currently at: Hague Marina, Myrtle Beach SC
current date:  23 May 2005

Now that we're back in the US we have more-or-less regular email access. So there's no need to register with the Winlink site - just send us email (windom [at] windom [dot] netrack [dot] net). We have downloaded the backlog of email that didn't get forwarded to our ham radio email, and I think we've managed to reply to everyone.

Everyone, that is, except for weblog commenters who didn't leave email addresses. So:

Jim Lea:  For provisioning, I use a spreadsheet to figure out how much of what to buy, based on what it seems like we've used in the past. I'll post it to the Articles and Links page when I get a chance. But what works for us probably doesn't work for everyone; for example, we carry lots of rolled oats for making granola, which is a common breakfast aboard Windom. (The recipe is linked from our Articles and Links page!)

Jim Holtzinger:  Thanks - and good luck with your cruising plans!

Anonymous:  Heh, we have "borrowed" wireless access in places ranging from Miami Beach to Staniel Cay. But usually we have to go ashore to get a signal, and it's frequently a hassle toting the laptops around. For next time we'll have better wireless antennas to extend our range.

Judy: Aw, thanks! It's not the end of the "book" yet - just the end of this chapter. (Which isn't quite finished, assuming you want to read about the joys of decommissioning. We'll also update our site with more photos, movies and articles a bit later this summer.) We plan to cruise again the winter of 2006-7, although this plan is as usual written in jello.

Which reminds me. As we did last time, we are activating a mailing list for people who want to be notified when Windom sails again. If you signed up before, you'll have to sign up again, because we deleted the old list when we started up the website again. To sign up, send a message to majordomo [at] windom [dot] netrack [dot] net, with any subject line, and with the text:

subscribe windom-news

You can unsubscribe at any time by sending a message to the same address with the text - you guessed it:

unsubscribe windom-news

There will be no traffic on this list other than notification of our plans, when we make them.

Hey, this was fun! Anyone else out there have a question you want answered?  If you have any general-interest questions about our cruising experience that you think might be interesting to others, leave a comment here. I will anticipate the most frequently asked question: if you want to know what it costs (us) to cruise, see our spreadsheets linked from the Articles and Links page. I have not yet figured out this winter's cruise, but the costs other than boat-related items (and life-ashore-related items) average to about $1000 a month. This includes for example food, restaurant meals, booze, cruising permit, fishing gear, phone usage, postage, etc, both in the US and the Bahamas. We spent about an equal amount, averaged out, on boat equipment (new bimini and dodger were a huge hunk of it, along with new batteries, a new solar panel, new stereo to replace the stolen one...), parts, maintenance items, and dockage for the month we spent in Fort Myers. While in the Bahamas we averaged about $250/month on everything - the US is where we really spent the cash!