Winds were forecast to be light and variable today, low-tide was going to happen in the middle of prime traveling time, and the Amelia River has been advertised as being very skinny. A perfect combination to send us for our first outside run of the trip. We are still traveling with MaryLee and also picked up a catamaran called Tropical Breeze. Euphoria decided to stay and do some more touring around St Mary's. We wanted to make sure we came into the St Augustine inlet in daylight so anchors were up at 4:00 AM It was a little spooky leaving St Mary's Inlet in the dark. Between the submarine base and Fernandina Beach there are blinking lights everywhere. It's a little disconcerting but the channel is wide and deep so no worries.
We motored in calm breezes along the coast with an occasional sail-assist but it was mostly a motorboat trip. The ocean swells of one to two feet were gentle but the rolly motion is a little different and poor Murph was a bit seasick. He really is a landlubber at heart, but he tries to be a good sailor dog. The nighttime travel brought out the vampire cat, Nikki, so it was all hands on deck until daylight. Mom shackled everyone in as pet overboard drills in the dark are very undesirable.
Other than dancing with a few shrimpboats, the trip was completely uneventful and we were anchored in St Augustine by 2:00 PM.
Welcome to Florida, it's kind of warmish, we're in shirtsleeves, anchorage is crowded but the hook is down solid. Hooray.