Jacksonville beach, FL to Charleston, SC
 
A cold front with high winds kept us in Jacksonville Beach for 4 nights.  Of course, the highlight of our stay in Jacksonville Beach was the wonderful time we spent with former colleagues and friends Fal and Lee and their wives Grace and Bruce Ann.  Each has retired to this area.  We all got together for dinner at Fal and Grace's, Had lunch with Lee at his club after which he took us on a tour of this golf club heavy area.  We saw the Players Club which is set up for the PGA tour stop in 3 weeks.  It is quite beautiful and, we understand, is the richest tournament in terms of purse and attendance.

Next stop Fernandina....We arrived in the early afternoon. There were some shifting shoals as we approached and one bridge with a 6kt squirrelly current to navigate, so we both had to pay close attention. After a quick docking, we toured the very nice town and met Gary and Kathy from Gatsby for dinner.  Later, Sea Mist with Bill and Betty arrived from St. Augustine after their long run. We planned to make the ocean run from fernandina to charleston together the next day. 

The weather window held for us during our 28 hour offshore run northwards from Fernandina beach to Charleston.  Offshore seas ran 2 to 4 feet with winds from the northeast 10 to 15, eventually 
moving to the southwest.  We stood 3 hour watches throughout the night and encountered, not surprisingly, evening shipping traffic near Savannah.  At one point Sylvia hailed a large ship as "ship bearing many, many lights" as we passed near the shipping channel.  They responded, doused all lights except navigation lights, and confirmed our CPA or closest point of approach as not intersecting so we continued on our merry way.  We led the procession of Sylestial Star, Gatsby and Sea Mist which was spread out over 3 to 5 miles of ocean, passed historic Fort Sumpter as we entered Charleston Harbor and continued on to anchor on the fast flowing Ashley River, across from the City Marina Megadock.