Back in the USA!

Yes, we made it back from Ecuador. Other than the 45 minute delay in pulling away from the gate... caused by a 'fueling problem' (???)... it was a good flight on American Airlines.

Miami Airport is way more hassle than Ft. Lauderdale, and I think that next time we fly, if I have a choice, I'd take Ft. Lauderdale. But other than we were sweating getting to the French Consulate before they close at 4:30 (and getting stuck in rush hour traffic in Miami), it was not painful. The biggest problem is that American was late on the flight.

We made it to the French Consulate on time, and picked up our 'Long Stay Visas' for French Polynesia. For $200 each, a lot of paperwork, and 3 months waiting, we are legal to stay in French Polynesia for 6 months next year instead of the normal 3 months. This give us time to really enjoy FP and not hurry through like the rest of the cruisers, who are trying to make it to New Zealand by November. And our plan is to come back from Hawaii for another 3 months in 2011, before moving further west.

The visas were official looking full-passport-page stickers that have our photo on them. We had to bring our passport in and have them apply the sticker. Our visa starts 1 Mar 2010.

The traffic getting out of Miami at 5:15 wasn't nearly as bad as we'd feared. We stopped in Ft. Lauderdale for a run through the biggest West Marine store in Florida, and then at Big Red's BBQ place (just off I-95 on 84). I'd been thinking about good Florida-style BBQ for days... By the time we finished dinner, the traffic had died out and we had an easy run back to Satellite Beach.

The next day, we drove the rental to my brother's house, where Dave's car is stored, and picked it up and dropped the rental at Daytona Airport (with about 30 seconds to spare on our 1 day rental).

Yesterday, we started the round of scheduled doctor's visits, and shopping. Between Walmart, Beall's, and the Base Exchange, we spent $450 yesterday!!

Dave is off playing golf with buddies today, and I'm catching up on other things, and going sailing in the Rum Race at Melbourne Yacht Club this afternoon.

It's good to be back! (but we're leaving on Tuesday for Europe)