Avoiding the ditch (ICW) is always best but sometimes it’s unavoidable. The trip out from Georgetown up the Waccamaw River is spectacular; wide and deep and surrounded by trees and wetlands. From there you travel the urbanized canal through the Myrtle Beach area. We stopped at the Barefoot Landing Marina and had a shore side supper of beer, appetizers and more beer. What a life this is! Up early as usual for one of the toughest stretches out there.

The Sunset Beach Pontoon Bridge is always a treat. Opening only the hour, this relic will hopefully be replaced soon by a high rise. It is slow and a royal pain! Past this comes the dreaded Shallotte Inlet, sight of one of my groundings last fall. Well this time we made it through with plenty of water. Next comes Lockwood’s Folly Inlet. I wouldn’t get off so easy this time. The current was ripping and I was slowing for another boat. The current pulled me towards the green markers (I wanted to stay close to the reds) and I hit pretty hard in less than five feet of water. I did an about face and hit full power. I plowed a bit but managed to head for deeper (6′) water. My stress level was reaching new highs.About ten miles later we pulled into the docks at the Provision Company, a really good seafood restaurant. The slips are free but they do appreciate you spending some money at the restaurant. I did my best. Steamed shrimp, grilled yellowfin tuna and plenty of cold beer. I aim to be a gracious guest.

This is Otis, the resident Great Egret. Doesn’t everyone have one?

The lovely town of Southport, North Carolina where all this takes place.

The trip up the Cape Fear River the next morning was uneventful as was Snow’s Cut, but this was a day of restricted bridge openings and two more of the most dreaded inlets in North Carolina, Carolina Beach and New River. Our speed was regulated by our arrival times at the bridges. This usually meant all ahead SLOW! Thank goodness tax dollars are starting to flow to the ICW. Both inlets had been dredged and where very deep. I breathed a sigh of relief as I dropped the hook at Mile Hammock Bay near Camp LeJeune. Interesting to note that of the approximately 24 boats anchored there, over half had been in Marathon.Up early again for another restricted bridge opening. Today would be a short one as we planned to do a little provisioning (shopping). We had one more surprise in store for us. Brown’s Inlet had been dredged! This area had so many shoals last fall that it took all of the extra buoys the Corps of Engineers had just to mark passage. Passage, of course if you could figure out where to go. The bridge tender said it best, “you needed a ouija board to figure out how to get through there!” We scooted into the secluded anchorage of Spooner’s Creek around noon, high tide. I showed 6.3′ going in. Hope I can get out. Stay tuned.Got to close with another sunset picture. You haven’t had any lately. This is sunset at Southport looking south down the ICW.

Fourteen of us departed Fernandina Beach early Thursday morning, April 17th. Many of these boats were those we had met along the way last year or who had spent time in Marathon. We were traveling with friends. Our course would take us out St. Mary’s Inlet to the North Atlantic where a straight course would be set for the Charleston ship channel. This course would takes us 25 miles offshore. Seas were relatively calm and there was not much breeze so apparent wind speed would be a tad over zero. It would mean a motor sail. Sorry but there isn’t much to photograph out in the ocean. I’m not quick enough to catch the sights as they appear fleetingly. Hundreds of porpoise would be seen over the next 30 hours as well as one sea turtle and several schools of rays with 24 or so in each school. Since I’m alone on this trip, I spend a lot of time talking to Goliath or chatting with other cruisers via the vhf. I could hear hear people in the ICW over 25 miles away. I chatted briefly with some friends we had met the fall before. A trip like this is tedious. You have plenty of water below the boat so no worries there. Set the autopilot and maintain a relaxed watch. Occasionally a freighter would steam by in the distance but no close calls this time. As night fell it was hard to tell where twilight ended and moonlight started. We had a full moon and it lit up the sky. It made the trip much easier. I would hail Symmetry and chat for awhile then settle back into the tedium. I learned that I could catch little cat naps as we went along. As I dozed off the sound of the engine would fade. When it disappeared it startled me awake.We passed Charleston before dawn the next day. We decided to push on to Winyah Inlet that would take us to Georgetown, South Carolina. Twenty eight hours after leaving Fernandina Beach I arrived at the mouth of the inlet. By now Symmetry was about four miles ahead of me. The current was in full ebb by the time in entered. Boat speed dropped to less than 2 knots. I was being pulled rapidly out of the channel and into the shallows. I increased engine speed to almost 3400 rpm. I had the headsail out and speed increased to 2.9 knots. Enough to keep me barely under control and still make some headway. Tom called from up ahead. Winds were hitting thirty knots so I better reef the headsail. I set the autopilot and cranked the furler with one the winches. I set a small triangle of a sail as some sail helps you maintain steerage in situations like this. With just this amount of sail and the windage of the boat, it would put the rail in the water with each gust. Three hours of this crap and I finally made it to The Boat Shed Marina, the friendliest bunch of folks you could ever meet.

The little town of Georgetown. I plan on spending more time there this fall.

The crisp morning air was refreshing as we departed St. Augustine. Blue skies and calm seas stayed with us as we continued our journey north. Many miles slipped by as we motored along the back country of northern Florida. Smoke in the distance gave credit to the red flag warnings we had seen. The air was crisp and very dry. The wind was beginning to pick up. Perfect conditions for brush fires. After a quick check of the charts it became obvious we couldn’t avoid the smoke. The big question was how close was the fire.

Well, the fire was spreading fast but you might think; hey you’re on the water, what’s the big deal? Well the big deal was, there was ashes in the air and there could be embers. Flames were shooting into the air. Symmetry had already passed by but as I was passing it started to get close.

It was quite spectacular. I caught the brunt of the smoke and ash. I glanced at the wake and was shocked to see it appear to be reflecting fire! I thought that maybe the bimini was on fire, but it was only the sun glowing through the smoke. I emerged shortly, none the worse.

The rest of the trip to Fernandina Beach was pretty straight forward. We anchored off the channel and planned for our offshore adventure.

Gale warnings and cold temperatures have forced Marylee and Symmetry into slips in St. Augustine for several days. It’s a far cry from what we were experiencing just several days ago in Vero.

Vero Beach, Florida

Oyster Creek Marina, St. Augustine, Florida

It’s been four months since we were last connected to the grid. We produce all our own electricity and have hauled water to the boat from shore when needed. The boat hasn’t received a proper washdown in all that time (not counting very welcome rain showers). So here I sit cleaning everything thoroughly and enjoying what most of you take for granted. I have …

Unlimited hot water. I can wash dishes without worrying about running out of hot water.

Water! It comes out of a hose! What a concept. No worries there.

Electricity, I’m hooked up to shore power, which means I can use 110 volt for heating water, lights etc. I can leave them on if I want to. When I have 110 I defrost the freezer (bet you haven’t done that in awhile). I vacuum! Wow I am having some fun. This is a time to “equalize” the battery bank. While on shore power I can charge (actually cook) the lead sulfate of the plates so they retain a better charge.

I can’t complain too much since I do have help.

Goliath sets an example of what I get to do when my chores are done.

TTFN

After four nights we slipped our mooring at Vero Beach and are heading north. When I say “we” that is Goliath and I. Brisk winds from the west allowed us to motor sail most of the way with the headsail. It’s difficult to sail with the main since you generally don’t have a lot water to head up in case you have to drop it fast.

It would be a ten hour day to get from Vero to Titusville where we planned to drop the hook. About two hours from Titusville, Goliath kept getting up and staring down below. He’d turn to me like “can’t you read my mind?” I thought he was thirsty so I set the autopilot and prepared to go below to get his water dish. I got water all right. A hose had come loose from the water heater and the bilge was filling with water. The cabin sole was all wet and it was draining down into the bilge around the boards. I quickly shut off the water pressure pump and closed the ball valves that allow water to flow from our storage tanks. After dropping the hook I have been cleaning and drying out everything. I reattached the hose but will have to find and address the real problem soon.

Goliath will get an extra treat tonight!

Mary’s sister was admitted to the hospital after suffering pulmonary failure and some heart problems. Mary needed to head home. We agreed that Palm Beach would be the best place to drop her off. She made arrangements and plans were made to take her ashore at Rybovich Marina, a huge megayacht marina. It was a 3/4 mile dinghy ride in a light rain. Security at Rybovich was great and very understanding of the situation. They met us at the dock with golf carts to whisk her off to the waiting cab that they called. She got there and realized that her wallet was back on the boat. I raced off into the darkness and pouring rain to fetch it. The storm was really getting bad on the return trip and I was soaked as I was heading into the increasing seas. She left as the rain and storm unleashed everything it had. Security wouldn’t let me go back out (which I wasn’t going to do anyway) so I settled into the hospitality room, stripped off my dripping foulies and pulled up local radar on the free computer. The storm lasted a good one an half before I could go back out. 45 mph winds and torrential rains preceded my departure. There had been plenty of lightning and thunder and I was really worried about Goliath being all alone out there. I quickly bailed about 4″ of water out of the dinghy and raced back. Goliath was pretty spooked but he’s a troopper. I dried off and went to bed.

One more system blew through at 2 am so we didn’t get much sleep.

Light came too quckly but it was time to move on. I was now single handing. No more help with anchoring, docking, watches, etc. Just me and Goliath the wonder dog. We wanted to get to Vero Beach but fatigue set in so we decided to anchor just south of the high rise bridge near Fort Pierce. Tom wanted to go into Faber Cove (home to Faber College?) but the entrance was too shallow for me as I ran aground in 4.7′ of water. I managed to back out and turn around and dropped the hook out further in 14′. As it turns out this is where Mike and I had anchored 3 years ago while bringing the boat north after purchase.

We slipped onto a mooring at Vero Beach by noon the next day. We’ll stay rafted here for a few days and then it’s on towards Daytona and St. Augustine.

April 2nd would be the day we departed Marathon, our winter home. The outside route was forecast a little rough so we chose to go inside and follow Florida Bay up to Biscayne Bay. This route is shallow and not recommended for boats with 5′ drafts but our buddy boat, Symmetry with Tom and Lisa aboard, would run point and had assured us that an O’day 39 drawing 5′ had gone with them last year and had done fine. So off we go …

Our first stop would be Islamorada and passage of the dreaded Steamboat Channel. No problems as we saw nothing less than 6′. We did cut the route into the anchorage a little sharp and ran aground momentarily but it was an easy power off.

The next morning we were up early to hit the tides right for the next set of challenges. The Bay side is very pretty with cuts through mangroves and clear water. The bottom was almost always visible. As we approached Baker Cut (MM1145) between Tavernier and Key Largo we started seeing some very shallow water. After numerous bumps and skips along the bottom (and it was high tide!) we managed to hit very hard and stop in 5′ of water. The boat draws 4′ 11″ in stock form but we figure we might draw close to 5′ 3″ with our full load. After some full throttle applications and yawing back and forth we managed to bust loose and we went our merry way. Needless to say we were a little stressed. We needed a break so we stopped shortly after Key Largo (Jewfish Creek Bridge) in Thursday Cove. Totally isolated we rested quietly overnight.

The trip to Miami up the Bay was great. We had the wind on the beam near 20 knots. Up went the sails and off went the engine. We sailed almost all the way to Bear Cut. We picked up a mooring at Crandon Park Marina in Key Biscayne and stayed two nights waiting for weather. Key Biscayne is very beautiful and is lushly landscaped. Nice place.

Early Sunday, the 6th we headed outside to Lake Worth (West Palm Beach). Sailed most of the way. At times we had 25 knots on the beam with 3′ to 5′ waves also on the beam. At one point, with one reef in the main and the headsail furled to about 50% we were still doing better than 7 knots. As the winds diminished to 20 or less we rolled out the headsail and left the one reef in the main. What a ride. With an hour or so to go the weather started to deteriorate. Dark clouds and lightning threatened. We raced the storm.

As it usually goes this also coincided with me starting to catch fish. A big King Mackeral hit my lure and raced away with the drag screaming. After a good fight I was pulling him close enough to the swim platform to give him the gaff when the lure popped off and away he went. BUMMER! Bound and determined I put the lure back out dispite the looming storm and was rewarded by another strike, a smaller Spanish Mackeral which we did land.

We slipped into Lake Worth and settled in prior to the storm hitting the area.