Andrew Laird

Relaxing morning motoring along the ICW to Charleston! We had the current in our favor for most of the ride so we made good time! Lots of big beautiful houses along the river with long docks and multiple boats per house. Arrived at a draw bridge with two mins to spare before the scheduled 11:30am opening 👌 Just anchored outside downtown Charleston, the wind is picking up for the rest of the day. Going to see Liza and Pete LJ this evening and enjoy a dinner out! Time for lunch and to go exploring :)

Another nice motor up the ICW. We had a lovely evening yesterday exploring the cute historic town of Beaufort SC! Built right along the river, it had a wonderfully maintained waterfront park with lots of flowers, landscaping, and swinging benches. We also walked the main st where there were lots of art galleries, shops, and restaurants. Enjoyed some apps and a drink on the patio of a waterfront park restaurant, with Duggie on leash waiting patiently. He got to chase lots of squirrels so was a happy tired dog! We had a calm night for sleeping. Walked the warerfront park again in the morning before taking off through the 9:30am bridge opening window. Weaved through skinny rivers all day with some intermittent wind and clouds. A storm loomed on the horizon over land all day and finally creeped too close to us to continue. Were anchored amongst a couple of salt marshes right before the rain started. Lightning and thunder are in the distance but getting closer. Guess this is home for the night! Hoping for a clearing in the rain to get to a mud flat nearby for a quick walk. On to Charleston tomorrow!

We made it to a new state today! Crossed from GA to SC and will hopefully be in Charleston tomorrow. It was a long day on the Intracoastal but we made good progress. We are currently stuck behind a bridge that will not open until 7pm because they don’t budge during rush hour. Our plan is to get through it tonight and anchor on the other side then take off without hassle tomorrow morning. Last night we walked on a beautiful beach for sunset! Duggie found a lot of crabs and there were a ton of sea birds as well. We are quickly learning that we need to time the tides as much as possible on the intracoastal. Depending on the current we can be moving 8 knots or 4.8 knots with the same engine RPMs. We did a pretty good job today and averaged 6knots. We also had an incredible lightning display last night. They were isolated thunder heads lighting up the sky on all directions and we had one directly over us around 11pm. Luckily we were not hit by lightning but we saw streaks all over the night sky. The wind picked up to almost 20knots at one point but we held strong and had a good nights rest. The anchor was deep in mud this morning which made it tricky to pull up but after a little work we got it. I would not be excited to dive on the anchor in these waters…visibility is about half a foot! Missing Bahamas a little 😢

We motor-sailed the Atlantic on the coast of Georgia today. Had a few calls so we needed to set the autopilot and get some work done 👌 It was a calm but somewhat lumpy ride and we made it about 40 miles up the coast and are now very close to Savannah. We have some bad weather coming on Friday so we are hoping to get to Charleston by then. As soon as we dropped anchor we were greeted by Dolphins which has happened almost every day over the past week. We are close to an enormous beach so we are going to take Duggie for a LONG walk the rest of the afternoon!

Motored along a windy part of the ICW between marshes and rivers. Had a green fly invasion at one point (which kept Duggie busy) so we found an anchorage with a sea breeze to keep the bugs away. Could see a storm in the distance the whole time but looks like it’s going to stay parallel to us and pass 🤞Lots of shoals and tricky navigation spots. Pretty and fishy the whole time. Spotted an alligator in the water along the grassy shore! Time for an evening walk on Sapelo Island :)

Cumberland to St. Simons was a nice trip up the intracoastal! The weather was perfect, light breeze and mid 80s. We had a 5 mile straight away at one point and Sophie was able to give me a haircut while underway! We are loving the auto pilot 😂. We also had to get some work done and Sophie organized and launched our Memorial Day sale for Proshot and Tidal. We had an easy docking at Morningstar marina where we are keeping Willow for three nights while we visit Granny Bear in Sea Island. We have already been spoiled with nice dinners and relaxing beach days 😎. Sea Island is a perfect rest stop and we will soon be on our way to Charleston, SC!

Easy motor up the intracoastal to Cumberland Island. We anchored near the island around 6pm then went on a two hour walk through the woods and to the beach side of the island. It was absolutely beautiful! We saw dolphins (of course) and armadillo and some beautiful ancient oak trees. Next Stop…Sea Island!

What a day! I will remember May 21st for the rest of my life. First, Avery and Wyatt had baby pip! Huge!!! Next we had a very intense day sailing. The wind was blowing from 12-25 with gust sometimes even higher. We had to put a reef in the main early and had a double reef in the jib after about 2 hours. We saw gust around 28. Then around 1:30 we hooked a good size Spanish Mackerel. We were under sail so Sophie had to quickly turn into the wind as I brought the fish in. It took a lot of line and I was almost worried we were going to lose it. Once we slowed the boat down I was able to reel it in about 5 minutes. At first I thought it was a wahoo but then realized it was a King Mackerel!!!! First edible fish caught by trolling on Willow Ever!!! Sophie started sailing again while I took care of the fish. It took me about 20 minutes to fillet the fish, bleed it, cut the skin off and freeze it in four separate bags. We got about 6-7 lbs of meat so I am guessing it was a 20lb fish. The sashimi it created was 😍 even Sophie LOVED IT! Then we had a pan seared mackerel dinner with Fraley and her friend Ivie. Lastly, we had one of the most difficult experiences on Willow to date. As we were approaching the Jacksonville channel a squall came through with winds over 50 knots!!! We saw the rain coming from a few miles away but had no idea the wind would get that high!!! It only lasted about 5 minutes before dying to 30 but it was extremely intense. It bent a metal pole on our Bimini top which now needs to be fixed. This happened while we were approaching the channel so as the wind hit 50 and our eyes were getting pelted with rain we decided to turn around and go downwind and take shelter below deck. We successfully steered the boat with autopilot from the iPad inside and waited for about 30 minutes for the worst of the rain and wind to pass before entering the channel again. We somehow didn’t lose anything else off the boat but the paddleboard strap was close to breaking. Anyways, we were happy to find a nice anchorage with calmer water. The sun came back out by 5 pm and we had a lovely evening with Fraley!

We did it!!! By far our longest sail to date and our first overnight with just the two of us. The ocean sure did put on a show. From beautiful sunset, sunrise, and shooting stars to the dolphin pod that swam with our boat for two hours overnight and the Albi blitz on our second day this was truly a magical experience. I have to say it’s a bit bittersweet coming back to the murky waters of the intracoastal but feels great to be back in the US!