While working on the battery bank replacement the weather was nice. So nice, I almost forgot it was February. Now that the battery bank is installed and seems to be working fine and we are ready (OK, WE'VE been ready for a while...but the boat is now more ready), the weather has been an issue. Our hope was to make a run on the outside from Southport down to St. Augustine, reversing the trip we made last summer.
But mother nature has had other ideas. The past couple of days there have been small craft advisories with waves nearing 10 feet on relatively short periods. This morning talk about the Polar Vortex has returned to the forecasting vernacular and temperatures are expected to dip into the 20's and maybe even the teens by the weekend. Add in the occasional forecast for rain (or maybe snow) and it is not exactly the type of weather you want to be in when the helm of the boat is outside.
The other choice is to continue the trip down the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW). It is a much slower trip that way since we are only on the move during the day time. Add in the fact the next stretch of the ICW includes the infamous Rock Pile (a rather narrow, rock ledge lined section), and I'm just not that enthusiastic about making that trip in my wide-beam boat. Even on the ICW, the cold temperatures and less than good weather would make the trip miserable...we know, we've already done it on this trip.
Right now the current plan is to hang out for a few more days in Southport while the Polar Vortex does it's thing this weekend. Early next week we will start down the ICW. The weather is supposed to slowly improve (as of the last few forecasts we saw) so we hope after a couple days in the ditch, we can hop out and make a run for St. Augustine.
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