Pulling into the Dock

I certainly was right to assume there would be more to write!  After 26 hours at sea and very little sleep (my best sleep was for an hour after sunrise) we decided we should start checking our fuel consumption knowing there were problems with the tank.  Of course we found that we had consumed more than normal (how do these things happen anyway?) and we would not have enough to make it the final hours to home.

We tried switching to the fouled tank again and were successful for almost an hour but then that was all she wrote and we couldn't get that lucky again.  Our attempts at siphoning from one tank to another were fruitless as well.  Our calculations left us with just enough fuel to get to the Charleston inlet before we'd run out . . . that would be right at the JETTIES at the inlet.  Being that crashing on the rocks of the jetty after running out of fuel didn't sound like a good idea, we put plan "b" into place. 

We were still too far out to get any decent coverage from our radio so we used the Coast Guard to relay our messages to Sea Tow, our offshore AAA of sorts.  After numerous transmissions, we had arranged for them to bring us fuel before we reached the mouth of the inlet.  Of course the weather had to change about that time and some driving rain passed through and the seas were building - but we've grown to expect that under these circumstances!  An hour or two later, the Sea Tow vessel arrived and we transferred 15 gallons of fuel between the boats as we both swayed in the swells. 

After 35 hours, we motored through the jetties with a passing tanker and continued our way finally making it under the Ashley River bridge where we pulled up to the fuel dock for the night.   We have such mixed feelings about being home.  Of course we're excited to see our kids and friends but it's been such an amazing adventure.  Despite the challenges of weather, holding tanks, leaks, and the countless other quirks of cruising life - there's just that "something" about it that sucks you in, so to speak.  

Another of our visitors - we ended up having four! 
Must be migrating, hearty little guys!

It's now been 24 hours since our return and we've had the car with the dead battery towed and repaired, the dead motorcycle battery charged, the flat bike tire inflated, the yard weeds pulled and the grass cut . . . and we haven't even had a chance to see our boys or get the mail yet.   HMM . . . looks like we really ARE home again!    

Journey Home

No picture of fuel tanks so figured a sunset at sea was better!

Our trip back started with the engine shutting down about 15 minutes outside of the St. Augustine Inlet.  We got her running again to have it repeat itself 15 minutes later.  The immediate solution was to switch tanks and keep going (despite what was then NOT the conditions we’d planned on!).
 







I was so looking forward to having the perfect sail home – winds 10-15 out of the SE the entire way promised perfection – but we’ve motored the entire way, most of the time with the sails up although not with much effect.  This morning we checked fuel to find we’d almost finished off the tank we switched to so we’re now back on tank 1 . . . so far so good but definitely holding our collective breath!

We’ve had a couple of really fun additions to our trip.  First, we were visited by a little bird that seemed to have totally worn itself out trying to reach wherever it was going.  It came in the cockpit, sat on a halyard and closed its little eyes for a rest.  It wasn’t interested in a cracker or water and after a few trial runs off the stern of the boat, it finally resumed its journey.

The biggest treat is the three different sets of dolphins who have come visiting.  They announce their arrival doing jumps on their approach toward the boat and then fall in line playing in the bow wake.  Each group stuck around for more than 15 minutes and I think they had as much fun as we did! 

 I’ll wrap this up for now but suspect a final entry will be in order.  There’s certainly bound to be at least one more story to tell before we make it to the dock and reconnect the power lines.  But for now, we’re just rocking and watching the miles fall away as we approach the Charleston inlet and home . . .  

Last Minute Preparations

Yup - that's a dog on a paddleboard!  What you see . . . !

It’s hard to believe we’re approaching Charleston again.  After almost 4 months out, we can almost see “home” on the horizon.  We’ve been at sea now for 26 hours with winds totally contradictory to what was predicted . . . so what’s new?!  Just so you can get an idea of what my navigating life is like, I spend near a couple hours a day on weather sites the week before we plan a departure.  There are three sites (or more) that I like to check and compare with the most accurate usually being passageweather.com where I can see winds/waves/gulf stream info on hourly charts that are constantly updated.

So you can imagine how frustrating it was to have chosen what appeared to be the perfect window for our sail home, following the weather patterns for a week and then finding that once we were actually at sea that they had COMPLETELY changed the forecast!  I had even checked the site before we left and then checked again offshore when things didn’t look right to find that in one hour the entire week’s forecast had changed . . . really, how do these guys get paid anyway? 

Okay, now that that’s off my chest . . . we had some great times during our St. Augustine stay..  First off we were able to meet back up in Daytona with Rob’s family – mom, sister, brother in law, aunt uncle and two cousins – on Sunday which was just great fun.  Greg (the cousin) owns a plane and he flew his family over for lunch . . . tough life!  

 We arrived back in St. Augustine that evening to enjoy a glass of port with Lee and Karen aboard Morning Glory and their friends on Painkiller.  We called it a night and got up early on Monday to return the rental car and run final errands.   I was thrilled to finally have my first manatee experience – a small tot who had gotten caught in some retention lines at the marina.  I not only saw her up close and personal but actually could pet her as she munched on reeds near the marina. 

Ina, Sue and Dennis came into town for lunch and to tour Moonshadow and we had another great visit.  With more food, a few beers and family, it was another fun day.  Finally, Rob and I celebrated our final night with an amazing dinner at a little Italian place, Nonna’s Trattoria, by candlelight – a perfect ending. 

Final celebration night out

Final Moments

 And another week is nearly past!  Last I left you we were beginning the final let of our ICW journey toward St. Augustine.  We had a great day of sunshine and motor sailing, enjoying the calm and peace of the ICW while seeing the sights of the mid-Florida coastal area.  After visiting the marina dock to refuel, fill the water tanks and get the holding tank pumped, we passed under the Bridge of Lions to our mooring.







 We have always enjoyed St. Augustine and this visit proves the same.  From the moment we pulled in Monday afternoon, we felt welcomed by this wonderful seaside town.  Within a couple hours of our arrival, our friends aboard Grateful Red arrived from offshore and their overnight voyage from Charleston.  We had a marvelous dinner catching up aboard Moonshadow and they headed out again for points south first thing Tuesday morning.

Rob’s mom, Ina, is visiting the area at his sister’s condo in the Daytona area and we got up early and headed to the rental car agency.  After an uneventful drive, we arrived in Ormond Beach where Ina had gotten quite ill over the previous 24 hours and we immediately scooped her up and headed for urgent care.  The next few days of visiting were mostly in “healing mode”.  Chronic bronchitis required a hefty antibiotic shot and then pills which did the trick.  It was a great treat to see Ina again after 6 months absence!

Returning to St. Augustine Thursday evening, we fell right into the pace of the town again.  Friday found us walking miles on end doing errands including walking about 4 miles to the closest drug store!  HA!  But we did happen on a Mexican restaurant on the way back which was a particular treat, our favorite food!  

Since those four miles didn’t do the trick, we wandered further looking for other supplies and ended up taking the tour at the local St. Sebastian Winery.  Now I’m now so big on local wineries – especially those outside of California or possibly New York but I have to say that St. Sebastian was the most impressive I’ve visited.  The staff were professional, educated and charismatic and made the tour an event.

 Of course today is St. Patty’s Day everywhere and we celebrated accordingly.  After our obligatory walk to West Marine, we met for a great lunch with our friends from Charleston down for Bike Week in Daytona.  It’s particularly fun to meet up with friends from home and this week seems to be the time!  The afternoon was spent practicing the art of toasting the Irish . . . Guinness and Leprechaun Punch . . . with George and Francis, fellow sailors from Virginia Beach who met at the bar.  

Finishing the day, we invited mooring neighbors Lee and Karen aboard Morning Glory to join us for the sunset.  Tomorrow promises an adventure as we pay another visit to Ormond Beach to see Ina and Rob’s family from Tampa and his sister and husband from Buffalo.   Relaxing, yes . . . but never a dull moment!

Slow Movin'

We’ve spent two days meandering up the Florida coast on the intracoastal waterway.  Outside of a couple days in the Keys, we’ve not spent much time in the ICW.  When we’re offshore, the scenery really doesn’t change much.  In the ICW, there are a lot of course corrections as we follow the charted waters from point to point but there is also a lot of continuously changing scenery and the sky seems to be forever shifting.

Yesterday was a 12 hour day, covering 85 miles – a prize winner.  Today we motor sailed 50+ in the nor-easter we’ve been watching for days.  Woke up to gusting winds and rain and now that we’re anchored in Daytona Beach, it’s still blowing hard enough we prefer not to leave the boat for fear it will take off on it’s own! 

 

We haven’t stepped foot off the boat in three full days now and I’m beginning to feel pretty antsy.  We putter around the boat as we progress throughout the day but there’s really not much exercise to wear off the sitting and eating we’re doing.  At night I like to cook or bake something and we watch a movie or play a game.  Tonight I had my first loss at scrabble in a LONG time . . . looks like a rematch will be due soon.

I also learned tonight that we sprung ahead last night . . . totally without my notice!  I couldn’t figure out how we managed to get such a late start today and then the sun just wasn’t setting when it was due to tonight . . . go figure!  No clocks or watches to change (everything here is satellite controlled) and no calendar to be accountable to . . . if a friend hadn’t mentioned it in a text, I’d still be wondering!

  Tomorrow the weather is supposed to clear again and, since there is not another inlet between us and St. Augustine, we’ll be motoring the 53 miles there, our next destination.

Our friends, Bill and Lori on Grateful Red from Charleston are supposed to be sailing in to St Augustine tomorrow so we’re hoping for a rendezvous dinner.  Rob’s mom is down here and we’ll be meeting up with her in Ormond Beach on Tuesday and friends Chris and Stan are in Winter Park at their Florida residence looking to meet up with us this weekend.   Looks like I won’t be antsy for long . . .

The Highs and Lows

For the past few days, we've said good bye to our friends in Fort Lauderdale.  We’ve had a great time with Kev and Judith, now considered among our close friends, who we met on the 2^nd day of this adventure.  We made our final trip to West Marine and bid farewell to our favorite associate, Leslie.  And finally, the night before our departure, Moonshadow had a full deck with “the gang” from the anchorage enjoying a pot luck BBQ. 

Terri on Nighthawk has been battling a back injury complicated with her rheumatoid arthritis and we were excited when she and her husband, Kim, could make it aboard again along with Shalamar, Alex Marie, Lime’N and us.  Sailors have this way of being great cooks and we ate well and drank moderately with everyone planning to begin making passages within the next 24 hours.

 

We were up with the sun and passed with Lime’N under 17^th St. Causeway Bridge and headed out to sea.  We had been waiting for almost a week for decent enough weather to begin our journey back home and we saw a window.  Lime’N headed south toward the Bahamas as we made our turn to the north.

The winds were easterly and blowing 15 knots or so, the seas followed suit and were still complaining about the bad weather just past and gave us some hefty rocking from the east causing us to kick considerably from side to side.  Okay, that’s sailing . . . and, as you would imagine, seasickness is a common conversation over a sunset drink (as well as other favorite topics like marine toilets and full holding tanks . . .

Unfortunately, my choice of remedy (Bonine has been a lifesaver) did not want to do the trick yesterday and I spent most of the day nauseous and otherwise lethargic.   Add to that a fuel leak half way through the morning (Rob can fix anything, and DID) and a water leak (where did THAT hose come from?!) and then the stitches tearing out of our sail bag causing our sail retention system to fall from the mast (you’ve got to be kidding!!!) – and you have what can be a typical sailing experience. 

Enter the afternoon and shifting winds.  The winds could not decide what they were doing and we couldn’t set the sails without them slapping uncontrollably so we had to drop them (now without our retention system in place) with waves now coming from the back quarter of the boat and throwing us from hell to breakfast with every one.  The inlet we wanted to enter had shoaled dangerously and was not safe to pass.  We had to continue another 20 miles and 3 hours until after dark when we finally made our way into Ft. Pierce Inlet with a fierce current throwing us through the cut at 10kts (that’s a LOT for a sailboat, folks!) with a storm approaching.  Good heavens . . . and I’m doing this WHY?!

 

But . . . after navigating the inlet, finding the anchorage and setting the anchor, I fell into a sleep unlike I’ve had for quite some time.   Waking refreshed with the sun and a light sprinkle, a rainbow stretched across the sky to welcome the day.  Another minute later, I got my first decent viewing of a manatee and life was good again. 

Another day begins . . .

 Being that we pulled in to avoid a Nor-easter approaching today, we headed up the ICW (intracoastal waterway) toward our present destination of St. Augustine and rendezvous with Rob’s mom on Tuesday.  Today is calm, peaceful, beautiful and relaxing.  The engine is purring, we’re slowly but surely watching the mile markers pass on the charts and I can even think straight enough to pull out the computer. 

And tomorrow will bring . . . . ?

Watching and Waiting

The view this morning . . .

I spend so much of my days right now watching and waiting for weather.  I am never ceased to be amazed at how much energy is not only expended but NEEDED when living this lifestyle.  We are trying to start moving north.  Rob's mom has come to the Daytona area for a couple of weeks and we're due to make a stop and a visit next week.  And we're watching and waiting.

"The Boys" on AlexMarie for sundown . . .

The weather is a huge part of our daily existence. Trying to determine the right window to head out to sea is important and time consuming. The forecasts changed throughout the day so you have to stay on your toes if you don't want to head out too early or otherwise miss your chance. And sometimes you just wash your hopes out to sea without you when everything unexpectedly changes and you end up stuck like this week.   This morning, contrary to yesterdays "news" we've woken to continued high winds and rain . . . SURPRISE!  But, REALLY, this is supposed to pass . . . ?




Of course when you're in a beautiful, warm and comfortable place (okay, outside of the 25+ knots of shifting winds we've seen the past few days!), watching and waiting can't be all bad.  We've made good use of our days enjoying the company of the friends in the anchorage and doing odd jobs around the boat.  We're cleaned up and ready to go with new navigational aids, solar panels, fresh fuel filters and such. 

And "The Girls" . . .

We have new friends, Doug and Judy aboard Lime'N who have joined in the fray with AlexMarie, Shalamar and Moonshadow - so we're certainly not lonely here.  We've had some fun get togethers sharing bar tricks (the banana and rum bottle one you're going to have to see one day!) and good food.  Luc welcomed us aboard AlexMarie on (what day WAS that anyway?!) . . . Our first night with Doug and Judy, and we had great fun.

Fair winds to Bermuda, Kev and Judith!

Last night we attended a seminar at West Marine (our home away from home!) on outfitting a boat for cruising.  Kev and Judith met us there and we said our goodbyes after dinner at Southport Raw Bar.  Plans are for a pot luck barbeque aboard Moonshadow tonight before we all try to make our way out of the anchorage in what (HOPEFULLY) will be a good window tomorrow.  Sebastian and Liz have still promised us Mahjong lessons, a game I've been wanting to learn for years now.  The days always manage to fill up with something!

Doug and Judy are behind schedule for a meetup with family in Georgetown in the Islands, Kim and Terri are due to head north to point called home and Luc, Sebastian and Liz are trying to cross to the Bahamas and points south on their way to Puerto Rico.  Kev and Judith are on schedule for a crossing to Bermuda the end of next week.  And we're on our final trek "home".  And we are all still watching and waiting . . .