7 years in the planning, dreaming & preparing, s/v Winterlude finally tossed the docklines on October 28, 2004 -- the morning after a lunar eclipse as a send-off!  :)   Leaving Burnt Store Marina & Punta Gorda, FL, we sailed first to Marathon, FL to meet some friends so David could experience Key West's FantasyFest for the first time!    We spent 3 weeks in Marathon waiting for a weather window to cross to Isla Mujeres across the Gulf Stream twice -- first from the Dry Tortugas to the north coast of Cuba and then across the most feared Yucatan Straits to Isla Mujeres.  We arrived in Isla on November 22nd,  282 miles, 63 hours & alot of newly found experience later! 
The individual updates are my original e-mail updates to Winterlude's e-mail list, with photos!  Click on the individual tabs for more of the adventure -- and the lessons we learned -- some you might choose not to replicate, others are useful and have been incorporated into our cruising lifestyle!