20 April 2014 | 29 53.099'N:81 18.329'W, St. Augustine, FL
They have a lot of "Pirate Ships" for the tourists in the Port of St. Augustine
Well, we left Bonds Cay on a Friday. We had to wait until noon so the cut to get out would be more "manageable". We'd had strong winds for a few days so the cuts were a little rough with the wind opposing the tide. So...noon was slack low. It was certainly a little sporty for a few hours, but things got better later in the afternoon and much better when we made a bit of a turn towards the west at the top of the Berries.
Around dawn the next day we left the Bahamas and got into the Gulf Stream. The wind was predicted to clock from ENE to E to ESE by that afternoon and drop from 17-18 to 15. All of that would have been fantastic. Not fast...it just didn't go like that. We were on a course for Charleston which was about 005 degrees and the wind gradually went to the NE and began to build. Around dusk it was 18-22 from the NE...not pleasant. We had steady 5 footers with an occasional 6-7 thrown in just for fun.
So enter the new plan - St. Augustine. That gave us 25 more degrees to the left a little smoother point of sail. Late in the day we were in the middle off the Gulf Stream and it was just plain rough. For a short while we thought of Cape Canaveral and went even more west. Once we got to the edge of the Gulf Stream, it got better and we stayed the course to St. Augustine. Once past Cape Canaveral at midnight, things got a lot smoother...all the way in.
The trip was 330 NM in 50 hours for an average speed of 6.6 kts. Our top speed in the Stream was 12.2. We only had to motor sail the last 25 miles. Over all, a good sail even if it was a bit "spirited" at times.
We got into St. Augustine on Sunday around 3:00 PM, grabbed a mooring, and called Customs/Immigration to report in. Then, we had to go out for some food and drink. That's where we ran into a big Palm Sunday party at a local bar. Timing is everything!
The was the line up of bands for the day...big day!
The whole next week has been waiting on weather. It has been cold, raining, and blowing...from the north...not fun, but a nice place to be stuck. It looks like we can get out Tuesday.
We aren't sure where we will go, but we'll go as far as we can with this weather window.
Stay tuned...