Voyage 2012: Chapter 4

24 Apr 2013, St Augustine to Fernandina Beach, 30 40.272 N/ 081 28.11 W

Wow! We have a 18 hour weather window for an outside passage to Fernandina Beach before the weather collapses tomorrow for three days. We left the mooring at 0645 and managed to navigate the inlet buoys before the sun spoiled our view. Inlet was a bit lumpy as the wind was out of the East on the current was ebbing. Once we were out of the influence of the inlet, it was smooth motorsailing. Wind was light out of the E and picked up a bit from the SE about two hours out from Fernandina. St. Mary's Inlet was calm with a favorable current. Someone stole our mooring ball so we had to hover for a while before we could get a new assignment. We were not happy. Within 12 hours, the seas would be angry. A Brazilian boat, assisted by the USCG came into Fernandina with sails torn and steering compromised. Not pretty.

JW and Jeannie of SV Over Budget arrived from St. Louis to prepare the boat for her trip South. We spent several days shopping and eating with them. We introduced them to Pablo's, a favorite Mexican restaurant. We first met them at Bennett Brothers in Wilmington NC. Nice couple with a nice boat. Three of the six days we were there, it was too windy to get off the boat. But it was exciting. We saw the Sheriff arrest someone for stealing a dinghy which had us in suspense for several hours. Tomorrow we have a 30 hour weather window that should get us to Port Royal. We will see.

25 Apr 2013, Heading for Port Royal near Beaufort SC, 30 40.272 N/ 081 28.11 W

We left for St. Mary's River at daybreak with a really rough of the Inlet. We were pitch so hard that the (non dog-downed) forward hatch flew open to greet several rather large waves. Bad Bob had not followed his own guidance of dogging down all hatches before any offshore work. As we left the inlet, we saw several commercial fishing boats. Funny, we had not seen many until now. We remembered that a big sub would be entering the River. Maybe they were Russian agents spying on the sub operations. Maybe.