Well, we pulled another all night run. we left Charleston at about 8:30am yesterday and once more set out on the open ocean. A 174nm journey awaited us. The sun was out, the sea had 2-3 foot long swells with a 15kt breeze. A perfict day for enjoying the ocean, sun and a 194nm run to Florida (or so we thought). Did I tell you my mother's maiden name was Murphy? We were all set to try out the Monitor wind vane self-stearing, and practice relaxing while nature took care of the rest......Wrong! As fate would have it the wind was right on our nose for our elected course. We tried a couple of times to rectify the situation, but to no avail. Motor sailing would be the mode of the day & evening. As darkness fell, the wind picked up, the swells built and two old farts were stuck with the business of maning the helm, dodging spray and trying to stay warm and awake. Please note, I should not complain, because any journey that ends at a peaceful port with all hands on deck is a success! At about midnight, we checked out GPS and figured that we would not arrive at our chosen port in Flordia till around 10pm. No way were we going to enter an unfamilure port at night. St. Simons Island, GA was dedicated as our next port of call. New VHF worked wounderfully, and it was good to hear the radio chatter on a dark, black ocean. Just the sound of 20kt winds, the gush of the bow in the swells, salt spray and the Coast Guards incessant warnings about Right Whales. That would be all we needed is to have one of those behemoths breach next to our boat in the ink black! All in all with the exception of a small leak, and trying to figure out which way the gigantic freighters were going as our night vision failed us, we had a rather uneventful journey. Dog tired, but happy to be in a port where there is no ice on the docks. I think we'll take a "nap" and enjoy sunshine and 70 degree weather for a couple of days. I'll let the frolicking dolphins we see in the river wake us.........