12/31/2024 ICW Day 0 : Steamy!

by Brian · Published December 31, 2024 · Updated January 23, 2025

Today Janet and I begin our first extended sailing journey! We plan to be sailing / pedaling for 3.5 months. Plan A is the ICW, Plan B is the Bahamas, and Plan C is a hybrid of the two. We will see how the weather goes.

Because of safety considerations, we have a number of tracking devices, satellite messengers, and EPIRBS on our bodies/boat.

We can be tracked on our usual site:

https://www.brianlucido%2Ecom/where-are-janet-and-brian-live-tracker/

That link requires that you’re registered.

We can also be tracked via our AIS on sites like Marinetraffic dot com and vesselfinder dot com, however we have not shown up on these sites yet. The brianlucido dot com page is probably the best because I can update it with satellite, whereas we only show up for free users on those other websites when our AIS pings a land based tower. Otherwise, the AIS can ping satellites, but you have to pay to see that. Luckily, Search and Rescue pays 😊

It is warm here in Florida, and I’m excited to tell you you more about the trip and the route, but for now, I figured I would put the safety stuff on day zero. Too bad Strava doesn’t let us post links. Happy new year!!!

🎈🎊🎆

Photos:

A beautiful start! But we found out that the launch I planned on satellite was government property. No launching allowed!

I had to pee. This was on the side of the highway. Cool! But inside, little white frogs jumped on me. Not so cool!

This is Plan B launch - about 4 miles down the keys from our long term parking. It was a legal launch, so o paddled back to go get Janet at the illegal launch. 4 miles. She was there, and had already talked to a government person. They were nice and let us stay in their dock for 10 minutes.

Love the water clarity! I saw dolphins swimming along me, and then when it got dark, some Niger creatures bumped the boat a couple times.

At the US government dock. Dripping in sweat!

Janet is ready! She did not want tango at night, but Key Largo doesn’t exactly have much accommodation in our price range (like under $500 per night 🤣). Plan A was to camp on land at a “primitive site” and plan B was to anchor on the shallow water and sleep on the boat. It is really calm, so that is a possibility… but I’m not too excited about it.

We ended up finding a small patch of land several miles out that is legal for camping. Loving the serenity out here, and excited to see it on the daylight.

Sorry, but no links on Strava. This is how we can be tracked, though. We should show immediately on the first one. I am hoping that vesselfinder, shipfinder, and marinetraffic show us soon.

This is our ships MMSI number.

Strava Comments:

Boris F.

I’ve noticed that URLs still work in picture captions FWIW. Safe travels!

Menso D.

I love your commitment to all of your ideas and goals. I look forward to following this latest adventure

Mark G.

Nice! I like pushing that little arrow on the Strava map and seeing the pedal sail path. Nice navigation and beach landing. I like having the "where is BnJ" link. Thank you

James P.

Good luck and have fun. Looking forward to seeing your unique adventure.

Papi C.

🍻🤘🏽

Ali G.

Looking forward to following this journey! Like and subscribe!!

Stan H.

Bon voyage! ⛵️

Scooter R.

Looks like you’re in for another epic adventure!

Scooter R.

Just registered for your tracker page 👍

cathy G.

Are those your paddle boards along side you

Nancy P.

Rick wants to know if you found a pharmacy

Brian L.

Nancy Prier - yes, and I called them just now. The prescription is supposed to arrive tomorrow. Fingers crossed. Thanks!

Brian L.

cathy gritzfeld - yes. The paddle boards serve as “Hakkas” which allow us to hike out when the boat is leaning over due to the sail. Also, they are sleeping platforms when we sleep on the water (which we are doing at this very moment).

cathy G.

I think it’s the same boards as Megan Gritzfeld that we brought to Mexico