We thought we were leaving late when we pulled out of the slip on November 15th, but here we are in Florida by December 1st. We left Maryland with three main goals in mind: get south, get warm, and avoid the intercoastal. We have done quite well. We followed the intercoastal down to Beaufort, NC (That is 'BOW-fort', not to be confused with 'BU-fort' which is in SouthCarolina ). Once there we looked for our weather window to jump out in the big pond and head to florida. Ideally, we would be able to go to sea for about five days and end in Florida. Life however is rarely ideal. We did however get a two day opportunity to go down the coast to Charleston, SC.
We had some great sailing for a while, but then the winds died off and we had to turn on the engine. We even had a chance to pull out the new fishing gear and give it a try. In no time at all we had an Atlantic Mackerel for dinner. According to IB it was around 18" when we caught it, but it's probably up to 30" by now depending on how many times he's told the story. It was a smooth, easy trip and after two nights at sea we arrived at our destination.
We were laid over in Charleston for a couple days, same old story, waiting on weather. While there we did get off the boat to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner out with our friends on Clear Day. We had been traveling with them since we left Norfolk, VA.
The Charleston anchorage is not one of those places that feels comfy and safe to hang out, especially with strong winds. The strong current, with strong winds sends the boats moving about every which way. The tide change is even less fun, causing even more confusion among the boats. After a particularly uncomfortable night at anchor, with slightly less than ideal weather conditions we headed back out to the pond to continue south. Just out of the inlet, everything seemed okay, moderate waves, and steady winds. It wasn't too long before the winds, that were forecast to be more north, were mostly all west, sailing sent us too far from the coast and into bigger waves. Down came the sails and on came the motor. Crashing into the waves trying to stay close to shore and still head south, my stomach sent us to the closest inlet, the North Edisto River. There we found a calm anchorage, peaceful evening and even better sleep. There's not much better in life than a calm anchorage on a nice evening. The following morning we headed back out to sea, thankful for a good nights rest and made an uneventful trip to St. Mary's Inlet on the Florida border.
Knowing that there was another front coming through the area we went up the river to St. Mary's and waited out the weather before traveling again. We listened to weather reports and studied our charts, trying to decide if we should go down the ditch or back out to the pond.
Due to the wait required for weather and a desire to stop by Sailor's Exchange in St Augustine, FL we opted to do the ditch for a day and wait out the next front there.
After our shopping was done and the weather cleared we pulled up the hook and headed for the inlet, another night at sea. Although we had 4 - 5 ft seas, there was a nice steady breeze and the sailing was great. At least it was great for everything but my stomach, the contents of which were left in the sea. Sometime soon my stomach and I need to have a serious conversation about this, or much better drugs.
We were not quite sure how the winds would shift in the morning, leaving us with the question to come in Cape Canaveral or be able to continue down to our intended destination of Ft. Pierce. With some nice cooperation of the winds and subsiding waves (happy tummy), we made Ft. Pierce. It's finally, really warm! About midway through the trip we slowly started peeling off layers: first the hat, then the foul weather jacket, the fleece, the extra pants and finally shorts! We'll now be taking a rest at Vero Beach for the next several weeks, getting some boat projects done and enjoying the weather before jumping down to Ft. Lauderdale, currently our last US destination.
