So long Texas, and thanks for all the shrimp...

We sailed down to Galveston last night and anchored off the marina here.  As silence was restored after motoring into the wind, our dolphin playmates continued on their way.  When the boat settled a crackling noise appeared to build and grow.  We cautiously hoped it was the barnacles we'd accumulated in the fresh water being horrified by the saltiness of our new surroundings and giving up the ghost.  We're told it was in fact the sound of cavitating shrimp who are very enthusiastic swimmers.  They squirt out water to propel themselves along so fast that it produces bubbles which in turn pop on the hull; like natures equilvant to a jet ski and no less annoying when trying to get back to sleep at four in the morning.

We woke to see the shrimp boats out in force as gulls flocked around them hoping for a feed.  We'll miss the shrimp we got here, we've consumed pounds of them and could recount all the ways you could cook them a la forest gump.

So this is it, the time has finally come; we just cleared out of customs and we're off!

Its been a lot of work to get to this point and there's plenty more to come, but for now we're ready to go and play in new playgrounds!