What a Long, Strange Trip It Has Been (part 1)

 For a long time I've wanted to take the boat to the Bahamas.  To sail in crystal blue waters, explore tropical islands, scuba and snorkel, and find tranquil anchorages.  This past Friday, I finally made it across the gulf stream and am now in Bimini.  I'm still looking for most of that above list, but am now 90% of the way there.

I started this trip back in 2019.  I found some crew and came to the boat to start preparing it for the trip.  After numerous updates and repairs, there was one major bit of work to be done, to replace the standing rigging (the wires that hold the mast up).  It was ordered in early 2020, and then the unplanned delay struck the entire world, the COVID pandemic shut everything down.

Almost four years later and I am back at it.  A new home marina, more boat repairs and upgrades, the rigging that was ordered before the pandemic was finally installed, and the boat was as ready as I thought she could be.  There were a couple minor projects to do, but I figured they could easily wait for a warmer climate. The crew had changed a bit.  My wife and dog are with me now and there are plans to meet up with others from the original crew along the way.

Not quite shorts and t-shirt weather yet.

We departed New Bern, North Carolina at the very end of December.  It was cold.  We made our way slowly south along the Intercoastal Waterway as the weather wasn't suitable for travel in the Atlantic. We stopped at night at marinas so we could plug the boat in and run heaters to stay warm.  It was a slow journey from New Bern back to my old marina in Southport.  It was the last leg into Southport where I discovered I had picked up some bad fuel and clogged the filters. One engine sputtered as we entered the marina basin to provide a little added excitement. A few days in Southport replacing filters, polishing fuel, provisioning, and catching up with friends, and we finally had a small weather window to actually sail further south.

We departed Southport on an overnight passage down the coast to Charleston.  It was still cold and we wore winter coats and foul weather gear...determined to find warmer weather.  The winds varied, so we sailed some and motored some. At one point while motoring, one of the engine room blower fans started squealing, apparently a bearing was going bad.  It made quite a noise so we shut down the engine for a while.  Then one time when I started it to see if the fan would behave for at least a little while, I was met with silence from the fan.  It had died.  It was also on this leg of the trip that we noticed the volume on the VHF radio wasn't as loud as it should be, making it difficult to hear calls when the motors were running.  We made it to Charleston just fine, but with a couple new repair items to take care of.  It is a boat after all.

We stayed in Charleston long enough to order and install a replacement fan and radio.  Then, while waiting on the weather for another chance to move south, the area was hit by a freak high wind thunderstorm line.  This is the first time I've ever seen waves breaking inside a marina, between the boats and the shoreline. During the storm, the docklines on our boat loosened one of the cleats and one of our docklines broke (fortunately I had prepared for the storm and had extra lines securing us). The boat behind us snapped one of the cleats off of the dock.  Elsewhere in the marina, others had broken lines and cleats and during the storm two boats were rocking so bad that their masts hit.  One piece of the marina’s dock broke free and one of their ramps ripped loose and sank.  It was a wild ride, but we made it through unscathed.

Charleston Maritime Center

...and during the storm.

The next weather window was small and only allowed us a day sail from Charleston to Edisto Beach.  The winds weren't quite from the right direction, but we were able to sail a beat (into the wind) that got us to the channel right at sunset.  It was nice to be able to sail for a while without hearing the drone of the motors. 

We made our way up the channel as it grew darker.  The marina said they were easy to find, just look for their sign at the fuel dock.  Well, they failed to mention that the sign was unlit, there was a strong cross current, and they probably didn't know about the fishing vessel that was squatting in our assigned spot on the T head with its bright deck lights shining in our faces.  This combination made finding the marina a bit difficult.  We were able to finally tie up to the dock with only minor issues after getting the squatter to move.  The next morning when staff arrived, one gave us a ride to the local grocery store to pick up a few things as we we hadn't taken into account the length of time it was taking us to make it south when we had provisioned.  Then we waited several days for another weather window to continue.

We wanted to go from Edisto SC to St. Augustine FL on a 2-night passage and, originally the weather looked like it might oblige.  But as the day approached, the forecasts started shifting and we decided we would try for a single night and arrive at Brunswick GA instead.  Again it was a combination of sail and motoring, but we were still heading south at least.  As we approached Brunswick, the weather reports changed. This time it was in our favor as the window that shortened at the beginning was now lengthening at the end.  Given how much we had been delayed by the strange weather this year, it was an easy decision to press on to St. Augustine.  So we continued to sail that evening and into the night.

Before sunrise, we started seeing lightening flashes in the distance.  At first they were east of us and moving east away from us.  Then some started appearing to the southwest, in our path.  We were somewhere near Jacksonville when the weather radio came alive with a warning about a strong thunderstorm around Marineland and heading northeast.  Wanting to avoid that, we reverse course for a bit and allow it to pass by.  Oh, there was also another storm that was around Fernandina Beach to our north, so we waited in between them.  They passed by without much concern and, once the flashes of light were east of us, we turned back on course for St. Augustine.

As the morning light started overtaking the early morning darkness, a fog started to develop.  Listening to the current condition weather reports on the radio, it sounded like all of Florida was covered in fog.  I guess this is a good time to mention, for those not familiar with St. Augustine, that this particular inlet is not detailed on navigation charts because of shifting sands that supposedly change the navigable part of the channel.  It has always seemed rather stable the times I've been in it before, but it has been a while.  As the fog thickened, I grew concerned about having to navigate a potentially changed channel in the fog.  We found our horn and made the required sound signals while we Listened for others. Our radar should be able to locate channel markers...I hope.  Or will we have to wait out the fog or continue on to another inlet...

(More to come next time)