Leaving St. Augustine for Ponce Inlet

December 19, 2007

Dear Family and Friends, We enclose some shots of St. Augustine.





Street Scenes










The Lightner Museum, once the fanciest hotel destination for the rich and famous featuring the largest indoor pool in the world at the time.









Flagler College was also a hotel although somewhat downscale from the hotel across the street.

The tree in the city square. The Spanish were required by their king to have formal squares in every city they established in the new world.

On Sunday, Dec. 16, Stardust departed St. Augustine Inlet for Port Canaveral, an overnight sail. Barb and I biked out to the St. Augustine light to wave good bye and took some photos of Stardust southbound. As Barb holds onto her hat at the top of the lighthouse, the white dot between Barb's head and her elbow is Stardust. They ran into really rough conditions around midnight after passing Ponce de Leon Inlet and rounding Cape Canaveral. I am sure they will relate the particulars on their blogsite:

http://stardust-voyages.blogspot.com/

We did a few more boat chores and enjoyed St. Augustine a few more days. We set out at 0530 this morning to catch favorable tides headed for Ponce de Leon Inlet. The tide out the inlet was going out and even though the wind was less than 5 knots against the current there were standing waves that pitched the boat and washed the deck. It was very dark and we couldn’t see them anyway. Radar doesn’t show us the waves either and only two or three washed us before we got into smooth water in the ocean. The ocean swells of about 2 – 3 feet were very comfortable, but the wind was down (less than 5 knots as I mentioned before) and we wanted to reach the Ponce Inlet in about nine to ten hours so we motored with our main sail out tightly for stability. The sunrise was beautiful of course and the day was sunny with temperatures reaching the 70s. We reached Ponce Inlet, got confirmation on the radio from TowBoat US that the inlet and channel to the ICW would be no problem and we arrived at our planned anchorage behind New Smyrna Beach in Sheepshead Cut off the ICW by 1500 hrs.

We plan run down the ICW to visit with Harry and Linda of S/V Kuhela in Titusville tomorrow. We haven’t seen them since the Bahamas and they crossed the Gulf Stream a day before we did to return to the US last spring. It is good to see old friends again and for a cruiser, that is a big part of “what it is all about.”

Till next time – be well!
J&B

Wrightsville Beach to St. Augustine

December 16, 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

Our departure at 8 AM put us into the ICW at Shinn Creek (MM 285.2) for an eleven mile run to the Cape Fear River and with an outgoing tide, about a 9 knot ride to the mouth of the river and into the ocean for a planned overnight sail to Charleston, SC.

All went as planned with following 3 – 5 ft. seas that got somewhat uncomfortable as the night went on. At one point our autopilot stopped working and the boat started to turn into the wind slowly and imperceptibly until the sail began to luff. Barbie asked if the wind had just shifted and I jumped to the helm to notice the autopilot off and the compass heading about 120 degrees off course. In the pitch black, with no stars, no land light and Stardust at a distance and a direction we could not determine it was very disorienting for a moment. Once I turned the boat back on course, we could see Stardust’s lights again and we were on our way. There was no real lesson to be learned other than that being prepared and on watch like we were and keeping your wits about you are all good things. Strangely, the same thing happened to Stardust about an hour later. Same consequence.

As we approached dawn and Charleston, both captains were tired, but Kathy was ready to go on and I was ready as well so we crossed Charleston’s ship channel and headed eventually to the North Edisto River on seas that were nearly smooth and light winds. None the less, we were able to use the tide and the little wind to enter the river and sail to an anchorage. I put on shorts and we took a nice walk with the Stardusters along the beach (found no sea glass.) Barb made a great dinner and we retired early ready for the next day at sea.

Fog greeted us next morning, but we both have radar and we would be on the ocean so the hazards presented were minimal. Our radar can even get echoes from the seabirds in the air or on the water and the surfacing dolphins in such calm seas. The fog came and went, off and on during the day and the wind originated from our boats forward motion from our engines. Near sunset we made Ossabaw Sound and anchored just inside Bradley Point with another boat.

We had decided to try for St. Mary’s Inlet and Fernandina Beach, FL the next day and that meant a predawn departure. 0530 was dark, but clear and we headed out into a flat calm Atlantic once again. As the sunrise progressed the lights of Savannah could be seen astern and the dawn broke in all its glory off our port bow. Spectacular! The run to Fernandina Beach was uneventful and we anchored across from the town docks ready to explore the town the next day.

Fernandina Beach is a quaint town with lots of shops, restaurants, saloons and beautiful old houses. It is a working town as well with an active container ship dock and a shrimping and fishing fleet. For $3.65 we got a day’s dinghy dock, laundry and shower facilities privileges. We also refueled and topped off our water. And we walked around town in shorts! This was a “day off” that was well deserved and well spent.

At daybreak, Dec 11, we raised anchors bound for St. Augustine and with mainsails up for stability we leisurely motored along the Atlantic coast and entered the inlet on a rising tide.

We anchored just north of the Bridge of Lions below the ramparts of the Castillo. And here we will stay for a week, enjoying the sightseeing in this beautiful old city.

Until next time, be well.

J&B

In Wrightsville Beach

December 8, 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

Barb and I had a wonderful visit in Wrightsville Beach, NC with Tom and Vickie. I hope that they realize what an advantage it is to us to have their help. We used their truck and ran errands for provisioning. I made a looky bucket using one of Tom’s found buckets and a piece of clear Plexiglas (also a found item.) This is a great item for use in clear water for visually checking how well the anchor is set and for seeing other underwater wonders without getting wet. I repainted the outboard motor gas can. Vickie made great dinners for us and we slept at their house on some of the really cold nights. Barb and Vickie went shopping, went to old Wilmington to see the Christmas decorations and walked together. Barb and I walked the beach looking for sea glass and found a couple of pieces that were big enough for Barb to make jewelry from them.

On Tom’s day off, he and Vickie took us south of Myrtle Beach, SC to Brookgreen Gardens to participate in the festivities of their Night of One Thousand Candles. Brookgreen Gardens was the site of a plantation, but the mansion burned down. The grounds are beautifully planted and there is statuary everywhere. For this holiday occasion the grounds were accented with many more than one thousand candles and once the sun went down hoards of volunteers were scurrying to light them all. There were three different music venues and the grounds are so expansive that the sounds and applause at one was not heard at any of the others. That was a great day. For something completely different, Tom and I put on our suits and went for a dive to clean the boat’s bottom. We used wet suits. Those were the suits I meant. We also used my new SeaBreathe unit which is like SCUBA, but without the tank. Two people using hoses from an electric powered compressor can dive together. The water temperature was around 60 so it was good to be doing work to keep warm while we were underwater. Barb and I spent a couple of cold nights onboard while the expected windy, cold weather arrived right on time. The anchor held tight and we kept warm under two layers of down sleeping bags.

On Dec 5th Stardust arrived and I was able to take Jim and Kathy to get groceries using Tom and Vickie’s truck and then with Rachel we all went to Tom and Vickie’s. The Lees have now met all of my siblings. We all packed into the car and the truck and went out to Indochine, one of our favorite restaurants. On the way back we stopped to pick up a movie for Rachel’s schoolwork and since Rachel was in between Barb and me in the truck she learned to operate the stick shifter.

We will depart tomorrow. Thank you so much Tom and Vickie.