Nassau

Today (Wednesday) is a beautiful day, weather wise, in Nassau.  Lots of boating going on, swimming and sunning.  We took D-Time back to town this morning and walked a mile or so to a local shopping center.  We checked into the local telephone company hot spot information for one of our iPhones so we hope to have it up and running soon.  We are still waiting on AT&T to "unlock" it so we can use it here.  After the phone company we hit the local grocery store.  It reminded me of a "Fresh Market" store in the U.S.  They had everything you could find in the U.S., only a lot more expensive.  For example, a box of frosted flakes was $6.00, a 24 pack of Coke Zero was $16.00 and a gallon of milk was $8.00.  We bought a gallon of milk, fresh veggies and some fresh bread and got out of there only spending about $30.00.  Granted, we could easily carry what we bought, so you can tell we didn't buy a lot.

Everyone here has been very friendly and security conscious.  If you want to go into a store, you push a button, which buzzes the owner and they release the lock on the door to let you in.  We had stopped at our 3rd marine supply store (after buying groceries) on our way back to the boat, and I just wanted to keep walking.  Daniel wanted to go in again (looking for a part) so he went and I just kept walking.  I felt very safe and secure, no problems walking the main street.  After a while Daniel caught back up with me.  He said he was "approached" by some man on the street - came right at Daniel and swung his arm up like he was going to hit him, and then just went on by.  We made it safely back to D-Time and then back to C-Time and unloaded our groceries.  With the fresh bread we bought at the store, I made Daniel a fresh fish sandwich from the wahoo he caught yesterday.

 

Great Bahamas Banks to Nassau

It was a wonderful night in the Great Bahamas Banks with the best part being the amazing stars you could see in the sky.  They were breath taking.  You see so many when you are out so far from the lights of a city.  We slept well until about 2 a.m. when the winds picked up.  I took some Dramamine and back to sleep I went.  We were up at sunrise pulling up the anchor and continuing on to Nassau.  Daniel decided to try fishing again and through out a line.  About an hour later it was screaming - we had caught a fish.  A keeper this time.  We should have printed off a chart of fishes or brought a book with us on fish, but we didn't.  It was a pretty green/blue color and it was big. We brought it up and carved it up into some nice meals for us - hopefully later today we will try some.

We made it to Nassau at about 3 in the afternoon.  4 cruise ships were in port and the anchorage, just ahead of the cruise ships, was a little crowded.  We found a spot right in front of the Atlantis Resort.  There is a lot of daytime traffic that goes by us, but it slowed down a lot at night.  We still didn't have any wifi once we were anchored so we went ashore to find some.  We had a wonderful dinner (and wifi) at the Blue Parrot.  We were able to dock D-Time right in front of the Blue Parrot so all in all, it was an easy access.  We had a nice dinner (veggie quesadilla for me and BBQ sandwich with fries for Daniel - $50).  A little pricey but to be able to talk with all three of our sons, priceless.

Bimini, Bahamas to Grand Bahamas Bank

First of all, don't let the name fool you.  There are no actual "banks" in the Great Bahamas Bank.  Apparently, it is just a bunch of water.  I found out the hard way.  We left Bimini at the crack of down yesterday morning, pulling out of the marina and literally almost running into another boat that was pulling out to leave too.  Granted we were more "out" than they were, but we let them go first.  No accidents to report.  We followed the channel from the marina back out to the main water back out around Bimini.  Besides Bimini, the only real land we saw today was North Rock.  It was a little island large enough to hold a flashing beacon to warn you about the rock, that's about it.  North Rock was on a separate little island off the northern coast of Bimini.  Anyway, once we went around it, that was the last land we saw all day.  At sunset we stopped motor/sailing and threw out the anchor.  We were in about 20' of water.  In the Great Bahama Bank it stays pretty shallow, so 20' of water is pretty normal.  We're still a couple of hours away from Chub Cay and Nassau is about 55 miles way.   We will probably skip Chub Cay in the morning and head straight to Nassau.  We need to get in some "protected" waters before the cold front comes through on Wednesday.

There isn't a lot to do when there is nothing but water around you.  I read a book, I walked the deck, I found out the best speed to run the engine (2550 RPMs), we washed a load of clothes and caught a fish.  I just threw that last one in there to see if you were paying attention.  We really did catch another fish today.  Daniel threw the line out and we waited about an hour and the rod started squealing and the line started pulling out.  We started reeling it in and Daniel said, it isn't very big.  We had already picked out which rice we would eat with this fish - there was going to be a good dinner tonight!  Daniel reeled and reeled and finally brought our dinner close to us and it turned out to be (we think, because we aren't fish people, remember?) a barracuda fish.  We came to this conclusion because he was long, thin and had HUGE teeth.  We decided he would probably eat us before we were able to eat him, so Daniel took him off the hook and let him go.  He was happy, we were happy - a win/win for everyone.  (HUGE thanks to Daniel's friend, Tony, who helped supply us with the needed fishing equipment - THANKS SO MUCH!)

As I said, the sun has set and it really feels weird to be "anchored" in this place with no land anywhere in sight and nothing to see but water, water, water.  There are a few other boats anchored we can see in the way off distance, but it still feels like we are out here alone.  Kind of strange, but in a nice way.

Miami Beach, FL to Bimini, Bahamas

We made it!  I have been dreading this trip for a while now (the portion across the Gulf Stream) - I've just heard so many stories about it but evidently we picked a great day!  We got up and raised the  anchor at 3 this morning, we made it to the inlet to Miami Beach by 4 a.m. and we took off.  The winds were from the northwest and north (you're not supposed to cross when they're coming from the north) but they were not high winds and the chop was relatively nothing.  I had prepared myself for the trip across the Gulf Stream with a dose of Dramamine at 3 a.m.  By 4 a.m. I was falling asleep.  I watched Miami Beach sink into the distance and then fell asleep.  Luckily, Daniel hadn't taken any Dramamine and he just kept driving.  He even unfurled the jib sail at one point, but the wind wasn't enough or from the right direction to really help, so he lowered it.  Then he just kept on chugging along.  A short (to me, because I slept through most of it) 7 hour ride and we were in Bimini! 

 

A couple of hours before we got to Bimini, in one of my moments of coherence, I watched and shook my head as Daniel pulled the brand new fishing pole and lures out.  I mean, we aren't really "fishermen people" - we haven't fished much in our lives.  Anyway, he put a lure on and set the pole and we watched it and waited for something to happen.  I felt like it was more like a boat decoration - we don't know how to catch a fish!  Anyway, about 10 miles off the coast of Bimini the line started screaming...and we saw a fish - a HUGE fish - jumping in the air.  In the air!  We caught a fish!  Daniel picked up the reel (apparently he has been reading books on how to catch a fish) and started reeling it in.  I, of course, got the camera out and started taking pictures.  Daniel fought with it for what seemed like forever but in reality was probably only about 5 minutes.  That fish just kept jumping in the air trying to get off the hook.  Daniel reeled him in all the way to the back of the boat and then the fish took off again.  Jumping again.  Daniel reeled and pulled and the fish totally jumped off the hook!  Smart fish!  It was like a 10 pound Mahi Mahi (and for once, I'm not exaggerating).  We were both somewhat relieved as we were really just "practicing" catching one - we really weren't set up to clean and chop one up - but we will be ready next time, that's for sure!

 

Our first fish!

 

As we came into Bimini there were manta rays everywhere.  I saw a starfish and even saw 2 sharks.  We made it easily to the marina (Bimini Blue Water Marina) where for $1.00 per foot ($41 total) we can stay docked for the night.  We also purchased diesel here for about $5.50 a gallon - not too bad.  We've walked a lot of the island today.  It is really a pretty place.  There was even a small school or church "band" having a parade.  We watched them go by.  We had lunch at LaLa's with Daniel having conch and I had a hamburger.  Both were delicious. 

 

We are taking off toward Chub Cay (pronounced "key") tomorrow and then Nassau the next day.  There is a cold front coming through and we want to get to an anchorage in Nassau before it comes through.  We will probably anchor "out" somewhere on the Bahamas Bank tomorrow, so no wifi will be available. 

 

We cleared customs - changing out the "Quarantine" Flag for the Bahamas flag

I TOLD you it was pretty!

 

BAHAMAS BOUND!

We plan on leaving before sun up in the morning for the cross over to Bimini, Bahamas.  It's a pretty good weather window for tomorrow and Monday.  There's a cold front coming on Tuesday or Wednesday with high winds so we're ready to get crossed over and into a safe harbor.  When we leave the country we will be leaving our "hot spot" behind and I will be looking for wifi access wherever we go to update the blog.  It may not be every day, but I will keep the blog updated "offline" and will post just as soon as we have wifi access.  Thanks everyone for keeping up with us - it's fun to know you're going along on this adventure with us.  

Miami Beach, FL

Today, as we wait on the weather window for travel to the Bahamas, we took D-Time back to South Beach.  It is so close, it's a shame not to go.  We walked along the shops again, stopping at Starbucks for coffee and to people watch.  We actually saw someone carrying a large video camera following some people, but they didn't look famous to us, so we didn't bother them.  We ended up with a slice of pizza and a coke for lunch again and then made our way to the beach.  We decided to start on our Caribbean tan.  It's high 70's here today and a really nice beach day.  After we got tired of the beach, we walked on back to D-Time. 

 

As we were heading into South Beach this morning I counted 10 cruise ships in port - really neat to see them all stacked up. 

 

some cruise ships in port

 

Miami Beach, FL

 

We are at anchorage today, just waiting on a favorable weather window to continue with the journey.  We took advantage of the day at anchor with some "house cleaning" for me (which honestly didn't take long because the boat is only 41 feet long) and finishing up the installation of our new life lines for Daniel.  After that we decided to take D-Time into fabulous Miami Beach!  Daniel found a place, up a canal, where we could dock D-Time and walk across the street to Publix.  The closest grocery store/dinghy excursion yet!  We decided to walk around a little more before we did the grocery shopping thing and found Lincoln Street Mall.  It's a large outdoor shopping area in South Beach.  We walked around and found a really nice pizza shop for lunch.  After that, we walked down to the ocean and took a look at the "South Beach scene".  All kinds of people, wearing all kinds of things.  I definitely am NOT in South Carolina anymore!  It was a fun and eye-opening day. 

South Beach



Walking path to South Beach

Hallendale Beach, FL to Miami, FL

We made it to Miami!  It started off chilly this morning from Hallendale Beach - we made it through "the bridge run" as I like to call it.  We had 4 bridges to go through this morning and luckily they have them all timed so that we arrived at each with about 5 minutes to spare.  Not a bad morning.  It was kind of funny, we must have been like the first opening of the day for the bridge tender person at Hallendale Beach because he came on the radio after we requested an opening and then proceeded to say "good morning" to all of his other bridge tender opening people down the way from him.  We thought he was a little "gruff" so to hear him saying "good morning and have a good day" to everyone just struck us as funny. 

We went "outside" into the ocean to make the run from the Fort Lauderdale inlet to Government Cut in Miami.  We had to do this because there was one bridge on our path that had a clearance of 56' and we are 58' - so we wouldn't have fit.  We had the sails out for awhile, but the wind died down and we ended up motoring about halfway through the journey.  Even though we had about a 4-5 hour journey today, Daniel still had a project that needed to be done - installing our new life lines. 

 

 

 

We found another wonderful anchorage spot for the night.  We are behind an island with a lot of protection from the wind.  The wind is supposed to pick up later tonight and we are tucked away nice and safe.  No worries here.  Now the wait begins.  We start watching the weather for the opportune time to cross the Gulf Stream over to Bimini, Bahamas.  I've filled out our paperwork for the Bahamas, the fuel and water tanks are full - we're just waiting on the weather.  

 

View as we turned to come in Government Cut, Miami, FL

 

 



Hallendale Beach, Florida

We sat in our anchorage from last night all day today.  The wind was up too much to make it a comfortable ride to Miami today so we decided to stay here.  It's a nice anchorage.  We did decide since we're staying here and not doing anything else, to try and make a "run" to West Marine.  There are some items we still needed so we pull out the handy iPhones and get busy tracking down West Marine.  It's about 4 1/2 miles from us and since we have a perfectly good dinghy, we decide to take D-Time for a long ride.  4 1/2 miles took us between 20-25 minutes to get to where we thought there was a marina close enough to West Marine so we could dock and walk.  But when we got there, there was no marina.  So, back up plan was just to look for a favorable docking spot.  We ended up going under a roadway with about enough clearance for us to sit up straight in D-Time without hitting our heads.  It covered 6-8 lanes of traffic so it was a long ride under it to get to the other side.  I could just feel the spiders falling on top of my head as we went through and the monsters! there must be monsters and snakes everywhere (apparently I've seen too many scary movies).  Anyway, we make it to the other side and right in front of us is what looks likes a brand spanking new dock.  No one was tied up to it, it kind of looked like a nature preserve or something.  So we tied up, hopped out and headed to the main entrance and saw that it was a restaurant, that was shut down (locked up) behind a locked gate - and we were on the wrong side of it.  Did I mention that we are carrying our 5 gallon propane bottle with us to have it filled?  Daniel finds a way around the gate (it only goes "so far" into the woods, and we just slip around it).  I feel so guilty - and I haven't really done anything.  We walked to West Marine and the place to fill the propane bottle, which turns out wasn't but a few blocks, made our purchases and made our way back to D-Time. 

Docking place

Scary bridge with potential spiders, snakes and monsters.

 



 

 

When we arrived at the place where we left D-Time, the gates to the place had been opened so we walk right in.  There are no cars around but there are big signs (that I see now) that say "under 24 hour surveillance".  Daniel, the honest one in the group, goes in search of someone to pay for letting us use the dinghy dock.  Me, the "not nearly as honest as Daniel" person, high tails it for D-Time.  I put my packages in, me and my purse and start drumming my fingers waiting on Daniel.  (No, I didn't leave him, but I was ready to make a speedy getaway if needed.)  Daniel finally made it to D-Time and said he couldn't find anyone, so we completed loading and just left.  Whew! 

 

After we left the docking place, Daniel took a different way back - through the state park where we were supposed to take D-Time on it's first trip last February.  This was the place where I had my slip and fall, nearly killing myself.  To say the least, it was a much nicer place to visit this time. 

 

 

 

 

 

West Palm Beach, FL to Hallendale, FL

We had a restful night sleep in our spot we took in front of the million dollar homes last night but we had to get up early and leave it.  We wanted to make it to Miami today so we left our anchorage at about 5 a.m. this morning.  There isn't a whole lot of light at that time of the day, so I started the day on the front of the boat with my flashlight in hand.  We didn't need it, but at least I put forth the effort.  After we were gone about four hours, I decided it was time to break out the Dramamine.  The wind really picked up and the Coast Guard came on the radio with small craft advisories.  We sailed a few more hours (we were making great time) and then decided to go inland at the Fort Lauderdale cut.  Daniel found us a great spot to drop the anchor for the night, we just had to get through 4 bridges to get there.  With promises of a Walmart (really close) and maybe another West Marine, we decided to put up with the 4 bridges.  As luck would have it, we made it through 3 with no trouble and no waiting.  When we got to the last of the bridges for the night, the old fella manning the bridge decided that 15 minutes after the hour would be a good time to open.  We arrived at 15 minutes to the hour.  We had a 30 minute wait.  We could almost see our anchorage from the bridge.  After we made it through the bridge, we pulled into our anchorage for the night.  Instead of million dollar homes tonight, we have a very, very nice condominium project all around us.  It's a beautiful setting for C-Time. 

 

 

After the anchor was set, it was time to take a short dinghy ride to land, somewhere, and dock the dinghy and find Walmart.  We hopped in D-Time and found a spot next to the road.  Apparently the condominium complex is in a "secured area" because we couldn't find a place to dock D-Time.  We finally went down a side area next to a condo and was able to tie D-Time up to the fence that was keeping people out of the complex.  We literally crawled out of D-Time and were on the main street.  We walked a short 6 blocks to Walmart in light rain.  We shopped for groceries for about half an hour and as we were leaving Walmart we heard someone say "it's raining cats and dogs out there".  Uh oh.  We pull out our all-weather coats and put them on.  We wrapped the groceries in plastic and began to haul them the LONG (used to be short) 6 blocks back to the boat, in the pouring rain.  By the time we get back to D-Time, it has a couple of inches of water standing in it.  Nothing else to do but to step in it.  Great, soaking wet socks and shoes to go with my soaking wet blue jeans.  Daniel took the below picture on our way back to C-Time.  I was NOT a happy boat girl but tried to put on a smile for the camera (everyone that knows me knows that that is a fake smile plastered on).  What do you expect??  I'm sitting there with wet pants, shoes, socks and groceries.    Looking forward to some sunshine tomorrow!

 

Carla on her return trip from Walmart, in the rain.

C-Time, looking gorgeous in the rain.

Melbourne, FL to West Palm Beach, Florida

Today was another gorgeous day in south Florida.  It started with this spectacular sunrise in Melbourne, Florida this morning.  It was still cold, but it didn't matter, the sunrise was perfect (we were bundled up in t-shirts, top shirts, sweatshirts, coats and add a set of gloves and we were set for the morning).  

 

Melbourne, Florida

 We motored all day long, Daniel had a project to work on and the wind wasn't coming from the right direction.  After my morning nap :-), I was set to be Captain.  I drove the boat while Daniel worked on his project.  After a couple of hours it was time for lunch so I headed below and prepared some hamburgers and french fries.  It takes awhile to do that and I almost missed seeing this great lighthouse in Jupiter, Florida.    We had a lot of bridges to pass through today, I lost count after 4 and we made it through all of them without waiting except 1.  We had to sit out and just motor in idle in front of the bridge for 30 minutes while we waited for the opening.  It was kind of frustrating because no one else was around, the traffic wasn't bad and when they finally opened the bridge for us, we were through and the bridge was down in less than 2 minutes.  Oh well - only one bridge that has made us wait since we left South Carolina, so that's not too bad. 

 

Jupiter, Florida

You can really tell when you hit "southern" Florida.  As we cruised slowly through Jupiter, Florida you could tell that you were in warmer temperatures.  Bikinis, t-shirts and shorts were everywhere.  I felt very over-dressed.  We shucked some clothes and got down to the t-shirt and jeans for the rest of the trip.  Besides being a nice warm place, south Florida appears to be a very "prosperous" place.  We made a turn after the last bridge of the day and saw this gorgeous view of the skyline of West Palm Beach.  Daniel found us a really nice place to dock for the night in this quaint little neighborhood of million dollar homes.   I guess we could be in a worse place - but not tonight!

 

View out "our window"  at our spot for the night - West Palm Beach, FL



West Palm Beach, Florida



What's that alarm!

As Carla performs her daily morning smoke detector test, it causes me to count the number of alarms we have on C-Time.  There's the smoke detector, carbon monoxide monitor, high engine temperature, low engine oil pressure, bilge alarm, anchor drag alarm on two chartplotters, shallow water alarm, low fuel alert, and full holding tank warning.  If we run aground, catch on fire, burn up the engine, sink, run out of fuel, or overflow our holding tanks, it will be our own fault, as we will have had plenty of warning.  Oh, and Carla's smoke detector test, that's just her cooking on the gas stove.  Apparently the smoke detector is extremely sensitive to charred or toasted food.

Melbourne, FL to Fort Pierce, FL

We left Melbourne, Florida this morning at sunrise.  I had taken a Dramamine tablet before bed last night, we were rocking and rolling a bit and after eating a bunch of delicious Italian food, I thought it best.  So I was still a bit sleepy but I was able to drag myself topside to help get us under way and then I found myself back sound asleep in our nice warm bed.  I slept an extra hour and a half.  When I got up, poor Daniel looked like he was starving so I quickly prepared breakfast for us.  We motor/sailed most of the day and the wind finally picked up enough that we were able to turn the engine off awhile and just sail.  A really nice day.  We had decided when we got to Fort Pierce that we would be buying fuel and refilling our water tanks so I thought it would be a good idea to run and take a nice long shower...while we were sailing.  Have you ever tried to take a shower in a boat that is heeled over 20 degrees?  It is an adventure to say the least. I got dressed and made my way topside and had no sooner sat down when Daniel said, it's time to put out the fenders for docking and the lines.  I'm pretty good at this so I hustled it up and by the time I had the fenders and lines out, I was sweating thinking what a waste of time the shower of death was.  We loaded up on diesel and water and took out across the ICW to our anchorage for the night.

We found a nice place in front of a condo complex that looked nice and quiet, for a Sunday afternoon.  After we had made a circle a couple of times in front of the complex to check the water depth, Daniel decided it would be a good time to recalibrate our compass on the boat.  That means, we push some buttons and then make more circles.  Before you know it we had half a dozen people coming out of their condos and staring at us like we were nuts!  Like they've never seen a boat in front of their condo going around and around and around.  It was pretty funny.  We are safely tucked in for the night now and everyone has gone back inside.  The sun is still up and it's pretty early so we're going to crank the grill up and grill a steak.  That smell ought to drive the locals crazy!

New Smyrna Beach, FL to Melbourne, FL

We left the city dock in New Smyrna Beach, Florida just as the sun was coming up.  Our new friends from Latitudes left at the same time.  We followed each other for about half the day.  We decided to pull our sails out and save some diesel but Latitudes was anxious to make it to meet some friends so they continued on motor sailing.  The most exciting part about the day was coming to this bridge that is used for trains only and it always is open, unless a train is coming.  If a training is coming lights go off and a horn sounds (it's automatic, there is no person to open/close the bridge).  We're told you have 8 minutes to get through the bridge once the sounds and lights go off.  We made it to the middle of the bridge and Daniel and I both heard a loud train heading our way.  Fortunately, it was on another track - but it did wake us both up.

 

 

Latitudes going through the train bridge ahead of C-Time

We made it to Melbourne, Florida about 4:30 in the afternoon.  We had looked ahead and found a West Marine only 6 blocks from the Intracoastal Waterway so we dropped the anchor and took D-Time ashore.  We tied up to the local dock and took off for town.  We were able to buy a few supplies we were needing and then started heading back to the boat...when we saw it...a really neat looking Italian restaurant, Chef Mario's Cafe.  We couldn't pass up the opportunity and we weren't disappointed.  We had the best pizza with melt in your mouth crust, a Caesar salad and all the homemade delicious garlic rolls you could eat.  What a treat!  We waddled back to the boat after that meal and D-Time was barely able to carry the extra weight back to the boat after that meal, but D-Time made it.

St. Augustine, FL to New Smyrna Beach, FL

The sunrise in St. Augustine was just beautiful this morning.  I'm wondering if the sunrises ever get old?  I'm thinking not. 


Sunrise, St. Augustine

It was so cold last night, even with two blankets, a quilt and an electric blanket going, we were anxious to get up this morning and get the day started.  Daniel with a cup of hot chocolate and me with my coffee.  We took off from St. Augustine's mooring field with no trouble except that a sailboat, a 42' Hunter named Latitudes, came up behind us and notified us that they would like to pass us.  They were going a bit faster than us.  That was the best thing that happened all day.  You see, Latitudes was making their trip south, like us, to the Bahamas but this was not their first time so we were more than happy to follow them.  At one point during the day they hit a shallow spot, but quickly got out of it.  They helped us with 3 bridge openings, pointed out a bald eagle and generally offered help if we needed it.  What a wonderful cruising couple!  We finally docked at the city marina in New Smyrna Beach, right behind them.  We enjoyed meeting Bobbie and Luke and spending some time discussing our future plans.  After that, we walked the streets of New Smryna Beach, stopping for ice cream in an old timey lunch counter type of place.  It was a good day.



Bridge opening in New Smyrna Beach - that's Latitudes going through the bridge ahead of us



Jacksonville, FL to St. Augustine, FL

What an absolutely gorgeous day to be on the intracoastal waterway.  A little chilly, but otherwise, a beautiful sunshine filled day for our trip from Jacksonville to St. Augustine.  We had to motor most of the way, but had the sails up too, just to try to get a little extra speed.  There wasn't much wind, but at least it felt like we were sailing.  We arrived in St. Augustine and had to stop for fuel first.  The Inlet Marina was located right under one of the main bridges in St. Augustine and within 2 blocks of a Publix.  I was happy to do some grocery shopping.  The guy that runs the marina gave me directions to Publix and when I told him I planned on buying a gallon of milk and some Coke Zeros he said, hang on a second...my truck is a silver Nissan parked right out front (with the keys in it), just take it to Publix so you don't have to carry everything 2 blocks.  Really nice, fella. So that's just what I did.  I reloaded us up on fresh fruit and vegetables and some other items we had depleted.

We left the fuel dock and motored into the downtown area.  St. Augustine is beautiful!  It had a huge cross on the country side to greet you and right next to that, an old fort.  We contacted the city marina and made arrangement to pick up a mooring ball to hook up to for the night.  A mooring ball is a ball attached to some heavy piece of concrete or something that sits on the ocean floor.  They have a "mooring field" in St. Augustine filled with lots of mooring balls.  They use mooring balls because there isn't a lot of dock space available.  Well, it was our first time with a mooring ball - and I was little nervous.  I was driving and Daniel was on the bow of the boat with a boat hook, trying to pick up the ball - he did it the first time.  That done, we lowered D-Time (our dinghy) into the water and attached it's motor.  We loaded up and took a 5 minute dinghy ride into town.

 

Mooring ball

Dinghy ride into the city

We walked around the old city - which was just gorgeous.  It reminded us of New Orleans, with a Florida flair.  It was really good to just get out and walk and enjoy the beautiful architecture that made up St. Augustine.  We even saw the oldest wooden school house in the U.S.  I do love history.  It was a good day!

Carla on St. George St.

Oldest wooden school house in America



Jacksonville, Florida

I mentioned yesterday about seeing the whale - it was just a crazy feeling seeing it.  When we got closer to our docking spot for the night, the U.S. Coast Guard made an announcement to the effect that you violate federal law if you come within 500 yards of a whale.  That a mother whale and her calf was spotted and they just wanted to remind everyone to stay away from them.  The penalty if you get within 500 yards is a stiff fine (they said).  So I'm thinking, we were just driving along, minding our own business and a whale came up next to us...whose word is it?  Ours or the whale?  Could we get in trouble?  Who measures 500 yards while in a moving boat?  Either way, I elect to stay away from them.

The city of Jacksonville is trying to get more cruisers (that's us) to stop and enjoy their city.  They have some city designated boat docks where you can park for free for 72 hours, if you want to.  We found a spot one of the city marinas and enjoyed staying there last night.  We got off the boat to walk around and maybe go shopping or out to eat.  We got to the end of the park's road and if we went right, it was only a mile to a local bait shop.  Don't think so.  If we went left, it was only 2 miles to a Kangaroo gas station.  Again, I don't think so.  I think it is a great idea to get cruisers to spend time in their city, but, all we were able to do was walk around a park.  It was nice, but a hamburger cooked by someone other than me, would have been nicer.

Daufuskie Island, SC to Jacksonville, FL

We left Daufuskie Island at about 3:30 yesterday afternoon.  The waves and wind were supposed to be perfect for going out into the ocean to sail to our next stop.  So we motored/sailed for 3 hours to get away from land and then turned southwest and kept going.  The wind forecast was wrong.  Instead of 10-15 knot winds we had more like zero-5 knots.  We tried to use the sails for our power for about 4 hours.  The best we could do speed-wise was 1.5 to 3 knots.  Mostly 1.5-2.  So we brought the sails in and started the engine.  The waves were supposed to be 2-3 feet.  The waves were more like 4-6 feet.  We got banged around and pushed around a lot.  Time for more Dramamine! 

The upside was that there was an almost full moon.  So when the sun went down, the moon came up and gave us enough light to see where we were going.  You can do it without light, but that is just a little scary to me.  I enjoyed the moonlight the whole time I was on watch.  I had it by myself for an hour, then Daniel had it for an hour.  I tried to go to sleep but couldn’t so I went back up to relieve him.  I stayed up for another 3 hours and couldn’t wait to go wake Daniel up after the 3 hour shift to relieve me.  He on the other hand, stayed up from about 1:30 a.m. until 5:30 this morning.  I slept great, below deck.  Thanks, Honey!

 

As we are coming into Jacksonville we passed through a "whale preserve".  Didn't think twice about it until we actually SAW a whale!  It was awesome.  I got so excited, I forgot to take a picture!

We have a spot picked out for the rest of the day to rest and relax in the Jacksonville, FL area. 

We earned it. 

Day 3

It rained last night from about midnight until about 10:30 this morning.  It was cloudy, overcast - we just weren't feeling the conditions for sailing today, so we stayed at our anchorage near Daufuskie Island.  We just watched tv and read some.  Just took it easy.  I made a nice lunch.  I read some more and Daniel went to take a nap.  BIG MISTAKE.  That gave him time to "think".   I was napping in the warm cockpit (the sun came out) minding my own business when Daniel comes out and says, the winds are perfect - we should pull anchor and do an "all nighter" and be in Jacksonville, Florida by noon tomorrow.  I think my mouth fell open - I know it did.

I think it is a "man" thing to want to do the all night sailing thing.  For me, it's a little scary.  I don't see well at night so we will see how it goes.  I texted our 3 sons to let them know our plans and Matt's response was "awesome"; Brian's response was "sounds fun, be careful" and Justin's response was to FaceTime me immediately so he could get all of the exciting details.  He's jealous, he said.  My response:  ALL NIGHT, in the ATLANTIC OCEAN??  It's going to be a long night!

Balance of Day 2

We made it to Hilton Head Island to meet my friend (and attorney) Andrea for lunch.  She came with wonderful gifts for our boat, one of which was a tray to carry things on and I have already used it for our dinner tonight.  The coffee cups will be used in the morning!  Thanks so much, Andrea!!

When we arrived at the place to meet Andrea, the water was so low that a local boater came out and guided us in through the sandbar area.  That's call real southern hospitality!  We had a wonderful lunch together and we ended lunch with a tour of the boat for Andrea.  She loved it.  We said our sad goodbyes and untied ourselves from the dock, to head to our place for the night.  We are anchored right off of Daufuskie Island, South Carolina.  I cooked some soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner.  I loaded them up on our new tray and we ate in the cockpit.  Daniel had some nice jazz music on the stereo and we ate, watching dolphins all around us.  Really awesome!  We can see Savannah's lights in the distance, too.  We're expecting rain at midnight tonight going through 8 am in the morning, so not sure if we will stay right where we are or move further south.  Just depends on the weather.  On the upside, we checked and we have 10 tv channels tonight!  Last night we had 1 and it had a kid's movie on it and on top of that, it faded in and out.  It was an early night last night.  Tonight, we might actually stay up past 9!

Day 1 / Day 2

Day 1 of our adventure.  We left Charleston Harbor at the crack of dawn, literally.  The sun was just coming up when we got out past the jetties.  It was cold and we were both dressed in lots of layers.  Not too cold though, Daniel had made us a “cockpit enclosure” made out of vinyl window material that kept the cold air off of us.  It was wonderful – it made traveling in the early cold wind very enjoyable.  I made Daniel breakfast and I had coffee.  We both could tell the waves were going to be “fun” so we both took our dramamine.  Daniel went with one small tablet – I went for the big stuff, a 3 day patch.  Hey, don’t judge!  The waves were like 4-6 feet and we rode and rode them.  The wind was 15 knots from the northwest, perfect day for sailing.  I tried to nap, but never was able, to the ride was just too exhilarating.  It was a beautiful day.  Once we got off the coast we kept going – ended up being about 11 miles off shore.  We were traveling with our sails out and the engine off.  It was so quiet and so pretty.  After the sun came up we were able to remove some layers of clothing and actually end up in short sleeves for the afternoon.  The night before I had made stuff poblano peppers (stuffed with ground beef, onion, peppers and hot cheese) for dinner, so I used the other half of the meat mixture to make us some beef burritos for lunch.  I added in a big bowl of fruit for each of us and that made a yummy lunch.  When we decided to “go in” to get on the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) we had to crank the engine.  We motored for about 4 hours until we found our spot for the night, St. Helena Sound.  There was one other sailboat in the area, other than that, we pretty much had the place to ourselves.  The water was so calm, it was like we were still docked at the Cooper River Marina – except calmer than that!  With the dramamine still in us, we were able to sleep like babies. 

 

 

Day 2

Look at that sunrise!  Big plans for the day!  We are traveling to Hilton Head to meet some friends from my law firm’s Hilton Head office for lunch.  We pulled up anchor at about 7 am.  It’s going to take us about 4 1/2 hours to get to Hilton Head on the ICW.  We have yet to see another boat out here, just lots of birds and lots of crab pots.  We are still trying to dodge those things.  Daniel had a bagel this morning for breakfast and I went with the greek yogurt and fruit (Blenda inspires my breakfast).  Blenda and I have been having breakfast together at the office for years – I really miss her.  I took a picture of the sunrise this morning and texted it to her.  She immediately took a picture of her view (2 computer monitors) and sent it back to me.  So nice to start the day with a laugh!  Thanks, Blenda!

Goodbye Charleston! Hello WORLD!

 

 

The weather is good, tides are good - off we go!  We got up at 4 this morning and got everything in order to leave the dock by 5 a.m.  As we cranked the engine and started to stow the lines, along comes our friend, Ann Lange.  She is the captain of the sailing vessel SeaFever and she is not too far down the dock from us in Charleston.  Sweet Annie got up early this morning, just to come see us off.  Not too many people would do that (I can count on 1 finger the number that did). Granted it was 5 a.m.!  Thanks, Annie!

After we left the dock we proceeded towards the Cooper River Bridge.  We've done this track so much, we could do it in our sleep, thus why we were able to leave so early this morning and get a jump on the day.  The wind was a little strong, but with dramamine in our tummies, we pushed forward.  We are sailing about 3 miles off the coast of Charleston heading towards our first anchorage, somewhere near Hilton Head, South Carolina.

We actually ended up sailing about 11 miles off shore today and just arrived at our anchor spot for the night.  St. Helena Sound, South Carolina. Very quiet and very calm.  Much needed after the fun we had off shore today.

Oh Boy!!

He's here!  8 pounds, 11 ounces and 21 inches long - Joshua Daniel Snow made his arrival into the world on January 9th!  We are very proud grandparents and very excited that we were there for his birth.  It was a hard 24 hours of labor for Mollie but I'm sure she will agree, it was worth it.  We've had time to hold, cuddle and kiss him (not enough time, but will there ever be enough?).  We've also had a wonderful visit with Matt and Mollie but it's time for us to take the big plunge...finish loading the boat and heading south.

Matt (Dad) and their son, Joshua

Just thinking of leaving them behind is really tough.  If the doors on our rental car weren't locked, there is a chance I might not make it back to Charleston.  All of these "good byes" are awful.  Tears my heart out.  The picture I'm posting is me with Joshua at the hospital moments before I left him.  It was so hard.  I was feeling really down and then our oldest son, Justin, called from South America and said - ok, so when will y'all be here.  I laughed.  I guess it is all in your own context.  He is happy to be an uncle but the arrival of Joshua means we get on the boat and start making progress towards him and his family.  He was so excited about us leaving this weekend.  So with a heavy heart I'm leaving Charleston, South Carolina heading towards warmer water and more parts of our family in South America - so the excitement builds again.  I'm pretty sure once we hit South America, Matt in Atlanta, Georgia, will be calling wanting to know when we are heading back to the states.  It's kind of nice to be pulled between North and South America.  

Grammie (Carla) and Joshua

 

Happy New Year!

We are getting close...really close to leaving.  We could even be leaving by this coming weekend.  That's what Daniel said to me on this past Sunday afternoon.  I was sitting and reading a book in the cockpit enjoying the new cockpit cushions and it hit me.  We really COULD be leaving extremely shortly.  I hopped right up, packed my bag to head back to work and said I had to go.  I had laundry to   do at my friend Blenda's house, shopping left to do, another trip to Goodwill to give away more stuff...basically I had an anxiety attack.  It's not about being anxious to leave, it's about all the things that have to be accomplished before we can go.  I knocked out quite a few of those things this week, but still have a few more.  We've been told that our grandson is not too anxious to meet us, it may be another week to 10 days before we get to hold him - just gives us more time to finish those last projects and shop and plan more.  

One of the worst things I have been dreading to do, I will have to do tomorrow.  I know it's crazy to get all emotional about saying good-bye to a dog, but Shula is MY dog.  The only one that has truly been mine.  We've had other dogs, but they were the "family dog".  Daniel gave me Shula 8 years ago, a puppy to help fill our empty nest and fill it he has.  I've shared him with Daniel, so Shula is ours, but he's a "Momma's boy".  He has sat and comforted me after a 6 week surgery recovery, he sat with me and stayed at my feet after I slipped and fell earlier this year and had to be home for 2 months.  We go for walks, I talk to him and he wags his tail every time I come home.  After a bad day at work, a smile immediately comes on my face when I see him running towards me when I get home.  This is really hard.

 

This post is not meant to be a sad one, or even an anxious one, it's just a "real" one - it is just to show you that as much as I'm looking forward to our upcoming adventure - it isn't always easy to get there or to even get started.  It's hard and a big commitment.  I'm ready, though, and am truly looking forward to seeing what 2014 has in store for us.  Happy New Year, everyone!