August 14 - September 4

Going up the East Coast

Fort Pierce to Saint Augustine, Florida

The overnight crossing from The Bahamas to Florida was relatively calm. The only thing exciting was that we were almost run down by The Sovereign of the Seas at about three o'clock in the morning. We called them several times on the radio to make sure they saw us, but no response. We sped up and they passed behind us about 1000 yards - a little stressful. Maybe the Coast Guard needed to board them instead of us.

Around sunrise, we sailed into the Fort Pierce Inlet and docked at the Harbortown Marina. After we fueled and docked, we spent a few hours getting some sleep and then it was off to immigration. Immigration was at the airport so we called a taxi and decided to wait at the marina's bar. Luckily for us, it has happy hour, and since it was going to take at least 30 minutes for the taxi, we needed a little pick-me-up for the ride. Since the taxi didn't actually show up for close to an hour, we were pretty "picked-up" to go to the airport. There we expected to spend at least 30 minutes with the officer, so we let the taxi go. Five minutes later we were back on the sidewalk with no taxi (and no happy hour either) and it took another 45 minutes to get a taxi back.

After two days at Ft Piece we went offshore to Cape Canaveral, well known for its large cruise ship terminal and the Kennedy Space Center. The next day's destination was Smyrna Beach which required us to go through the Ponce de Leon inlet. We had read and heard that this inlet could be tricky since the channel shifts after every storm, but it was well marked and deep. We docked at the Riverview Hotel and Restaurant on the ICW. Smyrna Beach ended up being a wonderful surprise. The old town is nestled between the ICW and a large, very popular beach and we had wonderful dinner at the Riverview Grille, just across from the where the boat was docked. The restaurant had a band playing outside on the terrace so we were able to enjoy the music from the boat after dinner.

Early the next morning, we left for the 60 mile trip to Saint Augustine. One of the things we were getting used to as we got further north were the tides. On the Gulf, the tides were very mild and we rarely paid attention to them. Here on the east coast, the tidal changes were much greater, and the inlets that we stayed in exacerbated the changes. At the dock in Smyrna we clocked almost 2 knots of current while we were tied up so we wanted to leave as close to slack water as possible.

Once offshore again, we motored towards Saint Augustine. The weather had been beautiful and the ocean had been calm since Fort Pierce, but it also meant that we had been motoring for the last few days and today was no exception. We were still in the Gulf Stream and were able to make good time. When we arrived in St. Augustine we decided to stay at the City Marina, just next to the Bridge of Lions. We were concerned about the tidal currents in the in anchorage.

St. Augustine is the oldest, continuously occupied city in the United States. It was first settled in 1565 by the Spanish, more than 50 years before the Dutch in New Amsterdam (New York) or 55 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. The city was under Spanish rule for over 200 years, although it was attacked by British forces several times. The old town is very quaint, with many shops and restaurants, and the fort Castillo de San Marcos on the river is full of history. We enjoyed two nights there and would have stayed longer but we still had a long way to go to the Chesapeake.

Further to Charleston, South Carolina

From St. Augustine, we spent the next night anchored near Cumberland Island just off of the St. Mary's River. The anchorage was very deep (almost 30 feet) and we had the place to our selves. Nearby, a small ferry was just ready to make its last crossing of the day. Except for the dock, there was nothing man-made any where near by and was very quite and peaceful.

The next day, we motored towards St. Simons Island through the ICW. This was the only part of the trip that we could use the ICW since there were no fixed bridges. Right after we left the anchorage and started up the St. Mary's River we passed the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base. We had seen a submarine offshore the previous day and watched it being towed up to the base just around sunset. We stayed as far away as we could from the base, a small boat with two large guys aboard with guns kept an eye on us.

Jekyll Island was the next stop and we docked at the Jekyll Harbor Resort Marina. Although we didn't really find the "resort" part, the marina was comfortable and there were a number of cruisers who were sitting out the hurricane season waiting to return south. The island was very low key; not many restaurants, only a few bars. It felt more like a planned suburban community, except for the historical district which included several old "cottages" that belonged to the old American aristocracy (Astors, Vanderbilts, Pulitzers, Morgans) and the beautiful Jekyll Island Club Hotel. The island and hotel were originally an exclusive club limited to 100 members, and the "cottages" were bigger than most people's homes.

After two days of relaxing and biking on the island we were ready to move on to Saint Catherine's Island, about 60 miles away. Looking at the chart, the channel leaving St. Andrew Sound looked very confusing with many shoals. Since we didn't come in that way, we took our time going out. I had just checked the depth (35 feet) a few moments before then suddenly we felt a hard bump, we were aground! We were about 20 yards abeam of the red buoy, we should have had at least 15 feet of depth, but now the boat was bottoming out with the 2 foot waves. Quickly, I threw the rudder to starboard while I reversed the engine. After a few more bumps, we were back in about 8 feet and we motored carefully towards the green side. We finally found some depth about 50 yards outside of the green mark. We are not going to visit Jekyll Island on the way back!

That evening, we anchored in Walburg Creek, just off of St. Catherine's Island. The island is private and is administered by The St. Catherine's Island Foundation for charitable, scientific, literary and educational purposes. The anchorage was very deep (about 15-20 feet) and we again had a wonderful, quiet evening.

Hilton Head Island was the next stop where we stayed at the Harbor Town Yacht Basin in Sea Pines Resort. The marina was surrounded by restaurants and shops and included a lively music scene at night, but the best part was the bike trails. We biked almost all day, first within the huge resort itself and then outside to explore the rest of the island. Despite the fact that it was sunny and hot, we were comfortable under the dense pine forest that covered the island.

After two days in Hilton Head, we pushed on towards Charleston. Here we stayed at the "Mega Dock" at the city marina which made us feel like we were a golf cart at an 18-wheeler convention. The 3,000 foot dock had diesel pumps about every 200 feet so the Megas, such as 165 foot yacht behind us, did not have to tie up to a different fuel dock. As Terri and I walked the 5 minute walk to the dock masters office, we passed a pump that had not been reset after the last fill-up - $7,700.00, almost 2,800 gallons. At the office they asked if we needed fuel but we were too embarrassed to take on only 30 gallons (they told us that earlier in week it took them 7 hours to fill one yacht with 20,000 gallons - do they take American Express?).

The marina had a free van to help boaters get around so they dropped us in the old, historical part of town. We walked around for a while ending up at Hyman's Seafood for lunch, a great, old and well-known Charleston restaurant. After lunch, we wandered through the Old City Market and wandered over to what looked like a visitors table covered with brochures. Unfortunately, it turned out they were plugging a time-share down the street, but after saying "no" in as many ways as we could, they upped the anti enough for us to say "ok".

The time-share was in a historical, renovated building and it looked pretty nice. However, I can tell you that you can get out these places quickly if you tell them you have no car, no house, no job and no permanent address. We ended up with a $75.00 restaurant voucher that we used at Carolina's Restaurant. The food was fantastic! We used our other "present" the next day to have a tour through the town on a horse-driven carriage ride.

Cape Fear

Charleston was great, but once again we felt we had to keep going if we wanted to get to the Chesapeake. Eight hours after leaving the Mega dock, we dropped anchor down river of Georgetown in Winyah Bay, a deep, peaceful anchorage all by our selves. The next day, the last day of August, we docked at Bald Head Island Marina just at the entrance to the Cape Fear River. The island felt like a bigger version of Sea Pines on Hilton Island. The only way to get on and off the island was via ferry and all the residents were only allowed to drive golf carts or bikes. Despite the fact that all the homes on the island are relatively new, the Old Baldy Lighthouse built in the 1800's was the most obvious sign of the history of the island, including pirates.

We left after two days. We would have stayed longer, however it was Labor Day weekend and the marina was full on Sunday night. We decided to go to Wrightsville Beach and anchor there for the remaining weekend. Despite the fact that the anchorage was less than 25 miles away, we had to go around the Frying Pan Shoals which extended southeast from Cape Fear for about 12 miles. So far during the trip, the weather had been very mild, not much wind and very calm seas. Before we even made the north turn around the shoals, the winds were up to 20-25 knots and the seas were building from 4-5 feet to 6-8 feet. Not really an emergency situation, but uncomfortable! By the time we got into the Masonboro Inlet, we were quite salty and wet and happy to be inshore. The inlet itself had been very challenging since the east wind had set up some huge rollers at the small entrance, something we would hear about again a few days later.

Wrightsville Beach was incredibly crowded with boaters of all sizes and shape. We had been warned that Wrightsville was going to be as crowded as Fort Lauderdale; the only difference was that there were NO "no-wake" zones anywhere. The anchorage near Motts Channel was deep and the holding was good, but the traffic was very busy. Still, we were happy to have found a refuge from the wind and waves that continued to build offshore. We found out later in the week that on Monday, the second night after we had anchored, a 65 foot Irwin that had left Cape Fear earlier that day lost power and tried to navigate the channel at night. Unfortunately, they ran aground on the jetties and the boat sunk. Luckily, the Coast Guard rescued the crew but the boat was destroyed. After our experience through the channel on Sunday, we could not image trying to navigate the channel at night with the weather the way it was.

At this point, it had taken us three weeks to get to Wrightsville beach, and the hard part was still before us. The next harbor refuge was Beaufort near Cape Lookout. After that, we were going to be forced to go around Cape Hatteras to Newport, Virginia which would have required a 36 hour offshore trip. At the same time, tropical storm Gabrielle had developed off the South Carolina coast with 40-50 knot winds with the potential of strengthening. Finally, our plans were to return south to the Bahamas after the Annapolis boat show which was only 3 weeks away. It didn't seem to make sense to push another 800 miles there and back given that we wouldn't have much time in the Chesapeake.

Our decision was to stay, but since Wrightsville was not a particularly comfortable hurricane hole, we decided to go up to Wilmington, North Carolina, about 25 miles up the Cape River. We saw a weather opportunity on Wednesday to go back around the Frying Pan Shoals to Cape Fear. After spending a night at Southport Marina just off the ICW, we motored three hours up the river. Finally, on Thursday, September the 6th, we found ourselves tied up at a dock at the Cape Fear Marina in Wilmington which was going to be our home for at least the next month.

Our current home has been comfortable and safe and we've been busy getting things ready for the next leg of our journey. We are still working on replacing the anchor windlass that broke in the Bahamas, but once that has been fixed, it's back to the Bahamas and beyond. We can't wait!

I think that dog really needs a PFD....

Charleston, South Carolina

Saint Augustine.

Lighthouse marina, Hilton Head