We did not deal with the bridge tenders on the west coast of Florida, or south of Fort Pierce Inlet because we did not do the ICW in those areas. But the ones we dealt with from Ft. Pierce and north through the rest of Florida, were extremely polite, prompt, professional, courteous, and friendly. We didn't even have to wait for a commercial break in their soap operas for them to reluctantly respond to us when we hailed them. Please don't jump to the conclusion that I am comparing them to the tenders in New Orleans. Anyway, credit is due to the Florida tenders and their bosses.
We had our anchor down a bit after 3:00--you guessed it, in front of another bridge. For the past couple of years, I've been telling Lisa we are going to end up living under a bridge. At least we will know which ones are the best. On second thought, maybe we shouldn't pick a bridge that goes over water.
The boat in front of us is a beautiful schooner named Thalea. We followed her from Daytona to St. Augustine. When we got to St. Augustine, we went up a river a couple of miles to try and anchor. We couldn't find even a marginal spot, so we ended up anchoring outside the ICW close to shore. We did not anchor where everyone else does (in front of a marina), because it was too crowded with strong shifting currents. Nobody with guns told us to move, so we slept well.
Earlier in the day, we passed Sea Trek anchored near a bridge.
The previous owner of Sea Trek spent some time docked at Watergate Marina in Kemah. She was actually on the same dock where Lisa's mom and dad keep their boat. We read his blog long before we started cruising.
The next morning we were up at dawn again and headed to Fernandina Beach. Most of the homes on this section of the ICW have boat slips or lifts.
Darling passed us two days in a row. What that means is, he sleeps in later, and goes faster. But he also uses at least six times more fuel than we do. And I called him Captain, not Darling.
Bed and Breakfast ICW style.
After a long day, we finally made it to Fernandina Beach. We have been there once by car, but the view from the ICW is different. We thought we were in Baytown, Texas as the waterfront is very industrial. If you like the paper mill smell it would be great. But at least we weren't next to a bridge. We took a mooring across from the marina and ended up staying there for 4 nights. The marina personnel were excellent to deal with, and the town is cute if you can get used to the paper mill smell.
At this point, we were basically at the Georgia border. Georgia and South Carolina don't maintain their sections of the ICW very well, so Tow Boat US and Sea Tow do quite a business. I'm going to start a petition to divert money from the Georgia and South Carolina education funds to the ICW dredging fund.
The weather gurus indicated we had a good opportunity to go offshore for a few days. So we decided we would try to go from Fernandina to Beaufort NC. I estimated between 50 and 58 hours to make it to Beaufort. I wasn't sure how much push we would get from the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream moves around from day to day, and the speed of it's current varies as well. We knew we would have 25 knot SW winds the first night, but it was supposed to be more settled for the rest of our trip.
So at dawn on Tuesday April 21st we left Fernandina and went out St. Mary's Inlet in company with Sweet Surrender, a Whitby 42.
Tuesday was beautiful and fun sailing. Then late afternoon the wind died so it was motor sailing. We lost contact with Sweet Surrender at about 7:00 pm. At about 11:00 pm the Coast Guard issued a weather warning to expect 40 knot winds with big seas. We were about 60 miles offshore, so we rolled in the sails, put on the life jackets, and clipped on the harnesses. The lightening and wind hit us shortly after we heard the weather alert on the VHF. It blew in the mid 40s for several hours. We saw one gust that was 62 knots, and a few in the 50s. These were apparent wind speeds on our stern and we were going between 7 and 10 knots (7 going up and 10 going down). When it finally settled into the 30s it almost felt calm. It stayed in the 30s and upper 20s for the rest of the night and through the day on Wednesday. Needless to say the seas were uncomfortable. We talked briefly to S/V Whim, a Sabre 402, before the storm hit. Later, we heard them hail the Coast Guard for weather info, and they indicated they were getting gusts in the 40s. They were 30 or 40 miles closer to shore than we were. Whim was headed to Georgetown, but they may have ducked in at Charleston. Lisa talked to Chris Parker (weatherman extraordinaire) Wednesday morning and he assured her the winds would settle some by Wednesday evening. When the winds finally dropped to the upper teens Wednesday night, the waves were a bit confused still not comfortable.
When I took my watch at 1:20 am Thursday morning, I had a wonderful sail with beautiful stars. I was really too tired to deal with the sails, but if the motor is running you have to have the steaming light (white light 2/3 of the way up the mast) on. That destroys night vision, and you really can't see anything in front of you. That makes me nervous, so I prefer to sail rather than motor at night.
While we were approaching Beaufort, the Navy was conducting live fire practice not too far from us, so we could hear the big guns. They were constantly on the VHF to warn boats to stay at least 7 miles away.
At 1:00 pm Thursday we were finally tied up at a Marina in Morehead City (close to Beaufort). The offshore leg took 53 hours. We had our first shower in 3 days, so all was well.
The boat was spectacular. We were not ever afraid, although we were tired. I did fear for my electronics when the lightening came. I grabbed on to the rigging and begged the lightening to take me and not my electronics.
We saw tons of dolphins on this trip. They came by at least 11 or 12 times and stayed for 30 or 40 minutes each time.
After a long day, we finally made it to Fernandina Beach. We have been there once by car, but the view from the ICW is different. We thought we were in Baytown, Texas as the waterfront is very industrial. If you like the paper mill smell it would be great. But at least we weren't next to a bridge. We took a mooring across from the marina and ended up staying there for 4 nights. The marina personnel were excellent to deal with, and the town is cute if you can get used to the paper mill smell.
At this point, we were basically at the Georgia border. Georgia and South Carolina don't maintain their sections of the ICW very well, so Tow Boat US and Sea Tow do quite a business. I'm going to start a petition to divert money from the Georgia and South Carolina education funds to the ICW dredging fund.
The weather gurus indicated we had a good opportunity to go offshore for a few days. So we decided we would try to go from Fernandina to Beaufort NC. I estimated between 50 and 58 hours to make it to Beaufort. I wasn't sure how much push we would get from the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream moves around from day to day, and the speed of it's current varies as well. We knew we would have 25 knot SW winds the first night, but it was supposed to be more settled for the rest of our trip.
So at dawn on Tuesday April 21st we left Fernandina and went out St. Mary's Inlet in company with Sweet Surrender, a Whitby 42.
Tuesday was beautiful and fun sailing. Then late afternoon the wind died so it was motor sailing. We lost contact with Sweet Surrender at about 7:00 pm. At about 11:00 pm the Coast Guard issued a weather warning to expect 40 knot winds with big seas. We were about 60 miles offshore, so we rolled in the sails, put on the life jackets, and clipped on the harnesses. The lightening and wind hit us shortly after we heard the weather alert on the VHF. It blew in the mid 40s for several hours. We saw one gust that was 62 knots, and a few in the 50s. These were apparent wind speeds on our stern and we were going between 7 and 10 knots (7 going up and 10 going down). When it finally settled into the 30s it almost felt calm. It stayed in the 30s and upper 20s for the rest of the night and through the day on Wednesday. Needless to say the seas were uncomfortable. We talked briefly to S/V Whim, a Sabre 402, before the storm hit. Later, we heard them hail the Coast Guard for weather info, and they indicated they were getting gusts in the 40s. They were 30 or 40 miles closer to shore than we were. Whim was headed to Georgetown, but they may have ducked in at Charleston. Lisa talked to Chris Parker (weatherman extraordinaire) Wednesday morning and he assured her the winds would settle some by Wednesday evening. When the winds finally dropped to the upper teens Wednesday night, the waves were a bit confused still not comfortable.
When I took my watch at 1:20 am Thursday morning, I had a wonderful sail with beautiful stars. I was really too tired to deal with the sails, but if the motor is running you have to have the steaming light (white light 2/3 of the way up the mast) on. That destroys night vision, and you really can't see anything in front of you. That makes me nervous, so I prefer to sail rather than motor at night.
While we were approaching Beaufort, the Navy was conducting live fire practice not too far from us, so we could hear the big guns. They were constantly on the VHF to warn boats to stay at least 7 miles away.
At 1:00 pm Thursday we were finally tied up at a Marina in Morehead City (close to Beaufort). The offshore leg took 53 hours. We had our first shower in 3 days, so all was well.
The boat was spectacular. We were not ever afraid, although we were tired. I did fear for my electronics when the lightening came. I grabbed on to the rigging and begged the lightening to take me and not my electronics.
We saw tons of dolphins on this trip. They came by at least 11 or 12 times and stayed for 30 or 40 minutes each time.
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