Well, this has been a long journey. I am finally here in Stuart Florida where I will be staying until I figure out if I want to move over to the west coast to Florida closer to friends and my daughter and grandson. The oil spill has given me this new location to stay in until I feel it is safe to go over to the west coast. So far I really like what I see here in Stuart, but it has only been two days so I haven't explore nearly enough to really say I want to live here.

This last leg I have had my daughter and grandson helping me to get here. We continued down the ICW in very shallow waters!! But we managed to do a fine job getting here with no problems, other then the last night when we tried to anchor in an 8ft spot that just was not big enough for our comfort level, we ended up running aground.....I don't call it running aground anymore.....it was sliding into the muck....I had to back out and we gave it up and continued on till we reached hell's gate in Stuart (wondered why they would call it that with 16ft depth, to me it was heaven). The sun had set and we dropped the hook and were very happy to be there. The next morning we got up and got to Stuart in and hour and half later.

Whew.........done for a while!!!

~B

Well an update is over due....

I had a favorite crew member with me to go out side from Charleston,NC you probably know him as "the rascal" . We had a long 24 hour run from Charleston to Doboy Sound,GA. We tucked in at a creek called back river just inside the sound so as to jump back out quickly the next morning to hopefully make florida. The nights run was avg 5 kts with head winds and choppy seas (4ft). The rascal only got sick once, thank goodness, another reason to tuck into Doboy sound. It was so much cooler out in the ocean......just wish we had some wind that would have pushed us.

After Doboy we went into St Mary's Entrance with a following sea and light wind and the high tide. The dolphins met us at the outer bouy. We were glad we finally are in Florida.

From Fernandina Beach,Fl we took the ICW to Saint Augustine. Very shallow ride. At one place I thought we had taken a wrong turn because it looked so narrow and was getting shallow. I like to call sea tow for info on an area and I called them and they said make sure to stay in the middle of what they call "the ditch". We did not run aground!! At the inlet to St. Augustine we hit it of course right at the strong time for the currant making this harbor exciting, trying to figure out the different channels to take. Plus looking for the anchorage.

I have to say this anchoring experience was one that I hope we don't do again...... I know I need to get better at putting out two anchor because of current and wind but I don't like doing it. If anyone has ideas to make it easier please pass them onto me. All in all we had a fairly good nights sleep on the hook with the anchor watches.

Bill had to go again and now I think I will take about a month off of moving anywhere ....by boat that is. Now that I am in Florida I need to figure out where I want to stay.....who is to know it just might be here in St, Augustine. It is a pretty town. I need to get mail and clean the boat from bow to stern and all the other stuff, like laundry etc.......

So I won't be posting any logs for awhile.......
till then keep having fun!!

Love to you all.............
~B

Cleaning the boat and getting ready to jump out to the Atlantic to scoot down to Florida, hopefully. Filling the water tanks, getting ice. groceries onboard, etc etc. I will probably leave Monday or Tuesday....and I expect to take a couple of days. So you probably won't hear from me for a while. Not to worry.......

This picture is a side street in the french quarters of Charlestown, I think that is the prettiest area....although it is all pretty!!

It is sssoooo hot down here. Or I really should say humid.

Well, off to clean the bilge!!

This is to say thank you to my sister, Cathy. She was the biggest help and put up with a lot ......30kt wind, dragging anchor/anchor watches, engine failure in a crowded heavy current, w/ bridge astern. I had a lot of fun with her too. Granted we seemed to tip toe our way south to get through areas and hold our breathes hoping not to run aground again, all in all it made some good memories that I will talk about when I am old.

Safe trip home Cathy!

Well it was a short day? 8 hrs. This day we wound our way through the rivers of South Carolina. Our anchorage is very pretty. The locals come and bring the whole family here and go swimming in this creek. There is a sandy area ....kinda looks like a sand pit but it is next to the water, great swimming hole. Then on their way out of the creek they float down the creek and let the kids jump in the water as the current is taking them downstream. It was fun watching the families....Tomorrow we may make it to Charleston.....we will see.

Gosh it feels good to sit here listening to the peepers and bird as the sunset. What serenity. Just what I was lookin for.

Oh I uploaded more pics on Picasa web site in case anyone can get on it. Sorry I did not edit them I just threw them up there. So they are the good the bad and the ugly........

Well, a lesson in not fueling up.....no I didn't run out of diesel but I could have. Instead we did make it to Belhaven to fuel up but I won't get that close to empty again. I do have a jerry jug of extra diesel which we put in the tank. We had a pleasant stay on the dock in River Forest Marina, had dinner went grocery shopping topped off the water tanks and slept like a baby, until the winds came up and was woken up to creaking lines at 2 am. Added extra lines to cut down on creaking. Up and off in the morn headed for Beaufort. In Beaufort we stayed in a canal like place that was very crowded for the weekend and very strong current. Didn't like that anchorage. We had a very long day after that.....14 hrs and got into Wrightsville just in time for a thunderstorm and gusts to 30kts. We hooked the anchor well and once the storm passed had a very pleasant nights sleep, what a nice spot to anchor in!!

I have to admit ....I ran Topaz aground.....hey but I got her right off and gave her a hug. She forgave me! While I am confessing here.....we also timed out bridges wrong and ended up having to wait an extra hour for a bridge. Gotta have your lessons........

We are off to Little River Inlet today, wish us luck.