A short but memorable stay
As previously noted, we arrived in St. Augustine a week ago. Our visit here was a departure from most of our previous stops. Though we can't find much to complain about with respect to any of our stops, we (or at least I) found this stop to be the most pleasureable.
After a horrible experience with Enterprise Car Rental, we opted to
walk away before I did something I regreted. Finding a Avis car, we had a great two days with the car and got a ton of good running around done. The Avis owner was courteous and very professional, albeit intense as he was ex-military (retired). The car and running around was good and productive but not the purpose for the good visit in St. Augustine.
St. Augustine and the St. Augustine cruisers Net made me feel at home and over all the town felt like it could be home. Not so fast though, it seems this place does this for a number of people, and we met quite a few who either cruised by and came back and never left, or just couldn't or wouldn't go any further. One of whom were from California, and even others who were from New Zealand; putting down roots enough to found a local college.
To do in St. Augustine
If arriving by boat you have a few choices in marinas; the City Marina at St. Augustine, where the Cruisers net seems to be focused, Hidden harbor, for an inexpensive visit overall, and River Bend, convenient to the big box stores and the theater. In any of these places, the peopel are likely going to be freindly and very helpful.
While here a trip to the Lightner Museum and the Fort are a must do. The town square puts on a Christmas lighting event, and has a pretty cool fleamarket. The side streets are dotted with lots of local art galleries and other museums, including a Spanish War Hospital. Though we didn't partake, a train tour and horse and buggy ride seem to be a great way to get a sense of it all.
Maybe we'll make this one of our regular stops?
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Arrived in Florida BEFORE Thanksgiving Day!
We're here;
This is our first "real" as in realaxing stop for this year's trip. We arrived from St. Simons Island, GA by way of a quick overnight trip down the coast. Arriving an hour and a half faster than expected, we meandered around the Safe Water Buoy "STA", watching fishing boats head out for the day.
For anyone who knows about arriving at a new inlet, unless it is lit up like a landing strip, it's best to do it in nice weather under full sunlight. This inlet is NOT marked on the charts except to warn that it is "continually shifting". Watching the boats head out and calling ahead for local knowledge AND waiting for sunrise was a MUST.
Here we are at the STA Buoy; ah, what a nice sunrise!
Once inside, we found there was no room for us at the marina, so we looked around for a nice spot to anchor and as we took a dinghy ride into beg the marina for a spot, we were greeted by a passing dolphin wandering by, just behind our boat.
St. Augustine is such a beautiful and freindly place
After having a hearty breakfast, we checked once again at the marinia office and found that they have a slip ready for us! We will be here a week, and to start the week off, we were greated by a very active cruiser community, and the local Yacht Club telling us of a social gathering to send off one of their own on a round-the-world solo "race".
Drinks, a tour of a great boat... what an evening! To follow Stanley's progress go to stanleyparis.com. The line to see the boat was long, and it was an impressive boat
Off to the official St. Augustine lighting ceremony.
Though I'm not feeling well enough to go, Stacie is heading off to the official St. Augustine lighting ceremony. It appears to be again one of those big deal things we've stumbled on. Hope to hear about it soon, though I can see much of the town right here from the bow of the boat.
Glad to be in Florida!
This is our first "real" as in realaxing stop for this year's trip. We arrived from St. Simons Island, GA by way of a quick overnight trip down the coast. Arriving an hour and a half faster than expected, we meandered around the Safe Water Buoy "STA", watching fishing boats head out for the day.
For anyone who knows about arriving at a new inlet, unless it is lit up like a landing strip, it's best to do it in nice weather under full sunlight. This inlet is NOT marked on the charts except to warn that it is "continually shifting". Watching the boats head out and calling ahead for local knowledge AND waiting for sunrise was a MUST.
Here we are at the STA Buoy; ah, what a nice sunrise!
St. Augustine is such a beautiful and freindly place
After having a hearty breakfast, we checked once again at the marinia office and found that they have a slip ready for us! We will be here a week, and to start the week off, we were greated by a very active cruiser community, and the local Yacht Club telling us of a social gathering to send off one of their own on a round-the-world solo "race".
Drinks, a tour of a great boat... what an evening! To follow Stanley's progress go to stanleyparis.com. The line to see the boat was long, and it was an impressive boat
or for more on the boat from the builder you can read about it here.
Oh and his house isn't bad either.
Off to the official St. Augustine lighting ceremony.
Though I'm not feeling well enough to go, Stacie is heading off to the official St. Augustine lighting ceremony. It appears to be again one of those big deal things we've stumbled on. Hope to hear about it soon, though I can see much of the town right here from the bow of the boat.
Glad to be in Florida!
Sunday, November 17, 2013
Beaufort, NC to Beaufort, SC
It's been 9 days since leaving Beaufort, NC and we've arrived safe and sound and mostly without incident; poor little GPS, you will be missed. We are sitting at a precarious little anchorage at Lady Island. Meeting the Dockmaster last night, we are relatively certain, this may be a favored spot along the coast. What's not to like? The marina has an impromptu Happy Hour, provided a few people show up. Transient rates are $1 per foot per day, and the locals bar, ...well it's a locals bar.
Getting here from Beaufort, NC was a breeze; and last Monday morning coming in from a 200 nautical mile run off the coast between Beaufort, NC and Charleston, SC, breeze is an understaement. Arriving in Charleston, SC last monday we waited out some unseasonably cold weather and met up with a friend of ours single handing from Charleston to Savanah. Offering to buddy boat with him, we left Friday for a ride down the ditch.
The nice thing about buddy boating is the pictures we normally cannot get of our boat, while on our boat. Another nice thing is rafting and sharing some wine, cheese, and sea stories. The bad... well, there's the ditch in this case. Though not completely abhorid, the ditch really slows progress especially when going aground. No, we didn't go aground, but it was a bit dicey (shallow) in parts between Church's Creek and Beaufort. Oh, and did I mention; the GPS decided to leap overboard? Without a proper PFD, he / it was never recoverd, lost at sea (in the ditch).
As for our preference, I believe when we have decent weather, Stacie and I very much perfer to do 30 to 48 hour coastal runs, advancing our position by 150 to 200, or more nautical miles, rather than the 25, 50, or 60 miles per day in the ditch. Besides, it is less likely that we'll drift on our typically poorly set anchor and wake up to a 3am alarm sounding. That said, we will likely bid our friend a fond farwell sometime this week, and head out from Port Royal inlet or Savana River Tybe inlet. Not sure which just yet, so stay tuned for an update later this week. For now, the dolphins are back, so I'm signing off for now.
Getting here from Beaufort, NC was a breeze; and last Monday morning coming in from a 200 nautical mile run off the coast between Beaufort, NC and Charleston, SC, breeze is an understaement. Arriving in Charleston, SC last monday we waited out some unseasonably cold weather and met up with a friend of ours single handing from Charleston to Savanah. Offering to buddy boat with him, we left Friday for a ride down the ditch.
The nice thing about buddy boating is the pictures we normally cannot get of our boat, while on our boat. Another nice thing is rafting and sharing some wine, cheese, and sea stories. The bad... well, there's the ditch in this case. Though not completely abhorid, the ditch really slows progress especially when going aground. No, we didn't go aground, but it was a bit dicey (shallow) in parts between Church's Creek and Beaufort. Oh, and did I mention; the GPS decided to leap overboard? Without a proper PFD, he / it was never recoverd, lost at sea (in the ditch).
As for our preference, I believe when we have decent weather, Stacie and I very much perfer to do 30 to 48 hour coastal runs, advancing our position by 150 to 200, or more nautical miles, rather than the 25, 50, or 60 miles per day in the ditch. Besides, it is less likely that we'll drift on our typically poorly set anchor and wake up to a 3am alarm sounding. That said, we will likely bid our friend a fond farwell sometime this week, and head out from Port Royal inlet or Savana River Tybe inlet. Not sure which just yet, so stay tuned for an update later this week. For now, the dolphins are back, so I'm signing off for now.
Friday, November 8, 2013
Heading out from New Bern, to Beaufort & beyond
A great little marina (Bridgepointe Hotel & Marina)
As we say farewell and see you next spring to a great little marina, it feels good getting underway once again. A bit windy today, but we are only just heading down the ditch to Beaufort, NC to get ready for a weekend sail down the coast hopefully making it as far as Charleston.
...Laptop battery is dying, more to come later...
So, now is later.
Our stay in New Bern was prompted by an ever too common occurrence of that little nuisance commonly known as "WORK". I shouldn't complain, it had been quite a few weeks since my last steady contract, and we certainly could use the money. More on the contract later, in a post concerning the "Joys and hassles of trying to work while cruising." For now, I'll mention that the Bridgepointe Hotel & Marina was a very welcoming respite while we spent a month in Annapolis. As a side bonus, it was the cheapest place we've stayed since our couple of months at Scuttlebutt's Marina on Cobb Island.
Thankfully we were not there the whole time; Bridgepointe Hotel & Marina is not very conveniently located to downtown New Bern. The marina has just finished it's rebuild since being dessimated by hurricane Isabel. The facilities are GREAT, the tiki bar...not so much. Occasionally you'll see weddings and parties associated with the Hotel, they can be fun if you don't mind crashing the party. Otherwise you're basically stuck with Outback, unless you talk the dock master into giving you a ride. So, bicycles are a must here.
We'll be back!
With decent WiFi all around, and the best rates between Beaufort, NC and Cobb Island, MD you bet we're putting this place on the waypoint list on the way back north. If you happen to read this and stop by yourself, let Jessie know that Ralph and Stacie sent you. Maybe we'll get an even bigger discount, if we do we'll be sure buy you a drink.
As we say farewell and see you next spring to a great little marina, it feels good getting underway once again. A bit windy today, but we are only just heading down the ditch to Beaufort, NC to get ready for a weekend sail down the coast hopefully making it as far as Charleston.
...Laptop battery is dying, more to come later...
So, now is later.
Our stay in New Bern was prompted by an ever too common occurrence of that little nuisance commonly known as "WORK". I shouldn't complain, it had been quite a few weeks since my last steady contract, and we certainly could use the money. More on the contract later, in a post concerning the "Joys and hassles of trying to work while cruising." For now, I'll mention that the Bridgepointe Hotel & Marina was a very welcoming respite while we spent a month in Annapolis. As a side bonus, it was the cheapest place we've stayed since our couple of months at Scuttlebutt's Marina on Cobb Island.
Thankfully we were not there the whole time; Bridgepointe Hotel & Marina is not very conveniently located to downtown New Bern. The marina has just finished it's rebuild since being dessimated by hurricane Isabel. The facilities are GREAT, the tiki bar...not so much. Occasionally you'll see weddings and parties associated with the Hotel, they can be fun if you don't mind crashing the party. Otherwise you're basically stuck with Outback, unless you talk the dock master into giving you a ride. So, bicycles are a must here.
We'll be back!
With decent WiFi all around, and the best rates between Beaufort, NC and Cobb Island, MD you bet we're putting this place on the waypoint list on the way back north. If you happen to read this and stop by yourself, let Jessie know that Ralph and Stacie sent you. Maybe we'll get an even bigger discount, if we do we'll be sure buy you a drink.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Herding cats, and nailing jello to the wall, and moving a boat.
Time to get going again...?
Well, for anyone paying attention I've not been on for a few weeks. We were well within the rough schedule I posted a few weeks ago. However, plans change; as Stacie's mother has taken to call me "reroute it Ralph". Though not entirely accurate, I get the gist.
The route is the same, only the time frame has changed. We're heading back to the boat in New Bern, North Carolina after taking a few weeks for me to start a new contract, and for Stacie to take care of some family business. Some of our friends have gotten ahead of us, and some who were lagging behind are likely going to be intercepting us in the next few days.
With the weather in Annapolis getting cooler, it's not a moment to soon. We're quite ready to get to points southward and take in the warmer breezes. Looking at the forecast for Beaufort, NC; winds are expected to be 6 to 13 kts mostly from the east Saturday through Monday (Nov 09, 2013 through Nov 11, 2013). We're looking forward to a nice run to South Carolina.
Our updated itinerary;
The nice thing about this delay, was that I've had some time to do some additional planning and obsessing over our offshore legs. After more study, and continual dropouts from people expressing interest yet not following through with crewing, I've resigned myself to limiting offshore time to no more than 40 hour increments. With this we should be able to do 150 to 200 nautical miles per leg as follows:
Plan A:
11/9 - 11/11
Beaufort, NC to Charleston, SC - 200 nm (40 hours @ 5 kts). ** Lv Sat. @ 4pm for am arrival Mon **
11/16 - 11/17
Charleston, SC to Jacksonville, FL - 160 nm (32 hours @ 5 kts).
11/30 - 12/02
Jacksonville, FL to Stuart, FL - 200 nm (40 hours @ 5 kts). ** Lv Sat. @ 4pm for am arrival Mon**
12/07 - 12/08
Stuart, FL to Ft Lauderdale, FL - 100 nm (20 hours @ 5 kts).
Plan B:
11/9 - 11/ 10
Beaufort, NC to Wilmington, NC - 100 nm (24 hours @ 5 kts). ** Lv Sat. @ 8am for am arrival Sun**
11/16 - 11/17
Wilmington, NC to Charleston, SC - 110 nm (28 hours @ 5 kts). ** Lv Sat. @ 8am for am arrival Sun**
11/23 - 11/ 24
Charleston, SC to Jacksonville, FL - 160 nm (32 hours @ 5 kts).
11/30 - 12/02
Jacksonville, FL to Stuart, FL - 200 nm (40 hours @ 5 kts). ** Lv Sat. @ 4pm for am arrival Mon**
12/07 - 12/08
Stuart, FL to Ft Lauderdale, FL - 100 nm (20 hours @ 5 kts).
Well, for anyone paying attention I've not been on for a few weeks. We were well within the rough schedule I posted a few weeks ago. However, plans change; as Stacie's mother has taken to call me "reroute it Ralph". Though not entirely accurate, I get the gist.
The route is the same, only the time frame has changed. We're heading back to the boat in New Bern, North Carolina after taking a few weeks for me to start a new contract, and for Stacie to take care of some family business. Some of our friends have gotten ahead of us, and some who were lagging behind are likely going to be intercepting us in the next few days.
With the weather in Annapolis getting cooler, it's not a moment to soon. We're quite ready to get to points southward and take in the warmer breezes. Looking at the forecast for Beaufort, NC; winds are expected to be 6 to 13 kts mostly from the east Saturday through Monday (Nov 09, 2013 through Nov 11, 2013). We're looking forward to a nice run to South Carolina.
Our updated itinerary;
The nice thing about this delay, was that I've had some time to do some additional planning and obsessing over our offshore legs. After more study, and continual dropouts from people expressing interest yet not following through with crewing, I've resigned myself to limiting offshore time to no more than 40 hour increments. With this we should be able to do 150 to 200 nautical miles per leg as follows:
Plan A:
11/9 - 11/11
Beaufort, NC to Charleston, SC - 200 nm (40 hours @ 5 kts). ** Lv Sat. @ 4pm for am arrival Mon **
11/16 - 11/17
Charleston, SC to Jacksonville, FL - 160 nm (32 hours @ 5 kts).
11/30 - 12/02
Jacksonville, FL to Stuart, FL - 200 nm (40 hours @ 5 kts). ** Lv Sat. @ 4pm for am arrival Mon**
12/07 - 12/08
Stuart, FL to Ft Lauderdale, FL - 100 nm (20 hours @ 5 kts).
Plan B:
11/9 - 11/ 10
Beaufort, NC to Wilmington, NC - 100 nm (24 hours @ 5 kts). ** Lv Sat. @ 8am for am arrival Sun**
11/16 - 11/17
Wilmington, NC to Charleston, SC - 110 nm (28 hours @ 5 kts). ** Lv Sat. @ 8am for am arrival Sun**
11/23 - 11/ 24
Charleston, SC to Jacksonville, FL - 160 nm (32 hours @ 5 kts).
11/30 - 12/02
Jacksonville, FL to Stuart, FL - 200 nm (40 hours @ 5 kts). ** Lv Sat. @ 4pm for am arrival Mon**
12/07 - 12/08
Stuart, FL to Ft Lauderdale, FL - 100 nm (20 hours @ 5 kts).
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