Glad to Be At Anchor In St. Augustine, FL

We are very glad to be in off the ocean today. We left Beaufort, SC yesterday, Thursday morning at 7:30 AM and arrived here in St. Augustine, Fl at 10 AM today, Friday morning. We made better time than last year but had a bumpy ride. We had 10 to 15 knots of wind with a following seas. The seas were much greater than predicted, this happens much more than I would like to see. All in all it was a good motor sail. The temperatures were mild with some cloud cover but clearing some during the night. This gave way to a beautiful moonless starry night. In the early morning the sky clouded up with some fog, which lifted before we approached the channel.

We dropped the hook among many, many boats in front of the fort you see in the picture. The marinas here are all booked up do to the Christmas parade and lighting of the lights this weekend. All the boats, mainly sailboats are anchored out because they couldn't get a dock.

We plan to travel on the inside, ICW, for at least two days, after which we may go outside for day trips down the coast. This will depend on the weather. Going on the outside will help us to avoid many, many bridges.

Waiting For Another Window!

Now that's what I call a water hole! This golf course was along the ICW between Charleston, SC and Beaufort, SC. The water was on three sides of the tee.

Sunday morning we left Charleston with several other boats and traveled the ICW to an anchorage at South Edisto River. We dropped our hook and only had the company of one other sailboat, Cygnus. Fred and Linda have been traveling South with another boat. Both boats are from the Chesapeake Bay area. Their buddy boat prefers a marina and Fred and Linda, like us prefer to anchor. That evening they came over for a visit and to share adventures.

Monday morning we both lifted anchor at sunrise to travel the rest of the distance to Beaufort, SC. We had some patchy fog but otherwise we had a good, uneventful trip.














This is the Lady's Island Swing Bridge as it was opening for us to travel though. The City Marina is just beyond were we fueled up and took on water before anchoring.

Fred has been experiencing some difficulties with his chart plotter and ask if Larry could take a look at it. While the men worked on the plotter Linda and I went to shore in our dinghy to provision at the Publix grocery on Lady's Island. It seemed to take us forever to get there in the outgoing current but we eventually did get there. It was amazing how hot it was on shore. We especially noticed it because the store was a bit of a walk.

When we got back it was getting late and Larry and I settled down for dinner and a quiet evening. So we thought! It had been a windy day and the currents run swift though this deep anchorage. Several more boats had come in just before dark and set a hook, making the anchorage more crowded and a little uncomfortable. Because of the opposing wind and tidal current boats had been forced over their anchor making it difficult to judge where their anchor was set. During the tidal change several of us were closer than we wanted to be but appeared to be OK.

We went to bed and about 1:00 AM Larry took a peek out side and found the boat in front of us was too close for our comfort. We sat up in the cockpit for a while and watched as they moved back and forth a few times in front of our bow. We were clearing and all seemed OK. We went to bed again.

This time we were abruptly awakened by a bang. We jumped out of bed to see what had happened. ( Sounds like a Christmas Story) The Bayfield 36 in front of us had hit our extra anchor on the bow with his dinghy that was on davits. Larry went forward to fend him off until the owner came above and started to pull up his anchor. We pushed him off again and this time he went down our port side and behind us then up our starboard side. At this point we put out fenders, we were touching as though we were rafted together. As he was attempting to bring up his anchor, it was evident that our anchor chains were entwined. The four of us had to manually push their boat away and work the chains apart. It wasn't until he was away from us that he realized he had been dragging all along, it was the current that made it hard to get his anchor up not that it was set. They at this point went out to the back of the anchorage and reset their hook. The incident didn't appear to have disturbed our hook but had moved our chain.

The Island Packet next to us had a full keel and stayed put for a long time in the tidal change but us being a Hunter (we hunt for a spot) we kept moving closer than was comfortable. At one point we were so close that the owner of the boat and I held hands to push our boats apart. What a night! Larry took up on our chain which seemed to move us apart.

When the tide did it's full switch we were finally a comfortable distance apart and went to bed again. Which was just before dawn. We woke up a few hours later but felt we had not had enough sleep. Our original plan had been to go off shore Tuesday morning for an overnight but the window of weather had changed for the worse and we were to tired anyway.

We spent the morning on the phone attempting to find transportation from Marathon, FL to Daytona, FL for our ride with my Aunt Dot to NY for Christmas. We decided renting a car was the most efficient and now have a reservation.

The couple that we went bump in the night with came to make sure we had no damage. We assured them we were fine, no holes and that we weren't upset and that we also had the same thing happen to us with another boat two year ago. It happens.

Later in the afternoon, Larry and I went to shore for a walk and a shower at the marina.

The anchorage emptied out for the most part and the winds were nonexistent and so we had a great nights sleep. We checked the weather this morning and still don't have a good window for an overnight run so we will stay put today and wait for tomorrow.

A Moving Boat Gathers No Barnacles

We are nearing the 2 month mark for travel now and I fear I'm becoming weary and inpatient. Both of which is not usually in my nature. It only reinforces our decision to Summer in the Chesapeake for 2008. We will still be fresh from sitting still at this point in time. Something to look forward to.

Since I was able to last post a journal, many miles have past under our keel. Our signal for the Internet in the Carolinas and Virgina is generally weak and breaks up on us but today we are in Charleston, SC and have a fairly strong signal. We are waiting for a bridge opening as I write this. We miss read the times for the opening and have to wait for one half hour to get it to open. I can't stress enough how this life presses upon one's nature the art of patience.

I'm very excited in that we have a plan to go back North for the Christmas Holiday in December. My Aunt Dot lives near Daytona in the Winter and we are going to drive with her to New York. I don't get to spend as much time with her as I would like and this will be a great opportunity for us to catch up. Of course I'll have to get Larry a pair of ear plugs. Larry just poked his head down below and announced Dolphins by the boat. It's going to be a great day!

The weather prediction for here today is 40% chance of rain and we are getting some sprinkles right now. The last few days and nights have been very cold but prior to that it was warm. I think it is more difficult to handle the cold when the temperatures fluctuate. If it would just stay warm I'd be happy.

After our anchorage on the Alligator River we had some bad weather and decided to go into River Forest Marina in Belhaven, NC. We stayed put for two days after which we took a white knuckle ride to Oriental, SC. We attempted to anchor but with not much space left due to the addition of a marina a few years ago and the town dock being full we took a slip at Oriental Marina. We spent one night and left for Beaufort, NC in the morning. We anchored out on the outside of town and dinghyed to shore. It was a short, calm ride, which I appreciated. The next day our buddy boat met up with us. Rich and Linda had decided to go off shore down to Georgetown, SC. The weather window was a good one so we decided to go with them. I will say it was one of the best overnights we have ever experienced. It was calm and relatively warm. The sky was clear and well lit by the Moon and Stars. We had to go quite far out into the Ocean and go around Cape Fear. I will say I was somewhat anxious about Cape fear, many books and stories have been written about it. It was a good trip, I can't say that I now like overnights, but it was the best one we have had. The Sunrise picture is of our morning on the water and we were greeted by Dolphins and escorted by the Butterflies. This little guy on Larry's finger actually took a rest and rode with us in the cockpit for a while.















We arrived in Georgetown the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. We anchored out just off the town with many other boats. This anchorage is always crowded partly due to the many local boats on mooring balls put in at random. It makes anchoring a bit of a challenge but even though we were extremely tired from the over night we finally did manage to set our hook and relax. We stayed until Saturday morning. Georgetown is a quaint little town, the third oldest in South Carolina and has many different styles of architecture. The house in the picture was one with the style of porch that I like. You actually enter the lower level tough the archway beneath the steps.

We were able to do some provisioning and site seeing as well. We got together with Linda and Rich on their boat and had a wonderful meal for Thanksgiving. We played a game of Scrabble and left after the sunset. We have enjoyed their friendship and hope we again meet up sometime soon on our journey. We said our temporary goodbyes this morning as we left and they stayed to Our plan Monday is to travel to Beaufort and possibly anchor for two nights. We are looking at a weather window for the outside on Tuesday. Time will tell if the window stays open.

Quiet Night in Coinjock, N. Carolina

We rose early and were under way before 7 AM. When we are at anchor it's much quicker to get under way, we lift the anchor and motor away. When we are at the dock, depending on what the marina has to offer, we can have as much as four things to disconnect, such as, water hose, cable, and up to two electric lines. Not to mention all the dock lines, depending on the wind speed and direction we can have any where from 2 to 6 lines. Needless to say Larry is much happier to leave an anchorage than a dock.

We were quite amazed at how little boat traffic we encountered on the ride up to the first bridge. We were not the only ones in the anchorage Monday night but we were the first to leave and none of the others caught up with us. Not that we are fast by any means they just left much later. It seemed like the commercial boats may have been in observance of Veterans Day, we encountered very few of them.

The picture above is of three of the around thirty military boats at dock as we came though Norfolk. This is the most we have seen in port when we have past though Norfolk. It seemed odd and impressive to see them resting but knowing they would or could be deployed at any moment. I'm sure they get off the dock much faster than we do.














This picture is of the 15 boats we caught up with at the only lock we had on the Virginia Cut. Most of them probably anchored in Hospital Basin the night before and with the time schedule of the bridges and lock that helped us to catch up with them. I'm glad we didn't travel against the current Sunday night to get there, it doesn't appear like it would have gained us any thing in time.

Last night we docked at Midway Marina and met up with our buddy boat from the New Jersey Coast. We joined Rich and Linda for dinner at Crabbie's, the restaurant here on site. We caught up on all the events that have happened since we were last together. We are planning on traveling together today. It looks like they won't be going as far South as we will. Their boat is new to them and they plan to do some work on it. They are looking for a boater friendly town with easy access to boat stuff and supplies and of course a little warmer in temperature.

The sun is shining this morning and the temperature is to reach in the upper 60's with wind speed 10 to 15 knots. We will cross the Abermarle Sound and travel the Alligator River today. Our plan is to drop our hook for the night.

Norfolk, Virginia

Last Sunday we did indeed leave St. Michales and go to Solomon's Island. It was a heavy wind sail as we came down the Miles River and out into the Chesapeake Bay. Once we entered the Bay the wind lessened and we had to turn on the iron genny and motor sail until the sails began to flog. We arrived at Solomon's Island and dropped the hook for the night. We had planned to spend Monday doing some touring of the maritime museum and some provisioning. When we woke in the morning and checked the weather, the forecast had changed. Instead of Monday being ugly and Tuesday being the prime day to travel to Deltaville, it was just the opposite. We hoisted the anchor and were under way. Provisioning would have been more convenient in Solomons but with the change in the weather it was best we moved on.

We spent this past week in Deltaville provisioning, cleaning, checking out employment for next Summer and waiting for a friend of ours from BYC Yacht Club, Mike, to join us for part of our journey. He, unfortunately, was detained due to a health issue and now plans to catch up with us in a few weeks. Our plan was to leave Deltaville on Saturday to travel to Norfolk but the weather said otherwise. It was cold, windy and wet Saturday and we were happy to spend the time inside the boat with the heat on.

This morning we left Deltaville around 8 AM. The waves were still large from the day before and the wind was 15 to 17 knots. We motored sailed until the wind faded away. It was about 3 PM when we arrived in the harbor and decided to go to the first anchorage in Hampton Roads. The tide was going out and the current was against us which would have made for a slow go up the Elizabeth River to the next anchorage at Hospital Basin. The sunset in the picture is what we were treated to at 5 Pm this evening. It's so far very quiet this evening and we hope it stays that way. The temperature outside is very low tonight and will get down to the mid thirties. We purchased a propane heater on Friday and are giving it a workout tonight.

We will leave here tomorrow morning around 7 AM and take the Virginia Cut because our favored route the Dismal Swamp has been closed due to low water. We have a reservation for Midway Marina for tomorrow night.

Escape From Cape May!

This is S/V Cheeseburger in Paradise being moved to yet another dock by Sea Tow. He has engine troubles and was one of the boats that had difficulties at anchor in Cape May.

This is the sun rising on the horizon as we entered the Delaware Bay on Tuesday morning. We cast off our lines before dawn. The tide was in our favor to enter and have enough clearance under the bridges. We went for it, even though it is scary, the bridges look so close. The bay was a bit choppy at the South end but became calm after a few hours. I told Larry I would have to find my sea legs after being at dock for so long. I was having difficulties standing up right.
















This little guy hitched a ride with us. I guess he was tired from the wind. I think it was a sparrow and a very young one. If you look close or click on the picture to enlarge it you will see him on the oar of the dinghy.




















I had forgotten how large these navigation lights are on the Delaware. I sure would not like to run into one in the fog! Ouch!
















There were lots of these big guys to dodge. No sleeping at the helm! Over the VHF we were told that the C&D Canal was closed and that caused the freighters to be clustered in a group when it reopened.
















This was another boat at anchor with us on Bohemia River. We had the tide thus current with us the entire distance of our trip so we chose to go about 8 miles past Chesapeake City. Our anchorage for the evening was so peaceful and quiet it was hard to believe we were actually on our boat. It would be great is every night was this peaceful.















We woke to a beautiful sunrise in the fog. The morning was just as still as the night before. We weigh anchor and were under way as the sun was about to rise. We traveled to Annapolis with an out going tide then it went slack. As we entered the Chesapeake Bay the wind and waves were on our nose making headway a little slower. The weather report was for high winds for the night so we decided to rent a mooring ball. Our plan was to stay another day if the winds and waves were high and strong but when we woke it was calm so we left for St. Michales. The waves were indeed big but we only had about an hour before we would tack and have a more comfortable ride. We arrived in St Michales around 12:30 and decided to take a dock.

With the hurricane coming up the coast we were very glad about 2 AM to be at at dock. This was the night sky at sunset. The way it looked anything was possible. Today is Saturday and we had planned to leave this morning for Salomon Island but the winds continued to blow and we stayed put. Late this afternoon the winds subsided, so the plan is to leave in the morning.