BLOG / LOG entry… covering from Titusville to Wynyah Bay…
Wow… Has it really been that long since I’ve posted a blog / LOG entry?
Titusville (Visit with Brian and Sheila Strutt)…(s/v “moonshadow”)
WELL I did post what we were going to do to the topSIDES of “moonshadow”… and WE DID. We scrubbed and scrubbed with Boat Soap, and deckbrushes; at the same time ridding the boat of some unused items (diesel cans; old bimini parts; just stuff…). At the end of the day, and just before dinner (Sheila made Shepard’s PIE)… the Moonshadow looked pretty ‘spiffy’….(if I do say so myself!!! )
We didn’t get a change to put on the new dock lines, but we did clear hawse pipes, and fairleads so that they can be added shortly.
That night we both slept like “rocks”…… and in the morning lifted the dinghy motor to the stern, and the dinghy onto the foredeck…; pulled anchor; and headed for Daytona Beach. 42.8nm and we were anchored at N 29 14.032 W 081 01.417 (north of the SeaBreeze Bridge) TV on Channels 6,2,and 27.
We made it through the Ponce Inlet turn at dead low tide… with a Corps of Engineers work boat churning up the waters… (called him for safety instructions on how to pass… DONE).
Daytona Beach (passed ST. Augustine) to Pine Island --
We passed St. Augustine this trip… the moorings were full anyway… and I was sorry we passed up our old standard anchorage just after the high-rise bridge and the St. Augustine Inlet…
BUT it worked out wonderfully! We proceeded north to Pine Island. There were two boats already there. One was a CSY-37 “Equinox”… Dave and Trish German (parrots)… They recognized Autumn Borne, when we pulled in, and came over to talk… and that we did… until well after dark… NICE FOLKS!!! I’m sure our paths will cross again. We were gone early, and didn’t get a chance to wave goodbye…
Our destination, when we left PINE Island, was Fernandina, or Cumberland Island. But, like most ‘cruiser plans’… that was written in SAND at low tide.
The sailing vessel “PERSISTANCE” called on the VHF radio from out in the ocean (we were on the ICW). Tom and Chris described the sea state of the ocean…. And we decided that perhaps we should take advantage of this ‘weather window’ and sea state. SO………..even though we had not really intended to go outside this day…. We quickly went through our “Go TO SEA” List, and then turned LEFT at the St. Johns RIVER…
We stayed outside, going north until we hit Charleston SC (thus skipping all of GA, and a LOT of SC). We entered the Charleston Harbor, just before sundown, 36 hours, and 200 nautical miles after pulling anchor at Pine Island FL. Anchored at N32 45.949 W079 53.898 -- 14.5 feet of water.
We anchored on the Middle Ground Flats, right in the middle of the Charleston Harbor, and slept SOUNDLY!!!!
(BTW: not the greatest anchorage for peaceful night… a bit wavy with the traffic on the Ashley on one side, and the Cooper river on the other). We also talked with “s/v FIVE and DIME” (Kathy and Kurt); they were behind us, coming up the coast about an hour…. We waited for them to enter the harbor; chatted a bit then went below to have dinner, and sleep.
Thursday, 3 May, we were to scoot back out the ocean, and HOP around to Wynyah Bay… Weather was to be “Winds Light and VARIABLE… and seas calm…..”
Oh… the one thing that we had to do while off-shore was change fuel filters (RACOR)… The dual-Racor unit made that a simple thing… turn the handle “up-and-over the top”…(going from Port to Starboard filters… [down is OFF] [straight UP is BOTH]… In one of my boat inspections while traveling I happened to look at the vacuum gauge on the fuel system – Wow.. much higher than normal… Switched and vacuum dropped back to its normal reading… I guess we’ve put some pretty extensive miles on that port cartridge… down the coast / Bahamas / Back to the states / and halfway up the coast.