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