ONE MORE TIME>>>>>>>>>>>>> Tuesday Sept. 2nd, I will try and complete the first leg of my cruising life which was to get to Marathon, Fl. A lot has happened in past 18 months. Changed boats from a sailboat to a trawler. Changed home address from Charleston, SC to Port Orange, Fl. All good changes I hope. Sold sailboat because I could not handle it by myself, so what did I do? I bought a bigger boat to handle by myself. I discussed this in depth with myself but all I could hear was "Get a bigger boat, Get a bigger boat".
I will post as much as I can but I really hope I am too busy to do so.

Let the Adventure begin.............(less wind this time please)

Well this may be my last post for a while. I got to Beaufort Marina on Easter Sunday around noon. Other than a couple of rain showers the last several days have been good ones. I was determined to make an enjoyable cruise out of part of this. It has been a little un-nearvining traveling by myself, but it has been peaceful. Good weather, a little wind to sail, and good anchorages. I stayed at Jekyll Island marina for a night and refueled. Rode bike all around island, good time. I traveled with another catamaran for several days and we met up at beaufort. I will leave tomorrow morning and will be back in Charleston on Wednesday lunch time. Boat repairs then maybe a short trip to Florida then back to Charleston to get boat sold and start new adventure. I thank all for following me and I am sorry it did not last as long as planned. It will be a temporary delay, stay tuned.........................Buffet Sux

Well the decision was made by me to end this trip and head back to Charleston. Several things have helped in the decision but the main thing is i am not happy with my boat. I need quite a few more repairs. The boat is not completly set up to be run by one person and that is all i have. I wil either make nessasary repairs and find crew or i will buy a trawler. Old sailors never die, they just buy trawlers. To make matters worse, i left a good anchorage this morning knowing that storms were predicted. Afte passing St. Augustine i was hit by 50+ mph wind and rain and hail. With zero visability, i had motor in full forward and was doing 3mph backwards. Could not see anything. I guess luck was with me because 15 min of figting the wheel i could see about 2 boat lenghts and was next to a marker. Moved on and 3 more storms later i am at anchor. The have just anounced over the vhf that winds of 40-55 are predicted in the next 3 hours. Cross fingers. I will stay here tomorrow because i am not crossing the shipping channel in jacksonville during bad weather.

Later

Anchored in 2.5 ft of water just past A1A bridge. Vern picked me up in dingy so I could help him move his boat over from the fuel dock to the slip for the night. This is a very tight marina and that is the reason I didn't come in. after about 2 hours I went back out to my boat just to find it was looking for me. It had moved almost a 1/2 mile and was about 15 ft from the A1A bridge. Re- anchored her with 2 anchors because of the storms coming through. All was well except I did not go to bed until 3am after the winds died down. At 0900 we met for breakfast and I decided to try and come into marina because of the bad weather predicted. Perfect timing, just as I was entering the marina the bottom fell out of the clouds. Good thing I am in here because it has been raining and blowing 20+ all day. Something has got to get better, the fun is going out of this trip fast.

Left st augustine behind this morning at 0745. Made flagler beach around 1400. Vern anchored off channel and got in dingy to check out enterance to a canal. It was just as wide as my boat and he was showing 2.5 ft. I was waiting in the channel and yelled get out of the way i'm coming in. Luck was on my side, sand was a foot off both sides of Gypsy Soul but she never touched bottom. We then went and used the dingy to pul verns boat into deeper water because he was sitting on bottom. Using the wake of a passing boat i pulled with dingy then vern motored into to tight anchorage. I am sure we will be alone in here tonight. Made 37 miles with current on us ALL day. Tomorrow Daytona Beach.

Well after a six day delay in st marys, ga for a sick puppy, we are on the move again. Made 57 miles today in 10.5 hours. Not really in a hurry just nowhere good to anchor between st marys and st augustine. We are only 12 miles from st augustine so i guess we will stop for st patricks day and drink some green beer. Today was a good day, no problems and weathers was very nice, a little windy and always on the nose.