St-Augustine Florida to Beaufort NC
26 April 2017
We have spent 3 beautiful weeks in Ste-Augustine waiting for "Free at Last". We visited pretty much every corner of the town.
We had the chance to have "On y Va" and "Penelope" as neighbors as we waited for "Free at Last". We had met them in Hampton, VA. We had a lot of fun getting together with them for night caps. I hope we will have the opportunity to cross paths again.
Before the departure from Ste-Augustine, Christian told me to take something for my seasickness, so I decided to take a 'Bonine'. The morning of April 18th, we left Ste-Augustine with "Free at Last" (Louise and Yves), we were sad to leave, and headed towards Charleston, 190 nm away. We left around 8am to enter the day passage. We motored/sailed the whole way because there wasn't much wind. I fell asleep for the entire trip, without being able to open my eyes, which is pretty good for me. I know right away that it's definitely they effects of the Bonine. I was able to do my quarter shift at the barre from 12am to 4am, but with much difficulty. Conclusion: no more Bonine for me. Christian would wake me up to look at the dolphins that were swimming with the boat.🐬 🐬 🐬 🐬 We had a clandestin passenger for the night, a small bird who was looking for warmth. We let it in and it looked around and decided to sleep near the cockpit table. The next morning it was not able to go very far and it died. We think the fumes from the engine might have asphyxiated it. We arrived at the entrance of the passage April 19th around 830pm, a little too late, it was dark and there is a lot of cargo in the passage. There is a point to go at anchor in the entrance and we decided it would be better if we waited until the morning. We were tossed around by the swell but it was still better to wait. We were still able to sleep pretty well.
The next day, a quick breakfast, we were still being tossed around, and we raised anchor and went inside to hide from the swell. We took the digny with Louise and Yves to visit this small town. We came back after our Thai supper and decided to leave the next day to Beauport, 210 nm away. An early rise again to get to destination during the day. In the beginning of the trip it was windless but after a little bit we were able to raise the sails and, ahhhh, we had a 15 knot back wind. We installed the tangon and everything went well. We were going between 5, 6 knots. With the waves getting bigger the boat still stable, but I (Jacynthe) started to be sea sick. I wasn't able to eat supper or sleep. I tried to let Christian sleep a bit but he is unable to sleep from all the movement. He even fell from the bench and hit his head on the stairs. Nothing serious, but a huge headache. The next day is not any better and we still have the whole day to go. With 32nm left, we realise if we don't turn on the engine we will arrive at night. Engine on we are going 8 knots now and we will get there during the day! We arrive around 630pm and we look for a good shelter because the winds are supposed be bursts of 40 knots. We only find our spot at 845pm. I am still not able to eat, I ended up feeding the fish, so I went to bed as soon as we were at anchor.
After 2 days at anchor with huge winds, we recorded wind gusts of 33 knots, we decided it would be better if we went to a marina and filled up on everything, especially food. We are at Portside Marina, Morehead and everyone is very welcoming. The owner of the marina Dernard and his wife Kay invited us for lunch and drinks in the afternoon. Really nice people.
Our next departure is tomorrow, probably for Hampton Virginia, 220nm. I hope we have good seas.
PS. We are returning to Canada, you might have noticed we decided to cancel our adventure on other seas. Life on a sailboat is very different and there is not enough action. I'm also chronically seasick (Jacynthe), so we will be staying on Lake Champlain this summer, for those who are interested in coming out to see us.