Well, this is a bit of a late entry, about three weeks late in fact. So let me catch you up.

When we left off we had just toured the Calhoun Mansion in Charleston. That evening a pretty severe cold front swept through and deposited a bunch of rain and wind over the open ocean track that we had just sailed down, as well as tearing up the ocean between Charleston and points south. We figured that a trip down the ICW to Beaufort, SC would be the best use of our time as the weather wound down, so we launched fairly early down the Ashley River behind the river boat American Glory.

What a beautiful trip. The low Country in all its fall splendor dazzled us as we wound our way up and down creeks, rivers, and bayous. Beautiful plantations with lawns down to the water were everywhere, along with vast tracts of open country full of ducks, geese, and other wildlife. There would simply be no other way to see all of this any other way. And, for the most part, we had it to ourselves as it seemed that most of our fellow southbound migrating sailors had decided to stay in port another day.

We got to Beaufort just at sundown with our taste buds set for Low Country Grits. Would you believe that not one of the open downtown restaurants served this fabulous local specialty? We were floored. So we decided to walk to a local market which was supposed to be three quarters of a mile away to see what they might have. Three miles later we found the store! But, still no dinner was at hand. Luckily there was a local favorite across the street which fed us pretty well with a local dish called Gullah Cuisine. It is a stew of shrimp, sausage, and potatoes, that traces its roots back to the African Rice coast as transmitted to the plantation culture of South Carolina.

With full and happy stomachs we finished our shopping and took a cab back to the downtown marina and turned in anticipating an early go in the morning.

Up well before dawn the next day, it looked as if we had a perfect weather window to make a direct 300 NM sail to our winter home at Ft. Pierce. We stood out of Beaufort road before sun up and were in the Atlantic by 0800. We couldn?? t believe that the rest of the fleet continued to hang on the hook or remain tied up at various marinas between Wrightsville Beach and Beaufort. We figured that the weather would give us at least 48 hours of clear sailing and that the next winter storm would be far more serious. That prediction turned out prescient. While we had a most beautiful sail well off shore, within a few hours of our arrival the next storm hit the coast of Georgia, South and North Carolina and bottled up the southern transition for the better part of a week with wind, rain, and even snow!

It took us 50 hours to make the passage, and it was our farthest off shore and longest passage yet. As we approached Cape Canaveral our course brought us right up to the allowed three mile limit. We had a very surreal dinner as we glided by the space port with all the launch platforms light up as a special show just for us. The ocean was absolutely calm and we were pushed along by a soft warm 10 knot wind. The only thing that could have improved the view would have been a spectacular night shuttle launch.

About midnight the wind continued its clocking around to the south and raised a short fetched head sea that changes our point of sail to a close hauled hard beat into the wind. But, that only lasted until we hit the Ft. Pierce inlet about 0800. There was a strong three knot current running out, which together with the wind made for an interesting approach to the harbor , but we had no problems getting moored in our winter berth. We spent the day cleaning the boat and making preparations to return home. We had a great welcome back to Florida dinner and toasted ourselves for completing our first east coast round trip. ZT is safely secured for the winter and we are planning our first trip to the Bahamas with the knowledge that he have succeeded in our first short ocean passage, been tested by weather and sea, and grown in our ability to handle it all.