We made a short run from Campbell Creek to Oriental, NC where we got a weather report that sounded perfect ( beware of perfect weather reports!!) to make a jump from Oriental to Fernandina Beach, FL via the Beaufort inlet. We arrived in Oriental where we filled up fuel and water, did a much needed oil change and hit the grocery store. We were able to get under way early the next morning for the 20 mile run to the Beaufort inlet....there were a whole line of boats looking to make the jump and put some distance under their keels....speaking of distance under the keel we only draw 5' w/the center board up but we did manage to have a quick rub while en route to the inlet....in the bright early morning sunlight range markers look suspiciously like ICW markers!!! No problem it only slowed us down for about 10 minutes as the captain has a sweet touch on the wheel and quick wits about him...the funnier thing was all of the boats behind us were headed to the same spot and you should have seen them scatter when we went aground!! No other problems than that....and we exited the Beaufort inlet at around noon with a weather forecast for the next couple of days for winds to be North to North West 10-15k with maybe the occasional gust to 20k sounded perfect.....
The next morning dawned nice as the wind finally kicked in as we had to motor most of the previous afternoon and evening to get around Frying Pan Shoals. The wind finally filled in around 3:00 am as expected out of the North/ NW. The temperature was not too bad and everything seemed to be working well....the Shepard's pie did much better than the soup on the previous trip!! With roughly 150 miles to go we were all ready figuring on an awkward arrival time to St. Marys/Fernandina Inlet probably around Midnight of the following evening. This is where you should knock on wood or give the wind/water gods a nod as if it seems too good to be true it usually is....It is always surprising to me how quickly the weather can change. .. 
We spent the night dodging squalls and battling winds that were gusting up to 30k and building seas. We had been in contact with two other boats, "It's About Time" and "Pioneer" who were also making the same passage. We were in VHF contact with them throughout the night. Early the next morning they received a poor forecast from their weather router, Chris Parker, who advised that they head for the nearest port as conditions were going to deteriorate throughout the day and upcoming evening. We were about 90 miles from our destination still looking at an awkward arrival time so we got the charts and chart books out and decided the prudent thing to do would be to put into Port Royal Sound/ Hilton Head, SC. To do this we actually needed to head a bit north as we were south of the inlet...but the description of the entrance described it as an "all" weather entrance. We tightened up the sails and made for Port Royal in steady 30k winds and building seas, the entrance to Port Royal was well marked as there are shoals on both sides. We fired up the motor (fingers crossed) and ran her for all she was worth as the first 5 miles were straight into the wind with the current just starting to turn in our favor. I give the captain props as he was as calm and cool as a cucumber (the first mate was a bit more nervous and the admiral was sound asleep!!). After the first 5 miles we were able to fall off and put up a little main and actually sail a bit. We decided to head for Cowen Creek as the other 2 boats had radioed us and invited us for a dinner the next day. Our only disappointment was we were hoping to catch up with our friends on "Reach" as they had made it into St. Marys/Fernandina earlier that morning..we were hoping to spend our 26Th wedding anniversary with them catching up and drinking champagne....oh well we had a very nice couple of days in Cowen Creek/Hilton Head, SC.
While we had a few days to kill until the next weather window we decided it would be a good time to get one of our many projects out of the way. Putting a ceiling on the side of the VBirth with the Alder strips we had varnished and stowed for just this down time...
The project came out very nice and it was a perfect calm place to work on it...although our neighbors gave us a funny look when Dave brought out his compressor and nail gun!! After a few days of respite and being able to not only get caught up on some projects and much needed rest we once again got a weather forecast that sounded too good to be true so we made a short over night run down to St. Mary's/Fernandina Beach, Fl. with only a couple of problems....The auto pilot decided it wasn't going to work the entire time and the engine wasn't going to run on starboard tack and once again we sailed so fast we got to our destination in the predawn hours!! Once again the captain had no problems getting us in, in the dark under sail. Once we were in through the breakwaters the engine decided he would run and we headed up the St. Marys River to the anchorage where we were looking forward to meeting up with our friends on Reach.
We had a great couple of dinners aboard not only Reach but their friends Keith and Jamie on board "Kookaburra". St. Marys is a very boater friendly place. They have a welcome center with volunteers to drive you to do your laundry, grocery shopping, and any other errands you may have. They also put on a Thanksgiving Feast for all of the anchor boats in the harbor. Below are pictures of the Welcome Center along with one of the town which is on the St. Marys River.After we had done some provisioning we headed off to hopefully much warmer conditions...New Smyrna Beach, FL..........
1 comment:
I enjoy very much your travel. Thank you!
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