Night 2 in Vero

 Hi folks,

This is a great spot so we decided to hang out for a second night. Britt went to the beach and I took the bus into town to procure some fruits and veggies. While in the supermarket I was taking note of the aged population contained therein, only to remind myself that I am a member of that club as well! At least my daughter Mary says I'm still in halfway decent shape so I am very thankful for that!

We will leave mid morning and knock off a few miles on the way to Palm Beach.

Regards, Charlie

Vero Beach

 Hi all,

We had a couple of motorsailing days. First was to Cocoa in a stiff southwesterly, which was quite close to where we wanted to go. So we were just able to keep the main full and throttle back some on the motor. Had to reef when it really picked up. After anchoring in Cocoa we walked a short distance to a West Marine and picked up several items. The things I really wanted they didn't have! With a cold front coming we went to the other side of the bridge and anchored in the lee. No problems with the frontal passage.

It has been very disconcerting to see all the wrecked boats in Florida. Mostly sailing vessels, though there was a large, maybe 45 foot late model powerboat sunk at Cocoa. Boats upended on breakwalls, masts sticking forlornly out of the water, boats in the trees, on peoples lawns, etc. One that we saw up on a wharf had been hit hard by the graffiti guerillas. Many of the boats appear to be neglected derelicts, but there are also some real nice ones. At least they were recently nice.

Met up with some fellow sailors from back home and am currently rafted up with them at Vero. Knew they were headed south and it was a real treat to encounter the yesterday and tie up to them today. They are Mark and Jane on Aida, a Beneteau 47. They are also Bahamas bound.

Cheers, Charlie

Rocket launch

 Hi folks! 

Got to see a Falcon rocket launch about 50 minutes ago. Very impressive! It was Britt's first. After about 15 seconds, after which it disappeared into the clouds, she remarked how quiet it was. " The sound will come", was my response, and it sure did. Bear in mind that we were probably 10 miles from the pad. Really, really cool. I wonder if Elon Musk makes it to many of the launches. His head must be so big that is like something full of rocket fuel. With his little Twitter adventure he needs to be careful his head doesn't explode! I really admire the guy.

Got a huge amount of provisions today. Two shopping carts full to the brim. I figured we would just call an uber or cab, but Britt says, lets just push them back to the marina, it's only about 5 blocks. So we did, in spite of my nagging feeling we were breaking some sort of social taboo. We loaded the dinghy to the gunwales and I rowed the goods out to the boat while Britt returned the carts.

I have decided I can stow the ski parka away. Yes, I should know better but I am cautiously optimistic. Next several days look pretty good and we are going further south. Also, I realize I didn't sound sufficiently thankful on Thanksgiving. Truly, I am!

Best, Charlie

Fog?

 Hi all,

Well, at least it warmed up!  But the next time I come to Florida it may be with radar. It has been looking like the Maine coast for the past several days. At one point yesterday we were under sail on the Mosquito Lagoon in foggy conditions at 4 in the afternoon, booming along in 20 mph+ winds. The fog bank thickened and I could no longer see the next mark. Fortunately, the vector on my Navionics app saved the day. I kept going along lined up in the right direction while Britt located the next mark. We crept into the anchorage by the railway bridge near Titusville in the dark, worn out by a really great day, mostly under sail. That night the fog really crept in and at 3 AM it was pea soup. Couldn't see the boat anchored near us at all, except for the faint glow of its anchor light. 

So the sun appeared for a bit today, in between and during rain showers. We are now on a mooring at Titusville and went ashore to stretch our legs. More wrecked boats here from Ian and Nicole. Probably about 10. Really sobering sight.

Happy Thanksgiving, Charlie

Florida sunshine?

 Hi folks!

No sunshine in Florida. And darn cold to boot. After freezing yesterday, along with intermittent drizzle, we decided to stay put at our anchorage about 1p miles north of St. Augustine. During my time in Fernandina there was very little sun and that has continued since coming back over the line. And rain is in the forecast thru Friday. Definitely the worst weather of the trip has been in Florida.

We had hoped to get a mooring in St. Augustine for a night but they are filled up so we may just stop for fuel tomorrow and keep moving. At least it is supposed to get up to 65 tomorrow so that is a step in the right direction. 

Cheers, Charlie

Cumberland - again!

 Hi all,

Britt arrived yesterday at St. Marys and needed a good sleep after an all night travel ordeal. But she revived nicely and we were able to enjoy diiner on White Seal with our guest Irene, a singlehander from the boat next door. Irene had come over to say how happy she was to see another person rowing. We hit it off and I invited her over to dinner. She has been living aboard her Valiant 32 full time for about 20 years. She just turned 81 and is in pretty fantastic shape. A real inspiration. We had a great visit!

The dawn brought much colder temps, but Britt and I went ashore for a walk around the old and interesting part of town. Back to the boat to head to Cumberland. We were able to sail off the anchor and pass by Irene for a farewell. Out the river and then had to tack back and forth while a nuclear submarine headed out. Then it was motoring directly into a stiff north wind the 6 or 7 miles to Plum Orchard. We are the only boat anchored here. Lots of southbound boats on the ICW though. Walked over to the beach, which was interesting to see after the storm. Lots of shells, beautiful ones. Britt loved it. Back to the boat for dinner, conversation, and reading. Lower 40's tonite. Probably go on the mansion tour in the morning.

Best to all,

Charlie

St. Mary's

 Hi all,

Not much to report, happily! Decided to come to the lovely little town of St Marys, GA since it offers a more protected anchorage. Need to do some provisioning today which will involve a lot of walking and a cab ride. And tomorrow I hope to find propane which I am getting low on. My next guest comes on Wednesday. She is Brittany Vallene, who spent time on White Seal over a year ago and has been looking forward to more cruising, this time on salt water. We hope to start off with another trip to Cumberland which is not far from here.

Regarding Cumberland, I picked up a copy of the book "Untamed", by Will Harlow, and recommend it highly. Its about Carol Ruckdeschel, who has been studying sea turtles on Cumberland and living in a cabin she built out there for over 40 years. She has played an important role as well in limiting development by the park service. Vilified by many because of her propensity to speak her mind and step on the toes of some very wealthy and well connected folks. Tons, I mean TONS of drama in this book. She's still out there at age 80 and it would be beyond awesome to meet her.

Best to all, Charlie

Shuffleboard dreams

 Hi all!

That was quite a blow last night! Yes, it was only tropical storm intensity, but when you are in the cockpit at 0 dark 30 being being pulverised by pellets of water and the boat is thrashing desperately to break free of its mooring you tend to ask yourself, "why, am I doing this?" At that moment, I briefly thought that I should take up shuffleboard. Absolutely zero stress. Low expenses. Never played in inclement weather. Least of all at 0300. 

There had been a Tartan 40 sailboat on the mooring immediately to windward of me, a fact that was very unsettling. A beautiful boat, clearly well maintained but with no one aboard. It was yawing back and forth in the wind and just had one mooring line. And there was a second boat to windward of the Tartan that was also swinging wildly, on an anchor no less. So I had these 2 threats above me and no likelihood of the wind changing direction during the night. With no one aboard these boats to monitor chafe they represented a real threat.

The wind picked up during the night and I stayed up monitoring the situation while grabbing little catnaps. Getting up around 3 I saw that the Tartan was still there. About 15 minutes later there was a tremendous blast of wind and rain and I rushed up on deck. Bear in mind that I was napping fully dressed with foul weather gear (wet), safety harness, life jacket, and a large sheath knife. On deck I had 2 anchors ready for immediate deployment in the event of mooring failure. I looked for the Tartan, and it was gone! It had gone by without hitting me!

The blast of wind was considerable and I was really concerned whether I would hold. So I started the engine and put it in gear to take some of the pressure off. I was wearing a diving mask for a while which protected my eyes, but distorted the view because of being wet so I took those off. After a while I realized that none of the other moorings had failed, even while holding larger boats so I shut the engine down and thought more about shuffleboard. And I was very relieved when a tentative dawn appeared. The wind was at a zephyr like 30 to 40 and it was pouring rain, but there was hope.

The Tartan had managed to smash its way into a thicket of pilings that made up the shrimp boat dock. Over the next couple of hours it muscled its way in deeper and to the casual eye appears to be resting comfortably in a safe harbor. And a Hunter sailboat that appears to be of a similar size, that broke loose Tuesday night is lying askew on the top of a rock embankment that surrounds the pulp mill nearby. With the super high tides there will be the need for a crane to remove it.

With gratitude and relief, Charlie

PS I am already rethinking shuffleboard

Survived

 Very bad, horrible, no good night during peak of storm. The boat and I are fine. More to follow after I get some sleep.

Best to all, Charlie

Updates

 Here's a couple of good news items. I have been under assault on this trip by all sorts of annoying, nasty, and biting insects. Some of them are small enough to fit thru the mesh screen. I am very happy to report, that thanks to Nicole, they are GONE! No idea where they are, but they can't move in this wind.

And in the never ending battle between the tide and the wind , the wind has won. This means that as long as the wind stays above about 30, it counteracts the strength of the tide, making the boat point more consistently into the wind and making for a more comfortable boat.

Also, they canceled the hurricane watch for this county. We still have the tropical storm warning, but hey, I'll take what I can get.

And no problems with any of the boats on moorings, most of which are bigger than me. Did have one big anchored sailboat go up on the rocks by the paper mill, and another one is clearly aground in the harbor.

Best, Charlie

Day 2

 Good morning!

Thanks for the comments! It was a choppy night for sure but I did manage to get some shuteye. Just watched a 50 foot sailboat motor over to the fuel dock to tie up. The marina was keeping that section of dock open for unknown reasons. It looks pretty uncomfortable. There is a huge megayacht tied up there and maybe they had reserved that spot for extra space. It's 216 feet long and listed for sale at 44 million. I just hope it doesnt come loose! 

Anyway, White Seal is doing great. The big nylon lines I set up on the mooring are working very well. Wind is actually less now than it was during the night. But I know it will be back up again. Have great neighbors on a nice catamaran on the next mooring over. So I am hardly alone. We exchanged boat cards and have contact info.

Gonna stop yakking now and get a bit more rest.

Cheers, Charlie

Nicole

 Well folks, the winds have commenced to blow. Definitely 25 with gusts to maybe 30. Tide opposing wind at the moment so swinging wildly around the mooring. Discovered that the pennant supplied with the mooring seems to have no stretch so I have tightened up a bit on my own line which is far better. What had been happening was a considerable shock when all the mooring chain was taut. Hard to believe a mooring pennant wouldn't be made out of nylon but that may be the case. But the pennant is way oversized for my boat so maybe thats it. Chafing leathers installed on the pennants. The spinnaker pole topping lift was rattling on the side and I just removed it. Definitely blowing 30 now. Lots of banging on the hull from the mooring buoy and the dinghy. I thought about putting the dinghy on deck but you never know when you might need it. The banging noises will annoy me for about 4 hours in each roughly 6 hour tide cycle. Anyway, thats whats happening here in paradise!

Best, Charlie

Cumberland

 Hi all,

Ron and I spent 3 nights at Cumberland and it was a great place. Untrammeled beaches, wild horses, spanish moss draped over massive live oak trees, and capped off by being anchored next to a Carnegie mansion. 

Unfortunately, there may be trouble in paradise as an area of deteriorating weather near Puerto Rico threatens to become a tropical storm and head this way. Over the last couple of days I have been looking at options and have settled on the one that is least bad. I thought about going back north to Brunswick but figured the chances of my getting a good slip there were zero. Plus, I would have had to negotiate St Andrews Sound which will become untenable as the easterly swells build. Most of the anchorages in this area are really exposed if there is a big tidal surge and would be susceptible to increased wave action. That would be the situation at St Marys where I have anchored before. I needed to get Ron to an airport and so I decided on Fernandina Beach. We came over here this morning and managed to get a city mooring. Probably the best solution to handle strong, changing winds and tidal currents. White Seal has excellent bronze chocks that keep chafing to a minimum. Protection from NE thru SE is excellent. Other directions I would rate as fair. Biggest concern would be other boats breaking loose and running into White Seal. Hopefully it won't come to that. At this time it sounds like a run of the mill gale but I will certainly be monitoring it and taking precautions. According to the weather people this potential storm is quite out of character for this time of year. But there it is, and here I am, so I will make the best of it!

Cheers, Charlie

Beautiful. Just beautiful.

 Poor internet signal may have something to do with my posts failing to post. So, a short version to see if it works.

Ron Rost and I are doing great! This part of the east coast is just stunning. Very little waterway traffic. Quiet, mostly empty anchorages. Ron said he had no idea of what the lowcountry is like. A bit

 blustery and rainy first couple of days. Sunny but with light winds since. Hoping to reach Cumberland tomorrow.

All the best, Charlie