8, we are departing Halifax to start the next leg of this awesome Adventure!