Randall Jayne

Just a short 3 hour jaunt further south to Cocoa Beach. We have a great anchor spot here right off the bank of Cocoa Village, which is a quaint little walking area with shops and British Pubs! Weather was beautiful. Mid-70s and sunshine. So good to be in warm weather. One thing we noticed is a massive number of damaged boats on both sides of the ICW. They we obviously hit hard with a hurricane. We dinghied to what was a closed public park/dock, though we didn’t know that till we parked and had to climb a fence to get out! Spent a couple hours walking around the village. Had a bit of a scare when Holly noted the AirTag attached to our brand new outboard appeared to be across town and not with the rib! We quickly walked to the location and tracked it to the trunk of a beat up Toyota with temp tags but no one around. We then high-tailed it back to the dinghy only to find our outboard securely mounted to the rib! WTH?!?!? So we got a high impact, high heart rate workout to close the night for no other reason than that! Still left unable to explain this! May spend another day here and enjoy the town. Weather is to be good today and colder during the weekend, so felt it would be better to travel then. We are only 3 longish days from our destination in Stuart.

We pulled anchor around 0800 from sunny and warm Daytona! We had a pleasant cruise throughout the day in shorts and t-shirts for the first time. Went thru a number of cool areas including New Smyrna. We anchored in Titusville, home to the Astronaut HOF and home to many astronauts over the decades. Hope to see a Falcon launch at 1700 though we have a lot of clouds and light showers.

Up and at it at 0630, anchor up at 0715. Conditions were damp and foggy, but not cold. We relied heavily on the chart-plotter and the Bob Tracks as well as having a lookout to be as safe as possible. We don’t have radar but do have AIS. Since we lost our traveling companions we decided to skip a visit to St. Augustine and plan that on the return trip north. The previous voyage went long and left us just 12 miles or so from St. Augustine and we wanted to make better progress. The goal is Stuart by Christmas to enjoy it with family! The fog was a challenge, especially when we were approaching the Bridge of Lions in St Augustine. It was reported the current could be bad there and another vessel was waiting to come through going northbound. Poseidon shone down on us this time and we hit the bridge at slack tide making the current no issue. We managed the fog as well. As we motored on our new Canadian friends Dora and Brian M/V Honu Kai took a picture of us and gave us a call to say hello. They were anchored in the bay. The rest of the passage was rainy but uneventful and the currents helped us make 56 nautical miles before sundown!

We took our time leaving Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach as we needed to plan the sail, run an errand and fuel up. Thinking we’d go just 20-25 miles there was no rush. We left in. Lois’s and rain sometime after 11. We made good progress and because of that we blew past the free dock around 2pm going on to the next anchorage. Though mostly cloudy the day wan comfortable for a hoodie and rain coat. After running a ridiculous current through the San Pablo bridge we looked to anchor at Pablo Creek. I had it input in Navionics but it was not the right location and when we tried to anchor at the Navionics location we ran aground! Fortunately an engine rev and turn pushed us off. The problem now was the next morning location was 20 more miles! Decision-go back 4 or forward 20 and anchor in the dark. After watching a power boat try the same anchorage and then go on we decided to follow and drop the hook in Pine Island South! We were secured by 7pm and enjoying haluska with rice, as we had no egg noodles! All is well.

Well we made the decision to bounce outside and do an overnight passage on the North Atlantic. The weather (from 3 sources) showed a window of about 36 hours. Weatherman was wrong. After an uneventful quiet start it got raucous during the overnight passage. We ended with wicked seas of 10-12’ and winds gusting to 30. The main issue was the following sea. If we didn’t keep it behind us it threatened our beam. Upon entering the channel, which was over an hour to transit it became very difficult to manage. We had to turn to starboard to enter and it put the swell on our sides!! Then a cat came sailing behind us, far too close as the swell pushed us from side to side. We took one hard hit to the beam but kept the rest aft. Deep into the channel it eased somewhat. We still fought high 20s when taking a much needed marina slip! After nearly no sleep it’s time for rest!

A cloudy day with temps in the 50s and calm winds. We left a beautiful anchorage on a perfectly calm sea state. It was a relatively uneventful 30 mile journey to dock at Safe Harbor Charleston city. Fueled up when we got here, could not pump out as there was a waiting list. Met SV Riparian along the way & arrived at Safe Harbor together. SV Shanti is at a different marina. Looking forward to catching up with Chris and Tiffany who are spending a lot of time in a nearby hospital with their cousin.

The day started cold as we saw our breath inside the cabin when we woke. Low 40s, but it felt even colder. We got an early start hoisting anchor at 08 hundred. Upon exiting thoroughfare Creek we met up with sailing vessel Riparian, a Gozzard 36 made in Canada. We spent the seven hour day motoring with both Riparian and Shanti. Our destination came at Awendaw Creek and it was a gorgeous anchorage at the inlet of the Atlantic. After dropping anchor, we lowered our dinghy and rowed over to pick up Dan and Jay from SV Riparian. We then enjoyed sundowners with Ron and Marisa on their Caliber Shanti. What a fantastic day capped off by a wonderful evening of meeting new friends.

Started the day in the low 20s! Don’t want to get out from under the covers! Pulled up anchor at 0800 and ran with the current most of the day making 7 knots plus much of the day. Due to our good times we blew through our first planned anchorage and went over 40 miles with the sun and currents in our favor. Anchoring in Thoroughfare creek where we found great depths and a quiet, albeit the young outdoorsman partying on the shore, spot to stop for the night. Traveling with Ron & Marisa on S/V Shanti.

Brrrr….cold cold cold but sunny and a pleasant short jaunt to an anchorage called Trappers Cove at the mouth of the Little River Inlet. Just north of Myrtle Beach, a place my Mom loved to visit. Now enjoying the sun warmed cockpit and Frank (Sinatra) Friday! Life is good!

It was a cold one hour motor to a different marina to meet with Ron & Marisa on S/V Shanti. 3 nights as winds on Thursday were predicted to be gusts of +40 knots.