January 15 - Successful Passage to N Florida

We are now in a slip at St. Augustine Municipal Marina. We were close to the inlet before daylight, but waited until sunrise to go in. We also waited for an opening of the Bascule Bridge, then stopped at the Marina diesel docks to fill up before pulling into a slip. For the approximately 390 mile trip, we had a variety of weather. Rain, gusty wind, and rock and roll seas started Monday afternoon and continued through most of Tuesday. Part of that time, we made great progress, while at other times, going was slow.

We were looking forward to Wednesday with a forecast of sun and N/NW 10-15 knots; that forecast was perfect. The dolphins enjoyed the day as well, swimming and playing and staying with us for quite a while The sunset was beautiful and was followed by so many stars and later a big moon kept us company. It did not, however, keep us warm. We were not ready for how cold the nights were, regardless if the day had been rainy and cloudy or sunny. As the trip progressed, we had three or four layers of coats, sweatshirts, leggings, and/or pants under our foul-weather gear. We had our enclosure zipped, or the air would have been even colder. We mostly stayed in the cockpit, sleeping (or something like it) or resting when not behind the helm, checking the horizon, chart plotter, and radar. Since we don't have much off-shore experience, our adrenaline remained pretty high and we just didn't sleep much. Larry is grabbing a few Z's, but I'm still a little hyped. That actually might be from the five cups of coffee I had this morning with out delicious omlets at Athena's. Bedtime will come early this evening.

Both of the boats that started with us in Beaufort stopped in Charleston. We knew good weather was coming Wednesday and going into Charleston after dark did not appeal to us, so we continued, as both S/V Slocum and S/V Argonauta plan to do later.

We feel great about our passage. Our 'Real Shake Down Cruise' crossing the Gulf Stream and back was not scary, but it was not pleasant. This trip had a little weather, but was a great experience, plus we had no boat issues and no seasickness. Also, we just are not fans of the Intracoastal Waterway. The short days make it hard to arrive to the next destination on the waterway before dark, the scenery is undoubtedly much better in the fall and spring, we have a 6' draft and the shallow waterway is less than that in so many places, and the wind blows the water out of the Sounds, making more shallow places. We traveled very few days with no wind. Plus, we motored on the ICW; sailing is mostly not a good option.

We'll be here two or three days. Vero Beach is our next stop.