Bert & Shane

Our motor sail from Cape Canaveral on Saturday, April 26 overnight to Fernandina Beach, Florida was pretty uneventful. In fact, it was almost too boring! There was very little wind and we stayed within a mile or two off the coast so there were no big ships to dodge. It was very cool and damp out with a humidity level in the upper 90's and the temperature dipped to 68 degrees overnight. All the salt spray covering the boat from over the past week of traveling made every inch of surface really wet. Sara had on two fleece jackets and pulled out an old blanket to cover her legs and Shane pulled out his slippers and sweat pants!
Once we got settled in Fernandina Beach on a mooring ball in the river just outside the marina, we were off and running again with barely 6 hours of sleep. Our very good friend Bert (Maria Elena), who we cruised with years ago, came over in his dinghy from his boat. We had a few beers and got caught up on everything. Then on our way to taking Lucia to shore, we noticed on the mooring ball behind another boat from Minneapolis. It turned out to be Rose and Tom on s/v Sojourn who know Bert and Maria Elena well from having sailed together in the western Caribbean. Finally, Lucia got her well-deserved walk in the marina after being boat bound for 5 days. Bert and Maria Elena also gave us a ride to Publix and Radio Shack (they have a car and house in town). We had drinks back on our boat before dinner and went into town later to a cute restaurant called Caribou. Maria Elena came bearing gifts...real pearl earrings and a pearl bracelet from Margarita, Venezuela for Sara, and two squeaky toys for Lucia..."Peg Leg" the squeaky rubber pirate chicken and "Smartie" a hot pink squeaky cell phone! After trading many tales of sailing the high seas we found out that Sojourn also knows some other folks that we know on s/v Jubilee from St. Paul. We know Jubilee from our time spent in the marina in Fajardo, Puerto Rico. It always amazes us how the cruising community is a really small world in its own!
This morning Sara cleaned the outside decks and cushions with fresh water to wash away the salt. She also wiped down all the interior floors and did a load of laundry on the boat. Shane worked on a route plan for our trip tomorrow up a portion of the ICW to try to make some tracks further north before the next front arrives. Bert stopped by late morning to help Shane with some technical issues with our computer and got our Wi-Fi up and running again. This evening we plan to grill our fresh mahi-mahi that we caught on our crossing and Bert is joining us since Maria Elena will be at work.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, April 29th we plan to head out fairly early from Fernandina Beach for an outside run in 15-20 knots of southerly wind to Do Boy Sound near Sapelo Island in Georgia and anchor for the night. Then on Wednesday head up the ICW to somewhere near Wassaw Sound and "stage" for our next passage. We will wait there a few day for the wind to clock around to the west after the front passes.