Freya rocks the Gulf!

We did it! Our first ocean passage on Freya was a success! Some fun facts:

• Sailed over 700 miles

• 5 nights and 6 days at sea

• No rain, storms or wind over 20 knots

• Wind was always in a favorable direction

• Same tack the whole way!

• Never slept more than 3 hours in a row

• Saw more ships over 600 feet than we could count

• Swam in the middle of the Gulf in the bluest water we’ve ever seen

Seeing the ships and rigs was super interesting and kept us on our navigational toes!

One of the highlights of the trip was our first swim off Freya! The ocean was completely calm. So calm we didn't even need to hang onto a line (rope). We swam around Freya like she was a raft. The water was warm (76 degrees) and the color was striking!

We entered the channel to Tampa Bay at 7 am on day 6 and were greeted by a pod of dolphins! So great!

It was foggy so we couldn't see land but we were so close! Unfortunately the fog only got worse and we had to circle for 6 hours. The channel closes with less than one nautical mile visibility. At one point, we could barely see the bow of Freya, less than 40 feet away!

We will share more about our passage and our time in St. Petersburg, FL in an upcoming post.

For now, we are off again! We have favorable conditions to sail to the Dry Tortugas so we are headed there today! These island are the furthest west in the Florida Keys. They are a National Park and home to huge historic fort and incredible snorkeling. https://www.nps.gov/drto/index.htm. We will sail straight south from Tampa Bay for 180 miles. We will sail two nights and plan to arrive early in the morning on December 15.

There are no services in the Dry Tortugas. No water, fuel, food, cell service - nothing but beautiful scenery! We plan to spend 4-7 days there and will then sail 75 miles to Key West. We will be back in touch when we hit the Keys! Go Freya!