Our final port before departure

Although we got behind because of Hurricane Matthew we made it into Jacksonville with over a week before we would need to leave. Our original plan called for us to be in St Augustine for over 2 weeks before leaving. So now with shopping lists still being developed and work items being identified we got into Jacksonville on Sunday 30 October with big things to do.

But before we got down to it we spent the day relaxing after the overnight passage and enjoyed the pool and hot tub at the marina while visiting with other boaters. After the hurricane and the damage done to St Augustine we decided to look for a place where we could be sure of getting berthing at a reasonable rate and provide access to the facilities we needed.

Taking a dip in the pool while recovering from the passage from Charleston.

Last year friends of ours stayed at Ortega Landing Marina along the Ortega River just off the St John's River south of downtown Jacksonville and we knew it was very nice. So we were excited when we were able to get a slip there for the time we needed. There are also lots of live aboards there including the son and cousin of our good friend Skip Maiden. Going down the river was a haul but with the current it went quickly but spending time at Ortega Landing was very enjoyable.

Ominous looking clouds over the marina but nothing materialized.

Our first order of business was to get Linda's DOD ID card renewed because it expired on 11/1/2016. We were able to score an appointment and after getting our rental car drove to Jacksonville Naval Air Station and very quickly got that chore done. Then we drove down to Green Cove Springs to our "home" and retrieve our mail and packages that had been accumulating. But the next big thing was a birthday celebration. We went out to dinner at Tip Tum Thai a great local Thai restaurant and ended the day at bb's Bistro for desert. I had a piece of coconut cake. What a treat!!!!

But Tuesday started our shopping in earnest. We left the marina and went to the shopping region in Jacksonville. We made stops at Bed, Bath and Beyond; Best Buy; West Marine; Total Wine; Pennzey's and Trader Joe's and returned to the boat with a car full of things to stow.  Provisioning for years away isn't easy. We bought stuff that can be packed and hopefully will last but at some point the stores will exhaust and we will need to go to local purchase wherever that is.

Wednesday started out with a work task going to the local Social Security Office to address a Medicare issue but then we drove to St Augustine to meet our old friend Dave Sikes for lunch and hanging out. On our way back we stopped at home in Green Cove Springs so Linda could pick up her official Cubs World Series Shirt to wear for the last 2 games of the series.

Linda shows off her Cubs World Series T-shirt at Tip Tim Thai Restaurant.

The next several days involved working on inventorying and stowing our purchases and accomplishing boat tasks. At night we watched the world series games. Finally on Thursday night we saw the Chicago Cubs win their first World Series since 1908!!!! The lovable losers won ending the longest drought in baseball with a team that was young, energetic and well managed. The final game was exciting and drew in fans who probably hadn't watched a baseball game in years.

For the weekend we drove down to Sanford to visit my daughter and her family. She and her husband were both sick so we spent as much time as we could without being taxing on them. It's always wonderful to see them and their kids. All my grand kids are doing so well I am so happy for them.

Visiting with the grand kids Ethan and Hunter.

We spent the final few days doing last minute shopping, stowing, working and planning as we went. Like last minute Christmas shoppers we ran out for each thing as we thought of it until we ran out of thoughts. Of course Tuesday night, November 8 we watched the election results. I never make political comments in our blog or Facebook but I was excited to see the country reject the Clinton's. I was on active duty in the Army in the 1990's and I believe the country could not afford 8 more years of them. We'll see how Mr. Trump does but I'm optimistic.

On Monday night the 7th of November we had a real treat. We were visited by a former work colleague and his wife, Rod and Gina Thomas who currently live in Wyoming but are selling out and going to move aboard a sailboat which they have to buy. They were in Florida taking a learn to sail class from Bluewater Sailing School. It was great seeing them after 3 years.

At dinner with Rod and Gina at bb's Bistro.

As we have along the way our focus was on the weather. Crossing the Gulf Stream requires a good weather window and sailors to the Bahamas fret over this. It looked like conditions did not favor us so we engaged our weather routers Dane and Jennifer Clark to help us. Our original plan was to leave Jacksonville and do 2 overnights and go straight to the Abacos by whatever was the most advantageous (read least bad option) route. After a couple of quick discussions we finally focused on leaving Jacksonville Thursday and staying in close to avoid really rough seas and then crossing over Saturday when seas seemed the least. So we finalized our plans to go down the coast to Ft Pierce to get fuel and spend Friday night with crossing over to the Bahamas on Saturday. We determined we could easily make Spanish Cay on Sunday morning early and do our check-in.

Our final lunch before heading out at Fuji Sushi.

Finally with as much shopping as we could do at the regular stores, the NAS Commissary, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Total Wine we prepared to depart early Thursday the 10th of November. We had 3 challenges getting out of the marina. The first was the Ortega River Bridge which we learned operated 24 hours a day. The next was the Main Street Bridge over the St John's which was on limited schedule and had a scheduled opening for 0645 during the week. The final was the current. High tide was scheduled at Ortega River about 0615 although the current changes there about 2 hours after high tide. So looking at our challenges, we decided to leave about 0515 to get through the Ortega Bridge, wait for the Florida East Coast Railroad bridge if necessary, make the 0645 opening at Main Street and catch the current outgoing within the hour.

The sun was rising over downtown as we were waiting for the bridge.

We left our slip about 0515, got through the Ortega bridge, had to wait for a train at the RR bridge and made the 0646 opening. We slogged through current for less than an hour and our trip out the river from that point was as quick as coming in. By 0930 we were in the ocean and heading south to Ft Pierce. The seas were rolly but behind us after we turned and we had an eventful trip down the coast to FT Pierce.

Sunset just north of Daytona Beach.

Moonset over Cape Canaveral.

We ran in the Ft Pierce inlet with a slight outgoing current. We stopped at the Ft Pierce City Marina for fuel and then went across the ICW and dropped the anchor for a very nice quiet evening recovering from our just completed overnight and to prepare for our gulf stream crossing. Was a beautiful quiet night and the beautiful setting showed why we love this life. Tomorrow we leave the country on the first leg of our multi-nation cruise.

Our final sunset in the US from our anchorage in Ft Pierce.

Exploring Charleston

On our past trips south we bypassed Charleston being far offshore on direct passages to Florida. This year because we didn’t expect to be back north for several years we decided to make additional stops along the way. We had planned to be in Charleston almost 2 weeks although part of the time we would be leaving the boat there while we visited Chicago. But, along came Hurricane Matthew and we ended up getting to Charleston after we expected that we would be leaving there. But we allocated 4 days to explore one of the treasures of the southern US.

When we got to Charleston we had some important work to accomplish. We needed to get the radar working, our in-cabin chart-plotter working, fix our autopilot and replace the TV after suffering damage during the wild ride of the trip here. Replacing the TV was time sensitive as Tuesday was the first game of the World Series for the Chicago Cubs on network TV. So we made a trip to Best Buy and got a replacement TV that fit the installation for the old TV thereby making the replacement easier but the screws needed to be replaced but at least we had TV.

Our first view of Charleston coming in the harbor just after dawn.

Our friend Dave Sikes came in just before us and anchored across from the marina for the first night. He then came in the marina and had to leave but we got together for dinner and happy hour on Friday night.

We used an Uber to go to Best Buy that turned out to be a treat. Our Uber driver was a French born woman that had lived in Charleston about 2 years but lived many other places around the world. She was an absolute delight with giving us ideas for local sights to see. She waited for us while we bought our TV and then drove us back to the marina. Having heard about prices of cabs in Charleston the fare was very reasonable. 

Sunset our first night.

The next morning (Wednesday) I contacted the Charleston Boatyard at their office on-site about making the other repairs. After waiting all day an electronics guy came and found the problem with the in-cabin chart-plotter to be a broken wire but couldn’t find the radar issue. After he left the radar worked. I suspect there is an issue with either the network bus or our cockpit chart-plotter which we will only find when it fails. He did come back and install a software update to our chart-plotter which still has us confused and has really messed up our Bahama charts. It’s not enough the hurricane changed the landscape, now we have charts that screwy. The tiller pin in the autopilot sheared off from the stress and it was able to be welded together to work but I have ordered new ones from the factory.

We came to Charleston for fun and we really enjoyed the visit. Walking around the streets of the historic district was quite fascinating as so much of southern US history and culture is rooted there. Charleston was a key city during the American Revolution and a key colonial port. The first shots of the US Civil War were fired at Charleston harbor attacking Fort Sumter, still a landmark in the harbor. Charleston’s market dates back to just after the revolution and is a lot like historic markets in Boston and New Orleans.

View of the yard of a home near the marina.

Another yard in the same neighborhood.

The front of the Charleston Market.

The historic US Custom House.

We found several wonderful places for enjoyable dining. In the French Quarter is a wonderful patisserie. The almond croissants at Christophe’s Artisan Patisserie were outstanding along with everything else we had there. We had dinner Thursday night at an excellent farm-to-table restaurant, The MacIntosh, where the food was all supplied from local farmers and producers with everything well prepared. The truffle fries were addicting.

Christophe's Artisan Patisserie.

Enjoying happy hour at the Republic Garden.

McIntosh's Restaurant.

Queology an excellent "Que" place down by the Market.

Iconic Charleston.

Additional antebellum homes.

Interesting Hallowe'en decorations.

Another beautiful home.

So after completing our repairs and experiencing a short but pleasant stay it was time to head further south to Jacksonville. We left our slip just about slack tide on Saturday 29 October and were able to catch the outgoing current all the way out to sea and get a good start on our trip south.

The passage to Jacksonville was fairly benign without the trauma and tragedy of the passage to Charleston.  We entered the St John’s River in the dark but it is a wide commercial channel and easy to navigate. We had the current with us going in and made the 30 mile trip to our marina in what seemed like very quick time. We had to wait for the Main Street lift bridge but we still got to the Marina before it opened at noon and got into our slip in time to nap before getting to work.

We arrived in Jacksonville on October 30 after leaving Oxford, MD on 23 September. But much happened on those intervening weeks and now in Jacksonville our last US port of call to prepare for our overseas adventure.

Whoever said getting there is half the fun?

After analyzing the weather and currents we decided to leave Cherry Point on Sunday 23 October for Charleston. Planning an itinerary is difficult when the distance is too much for one day but not enough for two which was the case going from Cherry Point to Charleston. If we left early in the morning the day of departure we would probably get to Charleston sometime in the overnight the following day. So with an eye toward currents we decided to leave Cherry Point early afternoon on Sunday that would get us into Charleston Tuesday morning but not too early.

Surveying the weather it looked like we might have favorable winds to sail with a slight chop all that would be very welcome. So after saying goodbye to my son Jeremy and his wife Regina we made ready and departed about 1400 Sunday afternoon knowing that we would be offshore before dark.

We had a favorable current going down the Neuse River but caught the end of the incoming tide in much of Adams Creek. As we got into the Newport River the tide turned and we motored very quickly offshore aided by the current as darkness began to fall. The forecast was for West or Northwest winds that would have been very favorable but as we came down the Newport River I sensed they were more Southwest as the morning TV weatherman had forecasted so I was hoping things might change once we got offshore.

Passing Fort Macon, NC just off Morehead City, NC.

Once we got offshore I tried to turn on the radar because several of the marks in the Beaufort shipping channel were off station and a dredging operation was setup offshore. I found that our radar was not reporting. It worked fine earlier in the week but I had not checked it the day before we left. To make matters worse the wind was squarely southwest in the direction we were headed and the chop was coming straight at us. Over the night we took wave after wave over the bow and at times were only able to make 2-3 kts. So I pulled out the mainsail and fell off to get some lift and we powered our way on crossing the Frying Pan Shoals early in the morning. Once through the shoals we turned due west and pulled out the staysail for additional power in an effort to get closer to shore for less chop.

Sunset offshore of NC before the surf began to build.

Crossing the shoals took us far offshore so it was a long slog back into shore. With the heavy surf I didn't want to chance cutting the shoal in areas where there are reported 4-5' depths and it would have been dark trying to go into Masonboro Inlet with the rough seas so we opted to go on outside. Once we turned the seas continued higher. The predicted 2-3' seas were easily 6-8' with some waves higher. In our slog back in we lost a boat hook (second one this year) and our autohelm broke.  With our autopilot disabled we had to hand steer the rest of the way to Charleston (about another 24 hours) but I was able to trim up the sails and use the wheel break to hold close to course and by mid-afternoon we were close to shore and much calmer seas.

We heard cruisers on the radio who were trying to come offshore talking to each other and they were all turning around and staying inside on the ICW because of the rough conditions. We got a radio call from our good friend Dave Sikes who was on the inside and looking to come out and he made it out at Little River Inlet and we followed him all the way to Charleston.

The remainder of the trip was uneventful and the wind finally switched and we were able to sail for about 5 hours overnight until time to turn in the channel at Charleston where we pulled down the sails. We could have and should have sailed in but I'm reluctant to sail in channels I'm not familiar with that have lots of commercial traffic such as Charleston so we motored to our slip arriving about 930 .




Sailing in to Charleston Harbor under nice sun after a rough passage.

We made it successfully but with more damage than ever before due to the rough seas. We lost a boathook, we had no radar, we lost our autohelm and in at least one of the waves we submarined we took water through the dorades that killed our TV. For a one day offshore trip we did not anticipate such bad conditions based on the forecast and it cost us. In Charleston we could get it fixed before continuing on so we had a work schedule for when we got there.

But, we're in Charleston and time to enjoy.

Danger gone all things righted time for a road trip we're all excited

After the fact for us Hurricane Matthew became a non-event very quickly. Sunday afternoon the sun came out but it stayed breezy for several days. Not so fortunate for other places and some not so far away. My daughter in Florida and son right here had no damage but areas we planned to visit and areas not far from here were devastated. We thank God we had no damage and pray for those who did.

Prepared for the storm.

Looking out during the storm.

We had one order of business after the storm that had been scheduled several days earlier. We had an unusual odor from our generator once when starting so we called for a repair. The repairman came out Monday after the storm but so he could check out the genset I had to remove everything from our 2 cockpit lockers for him to do his work. Then add to this the prep we had done for the storm and our boat was crowded and confused. The mechanics review didn't take long and we discussed some repairs and he was gone. Now we had the challenge to stage the boat for the rest of the day and then change it in the morning when we leave.

Driving in Virginia headed into West Virginia.

For some time we had planned to head to Chicagoland about the 11th of October for some family events. We had planned to leave the boat in Charleston and make the trip but with the storm we opted to stay at Cherry Point so now we are and ready to leave from here. On Tuesday morning we got up early and rearranged the boat so the mechanic could have free and easy access to the genset to do the repairs needed and then we headed off to Chicago.

First stop was in Champaign, IL to celebrate Seth's birthday on October 12th. We arrived shortly after noon and settled in for our few days stay. After Seth finished work we drove over to Gibson City, a small town about 30 miles away for dinner at a German Restaurant- Bayern Stube at Seth's request. A bit unusual since none of us eat like that usually so a special treat for his birthday.

At dinner with Seth.

Thursday we had the chance to again meet up with a college classmate, Greg Haugens and his lovely wife Valerie at another great Champaign restaurant, Desthil. We also met Greg about a year ago in Champaign and we enjoyed the time catching up. It's always great to see friends from so many years ago but it's like nothing to catch-up right where we left off. Hopefully Greg and Val will come visit us down island.

Dinner with Greg and his lovely wife Val.

We also used some free time in Champaign to do some shooting at an indoor range. Would like to shoot more to stay in practice but time and opportunity usually restrict that.

So after our birthday celebration and reunion we headed to Chicago for more family events.

On Saturday the 15th Linda's brother had a surprise birthday party thrown for him by his wife at Nieto's Restaurant in Highland Park, Il. It was great to see and catch-up with many family members who came to the party. We plan to travel back to Chicagoland for Thanksgiving so we'll get to do it all again.

Family at Stuart's birthday party.

But the big event was Linda's dad Al Lee being honored by the Chicago Blackhawks at their game on the 18th of October. Linda's Dad at 96 is among the few surviving WWII vets. Al was sponsored by Dan Harrington who had been the manager of the Brookdale facility where Al had been living. Dan is an avid hockey player and knew about the program and nominated Al for being honored.

Al and Linda at the United Center with Dan Harrington who sponsored Al for the night at the Blackhawks..

At the game Al, who had to be in a wheelchair, was rolled onto the ice and along with another veteran and an active duty service member stood for the playing of the National Anthem  with spotlights on them and being honored by all the fans. After the honor was over and Al was being wheeled away a referee skated over and gave him a game puck to thank him for his service. During the game that Al thoroughly enjoyed many people came over and shook his hand and thanked him. As we were wheeling out many other people thanked and honored him.

All the service veterans being honored on the ice.

Linda's Dad, Al Lee as seen on TV.

With the festivities over we planned to head back home. After one last visit with Linda's Dad we hit the road for an uneventful trip back to Cherry Point.

We noticed leaves changing indicating Fall was fast approaching and highlighting the need for us to get on south. Going through the higher elevations along the route it looked like winter would be here soon although the temperatures remained friendly.

Getting back to the boat and ready to go.

This was about our 6th or 7th trip off the boat since we moved aboard and each time it's fun and we get excited but we miss our home at sea and miss the close comfort of being together and afloat. It feels normal and sleeping on a bed that isn't moving feels odd. So as excited as we were to do the road trip, we're happy to be home to visit my son again and moving on south with all the danger gone to stay warm.  

Trying to reason with hurricane season

We arrived at Cherry Point on Wednesday 28 September after spending a night at the free town dock in Belhaven because there were threats of storms that never materialized but more on that later. We moved on to Hancock Creek Marina at Cherry Point Marine Corps Aviation Station where we planned to visit the family of one of my sons since he was going to be away.  We expected a short visit with our drive to move on to Charleston, SC where we planned to spend some time and leave the boat for our visit back to the Chicago area but hurricane season got in the way.

We left Coinjock, the first port in North Carolina and everything was pretty much as usual. No wind, little traffic and we made Belhaven in a day and then on to Cherry Point. In the past we have anchored in the Pungo River just after completing the canal but we seemed to get through it early this time and the threat of storms drove us to go on to Belhaven. We have stayed at the Dowry Creek Marina in the past but never actually gotten in to Belhaven which is a reportedly cute little town. So we found the free docks and with a couple discussions with the Dockmaster pulled in and tied up. We walked into Town and had dinner at the Fish Hook Cafe because it was the only restaurant open on Tuesday. Other than the nearby granary working all night it was very peaceful.

Sleeping grandkids on our little cruise.

The next day we left early and motored on to Cherry Point. Along the way we stopped in to Oriental for fuel and a possible pump out but it seems someone took the deck fitting so we couldn't use the pump out. There was again a threat of storms so instead of waiting for the town to fix it we went on to Cherry Point.  Fortunately again the storms were a no show.

So far we have been visiting with our grandkids as our schedules allow. They are in school all day with some evening activities, their Mom works and my son is away, But when we got here the tropical threat became real and we began to assess our options.

Based on the storm projections there seemed to be a good likelihood that the hurricane Mathew would significantly impact this area. That didn't leave many options. The first was we could quickly press on to Charleston but that seemed like a bad place to be. Second, we could try to retreat back to the Chesapeake but the storm could impact there as well and we would then have to retrace our progress. Next, we could try to find a good place close to hide or we could just stay here.

This marina is tucked into a creek about 15 miles above a tidal flow and has 360 degree protection from chop with excellent wind protection for at least 270 degrees. While not the perfect hurricane hole this was pretty good. There is a small channel coming in so swell and surge would be minimal. We are in a large slip with lots of room on either side so we can tie the boat between the finger piers with ample slack to ride up any surge. With family and friends here why go anyplace else?

So since we got here we worked to reinforce our position. Sunday we took the grandkids and our daughter-in-law for a boat ride so we could pump out having failed before, We also setup normal hurricane prep - double lines with chafe protection; filled the water tank; removed head sails and canvas; keeping the batteries full; secured everything on deck and got supplies for a couple day passage.  While you can never be ready, we think we are ready. Very early in my Army career someone implored that you always work to improve your position and we have done that, When under assault you don't want to think of the shoulda, coulda, woulda's. You want to think through everything in advance. The only additional thing I can think of doing if the threat was more is to go out and drop anchors and then secure the boat as we are but with the shift of the track it doesn't seem that great. About midweek the track shifted from a direct hit to passing east and turning south away from us.

In applying my double lines I was able to improve the arrangement with docking options available by distributing the load along the dock and also on the 3 cleats on each side of the boat. There were 2 very stout pilings at the end of each finger pier which while not all the way to our bow made good tie points and then there are 3 cleats on each finger pier and 2 along the dock behind the boat. By varying the angles it also created support for multiple wind directions since the wind shifts in large and small directions altering the stress on each line. I was able to arrange the lines so that there shouldn't be 2 lines of stress on any cleat at any time.

So we set up the boat, did some provisioning and waited. On the night before the storm we got together with friends Dave and Polly Brown who live near New Bern and had a nice happy hour in their beautiful home and then went out for Thai food. We also had lunch with them a week earlier because they're a fun couple. Nice to try to keep some sense of normalcy with the events swirling around.

 Our friends Dave and Polly..

The weather became windy and rainy almost a week before the storm arrived so the ground was very saturated causing great fear of falling trees. Rain and wind began building on Friday with the storm's expected arrival on Saturday. Saturday morning we moved our rental car out of the marina lot to higher ground so in the event of flooding it wouldn't get wet and parked it away from trees that might blow down. The rain began falling in earnest Saturday morning as the wind built. Just before noon it was announced that a tornado warning was issued for the area just south of us so we packed some bags and put in the trunk of the rental car just in case we needed to leave in a hurry.

Beginning of the storm.

Saturday afternoon we disconnected our shore power in anticipation of the power being shut off and rolled up the power cord. With the wind speed we hoped our windgen would keep us in power and wouldn't need our diesel generator. Later we walked over to the Club House and chatted with some other folks there as the power was now off. As it was getting dark we went back to the boat to weather the storm.

Rain fell in buckets from just about dark until about midnight and the wind really began building. We watched the movie the Heart of the Sea about the true story that inspired the novel Moby Dick with the wind and rain surrounding us. We checked the line frequently but the water level never rose much. We continued checking the lines about every 2 hours all night but the water level never changed. The wind changed direction ti more behind us that was even better sheltered so we really didn't feel much of the 30 kt winds but the frequently high gusts rocked the boat as they blasted through.

Scene in the morning.

Once it started getting daylight it was obvious there wouldn't be any more high water and it had not rained in hours. The wind gusts continued into the afternoon but the land protection made the wind bearable. About mid-morning the sun came out brightly for the first time in about a week and the storm was gone. Now to get everything back to normal.

In a couple of days we will be leaving for Chicago for about a week so we will leave the boat prepped in the unlikely event of another storm while we watch reports of damages further down the coast and figure out our course from here. Fortunately we had no damage from the storm but many did and we regret their losses. So once again we made it through a storm in a safe spot. We learned that the marina where we have reservations over the holidays is fine. It's just where we go between now and then. So much for the reasoning in hurricane season.