Beaufort, SC to Delray Beach

Friday, 11/29/13 - We Go Offshore Again
The massive cold front that had passed us yesterday had moved offshore and was being replaced by a large high pressure cell over the eastern seaboard. For us that meant northerly winds for a few days until they clocked again in front of the next cold front, and the possibility of some more offshore sailing. We were particularly interested in this opportunity as our previous offshore under similar weather conditions had worked out well and because the upcoming stretch of the ICW loomed ahead of us like the small intestines of a giant. Here, there are many inlets that are really impassible for sailboats because of their depth and shifting shoals. At each inlet there is a tree-like fan of estuarial rivers that rush inland for miles in twisting, meandering tidal marshes. The tides here are ferocious: 7-8 feet throughout South Carolina and Georgia. At the crest of each tree where the rivers of one inlet run close to the rivers of the next, man has cut a small channel to connect them into the Intracoastal Waterway. This means that the ICW passage south involves heading SE down one river to its inlet, then SW back up a more southerly branch of the inlet's rivers to an interconnecting channel, S through that channel to the next river, then SE down to its inlet, etc. etc. etc. All of this while contending with huge tides causing large currents in under-dredged channels that spend more time going east and west than north or south. We did this last year, and although it was beautiful & fun at the time, we were not looking forward to doing it again, so the weather window and our new found confidence in our double handed offshore sailing led us to consider another trip offshore.

Sunset off of Port Royal Sound

The Beaufort River empties into the large and deep Port Royal Sound that has a long channel out to its sea buoy past the Hilton Head Resort Island. We had several miles of this passage to reconsider our offshore choice but when the time came to fish or cut bait, the gentle 15 knot NE winds made it a simple decision and we continued down the channel to the ocean. Once past the sea buoy, we hoisted main and jib on a broad reach and settled in to our passage. The weather was warm and the winds stayed in the 15-20g25 (gusts to 25) range all night. After the sun set the stars came out in the moonless sky, our autopilot doing his duty as the miles ticked off behind us. About 4am, we were off of the St. Johns sea buoy and, it being too early to head in to Jacksonville, decided to head for St. Augustine another 30 miles south. The guide book for this port suggests the channel is often shoaling and so the buoys are not on the chart. We called the TowBoat US captain about an hour out and he assured us the channel had been recently dredged and gave us instructions on the buoy approach. He did note that there was an ebb tide flowing and that the channel might be a bit rougher than usual. This, it proved, was an understatement.

Saturday, 11/30/13 - Passing On Saint Augustine Inlet
About 9 am we arrived at the St. Augustine sea buoy and the seas were in the 7-8 foot range. We located the green #1 and red #2 buoys and headed towards them. The channel beyond was, however, lost in a sea of breaking waves and it was not possible to locate the next #3 and #4 buoys that would give us a line on the channel. We called the TowBoat captain again and he gave us the course to steer but prudence overruled our desire to get into port and so we waited until the towboat could come out to guide us into the channel. At about 1000 hrs he called and said he was at red #4 but that the seas in the channel were "like a washing machine" and he was seeing 8 ft depths in the troughs.  That was a no-brainer for us and we considered our options: wait offshore in 7-8 ft seas until high tide, beat north 30 miles to Jacksonville, or continue south. The weather report was calling for decreasing winds clocking to the East and so it became a simple decision for us to continue south.

Honey, can you see the next buoy? I can't!

We originally thought we might head for Ponce De Leon Inlet but the sun came out and the winds decreased to 15-20 knots on a broad reach as we headed south toward Fort Pierce inlet. Another 20 degrees to port and 90 miles away lay the Hertzel Shoal Lighted Buoy off of Cape Canaveral so we figured we were on a roll and headed for there. The winds held beautifully as we approached the Cape, building to 20-25 knots gradually as we approached on a beam reach. About 5 miles from the buoy Jeff noticed that the helm did not seem to be connected to the rudder any more and was spinning in his hands! We spent some frantic moments determining that: a) we still had a rudder, b) the autopilot was still connected to it and c) the problem lay somewhere in the cabling between the rudder quadrant and the wheel itself. Relieved in this knowledge, we reenabled the autopilot and continued around the point. Around 0100 Neala was on the helm when she reported two large ships approaching directly toward us in the night. The winds were still 15-25 kt but the seas had built to around 10 feet and so the ships would disappear when we dropped into the troughs. Of course, our running lights being much closer to the water than their lights, we would drop out of sight to the large passenger cruise liners too. Jeff called them both on the VHF and ensured they both had us on their AIS and radars. One, a Carnival ship, would pass a mile astern of us and the other, a Disney ship, would pass a mile ahead of us on their way into Port Canaveral. Close enough for us but far enough away to be a safe passing. The moon had still not come up and the night was very dark. Northern Lights sailed beautifully on into the night, sliding up and down the large seas without complaints.

We set our phone alarms to 30 minutes and took cat naps between them for the rest of the night. After being awake most of the previous night we were exhausted. Jeff slept in the cockpit so he could hear if any of the sails started flogging and Neala slept in the salon below. Later we figured out we could have staggered our wake-ups and checked for traffic every 15 minutes but it was nice to be together and there was no further reason to be nervous as the boat sailed herself on towards Fort Pierce inlet in the night. In the morning, Jeff opened up the steering pedestal and saw that the chain sprocket that was attached to the helm shaft was loose. He tightened the two set screws and pronounced the steering problem solved. Or so we thought...

Sunday, 12/1/13 - A Close Call in Fort Pierce Inlet
Around 1000 we arrived at the Ft. Pierce sea buoy and began our entrance into the inlet. The seas were now about 6 feet from the east and there was another ebb tide running in the channel. This time we could see all of the approach buoys and, while the seas were breaking outside of the channel they were not breaking inside of the channel. We continued onward. Just approaching green #3, Jeff felt the helm start to slip again. YIKES! Losing steerage at this point in the entrance was a HUGE PROBLEM! As the boat swung south and aimed herself directly at the very large, very heavy, very steel, green #3 buoy that was plunging up and down in the waves, he dived for the autopilot control and, pressing the buttons rapidly in succession, quickly got us back on course headed back into the channel. BIG WHEW! It turned out that the autopilot could do a better job of keeping us on course than he could and so we were able to complete the entrance passage and take a side tie at nearby HarborTown Marina for the night. We've had a wonderful 2 months and this was our only "near-death" experience!

 The helm drive shaft, key and sprocket in proper juxtaposition!

Entering the Fort Pierce inlet

We went in to the harbor office to check in and then had a nice lunch (with wine!) at the restaurant there before Jeff tackled the steering problem again. This time, in better light and with more insight into the design of the mechanism, he noticed that the large steel key that had secured the helm shaft to the drive sprocket had fallen out and was laying at the bottom of the steering pedestal.  The set screws were only to keep the sprocket centered on the shaft so that the key would stay in place, so that by replacing the key and retightening the set screws he quickly got our steering back to factory condition. We took a nap until 1800 and, after a light dinner snack, went back to sleep until the morning glad to be safe and sound in the marina.

Monday, 12/2/13 - Motor to Peanut Island Anchorage
We awoke well rested after the preceding adventures and decided to motor down the ICW in flat water and light winds rather than go offshore again. We had an uneventful trip the 44 miles down to Lake Worth and dropped the hook off of Peanut Island late in the afternoon. After sunset, we were assaulted by very loud music from the local cruise liner that was getting ready to head for the Bahamas. As we watched them head out the channel we realized with mixed emotions that this would be our last night on our trip south from Erie to Delray Beach.

 Sunset in Peanut Island anchorage

Noisy cruise boat heading for the Bahamas

Tuesday, 12/3/13 - Home to Delray Beach
We got the anchor up at 0645 and were motoring to the Flagler Memorial Bridge soon after. We had a nice flood tide and made the 0715 opening about an hour ahead of our expected schedule. The tide kicker continued as we passed the remaining 9 bridges (!) on the last 20 miles of the ICW from Palm Beach to Delray Beach. We made the 1115 opening at Atlantic Avenue and the 1130 opening of the Linton Avenue bridge and were in our slip being greeted by our friends Terry & Jeannie by 1145. By spending three nights offshore we had shaved a week off of our southbound trip and were now ready to relax for a few days before flying back to Erie and Colorado for the holidays.

 Ocean Avenue Bridge in Boynton Beach

 Atlantic Avenue Bridge in Delray Beach

 Heading into Tropic Bay marina

 Jeanne, Terry & Don welcome committee

Home to Delray Beach, safe and sound

Celebrating our arrival with Vince's gift bottle of Veuve at Jeanne & Terry's

Epilogue
We've enjoyed this adventure for 2+ months - have visited lots of great places, met new friends, visited old friends, discovered beautiful little anchorages along the way, had some fantastic sailing, learned a lot about ourselves and mastered new abilities. We are currently enjoying our time here in Delray Beach and are looking forward to more sailing adventures in the future. We are currently planning to get back onboard sometime after the holidays to head for the Bahamas. We'll continue this blog when we do. Thanks for reading!

Beaufort to Beaufort

11/15/13 - Into Wilmington, NC
We got underway at 0700 but missed the 0900 hourly opening of the Surf City swing bridge by 10 minutes and so had to loiter in front of it while others from our anchorage, who probably enjoyed their coffee and breakfast, came wandering in to join us. Underway again at 1000, we made the Figure 8 Swing bridge and then had to loiter again to wait for the 1300 opening of the Wrightsville Bascule Bridge. As all of the marinas in the area were full we decided to head for Wilmington and continued south past Carolina Beach and into the Snow's Cut to get to the Cape Fear River. Now, the tide was at a spring-tide low but the guide book said the north channel was deep so when we grounded suddenly at its entrance we were quite surprised. Fortunately, the tide was rising and we were able to pollywog our way off of the shoal and back into the south channel instead. About an hour later we pulled into the Wilmington Marine Center and took a side tie for a week in their protected harbor.

 Along the way we passed Tom and Jan's lovely Buena Vista home who are long time friends of Jeff's

 Cruising up  the Cape Fear River with a big one passing us!

Northern Lights in Wilmington Marine Center

11/16/13 - Visiting Wilmington, NC
We took a cab into the downtown area to explore old Wilmington. They had a farmers market on Saturday and we saw some great okra pickles in one stand and tasted some local wines before wandering up the street to explore. Across the river, the WW-II battleship North Carolina sat in her war paint begging us to visit, so we took the water taxi across the Cape Fear River and spent 2 hours wandering through the old battlewagon. As it turns out, BB-55 was the first battleship to reach Pearl Harbor after the Japanese invasion and saw action in every major theater of the Pacific during the war. She was torpedoed by the same submarine that sunk the carrier Wasp - the first shot missed the carrier and hit the ship 13 miles away. Bad luck for sure but she returned to Pearl, her damage had been repaired and she was back to sea in 3 weeks. She was saved from the scrap yard after the war and visitors can tour a 16 inch gun turret, see the shell & powder magazines below and generally tour all of the ship. Jeff was in heaven and thought it well worth the trade of another art museum tour to compensate Neala, although she does seem to be fascinated by ships and such. We had lunch at The George on the waterfront and had the southern version of Eggs Benedict - buttermilk biscuit topped with a grilled tomato, a crab cake, a perfectly cooked poached egg all topped off with perfect Hollandaise - yum! (Accompanied by a nice Chardonnay.) Later we returned to the boat to pack for our flights early the next day. Jeff was flying to San Francisco for a conference and Neala was flying back to Erie to visit her family and friends.

Downtown Wilmington

 USS North Carolina BB-55

Nice backdrop!

Sixteen inch, forty-five caliber battleship rifles shot 1900 lb projectiles - quite impressive!

11/22/13 - Return to Wilmington
We both had late flight arrivals but Neala was delayed by weather in both Erie and Philadelphia and so would not arrive until midnight which meant she had an 8 hour layover in Phillie. Digression: Jeff's college girlfriend Bonnie's family owned a summer home in Wilmington right on the ICW waterway between the Figure 8 and Wrightsville Bridges. Jeff had visited the cottage in the 60's with her and had recognized it last year as we steamed by on our trip south. He had called Bonnie's brother Tom and wife Jan at the time - they had all stayed in contact over the years - but we could not get together then. This year Jeff called sooner and we had arranged to get together for dinner the next night. Anyway, Tom & Jan left a car at the airport for us (so nice!) and he was able to drive back to the boat to turn on the heat and make her comfortable for Neala's late arrival. That was so thoughtful!

11/23/13 - Tom's 70th Birthday Party!
We slept in late after all the traveling and drove into Wilmington for lunch and to wander around a bit more in this historic town. We had another lunch at The George (ordered those great crab cake Eggs Benedict again!) and picked up some very fine okra pickles from Angela before returning to the boat. Around 1600 we headed out to Tom & Jan's and arrived to find they were celebrating Tom's 70th birthday! They had their daughter Amy there for the party along with her two young children 4-yr old Josie and 18 month old Rex. Tom & Jan are long time cruisers and have made the ICW and Bahamas trips several times over the years. Jan was most interested in our experiences on the Erie Canal and in the Great Lakes so it turned out we had many topics for animated conversation that evening. After a delightful evening which included a great meal of "beer can chicken" with their family Tom drove us back to the boat and we prepared for our trip south the next day. Thanks Tom and Jan for a wonderful evening!

 Angela's pickled okra and citron cucumbers are the best - perfect for Jeff's "martini salad"

 Some of the fresh Swiss Chard we got at the market

Tom and Josie opening birthday cards

Jan, Amy, Josie, Tom and Rex celebrating Tom's birthday. So glad we could be there, too!

11/24-25/13 - Our First Overnight Offshore Together!
A big low pressure cell had just passed over Wilmington the previous day and there were gale warnings up and down the coast up until 1pm today. After fueling, we departed the marina at 1230 to head down the Cape Fear River with some trepidation. The Frying Pan Shoal buoy was still showing 27-32 knots of wind and 8 foot seas when we left but the forecast was for easing of conditions so we headed out knowing we had until 1400 to chicken out and take the ICW south in Southport or head out to sea. By the time we got to our decision point the winds had abated to 18-24 knots and the seas were calming too so we decided to head out for our first offshore overnight together! By 1630 we were heading SW on a broad reach in 18-22 knots and making 7-8 knots as the sun set in the west. The wind had clocked a bit too much to carry both main and jib so we furled the jib and ran downwind under main alone. At sundown, Neala took the first watch while Jeff snoozed in the salon. At 2130 he awoke and took over the conn for the mid watch. At 0430 Neala took over on a port broad reach and Jeff went to bed. When the sun came up the winds had built to 25-30 kts and the seas to 6-8 ft and we ran out a little bit of jib so we could head up to reef the main. The Charleston channel was in sight and we were going to need to close reach so a balanced, double reefed sail plan was in order. We were able to reach into the harbor in exciting conditions to the breakwater where the seas at least abated. From there it was an easy sail into the harbor and finally under power again we rejoined the ICW to clear the 1100 opening of the Wapoo River bridge on a flood tide. Neala took the helm again while Jeff took some calls - it was his usual busy Monday morning at MiHIN. At 1500 we anchored in the Toogoodoo River in a nice little anchorage and decompressed while our friends (and Delray Beach neighbors) Wayne & Kristin of Kemo Sabe motored into the anchorage to meet us for dinner. They had been keeping their boat in Charleston and were only a couple of hours behind us for the rendezvous. We put the dinghy in the water and motored over to Kemo Sabe for drinks and a dinner reunion and a celebration of Kristin's birthday!

 Broad reach in 15 - 20 kts offshore of Cape Fear River 

First double-handed sunset from Wilmington to Charleston

 Celebrating Kristin's birthday on Kemo Sabe in Toogoodoo Creek - beautiful anchorage south of Charleston

These happy guys celebrated, too!

11/26/13 - Into Beaufort, SC For Thanksgiving With Tina
0830 We awoke after a good night sleep and got underway to Beaufort. The weather was awful, with rain and fog obscuring the channel markers on this twisty part of the ICW. Neala drove again using the GPS and binoculars to navigate in the bad weather while Jeff conversed with his MiHIN colleagues in Michigan over GoToMeeting in the comfortable cockpit enclosure. It's a pretty tough way to earn a living! We made the 1500 opening of the Lady's Island Swing Bridge and tied up at the City Docks at 1530 for two days of visiting with Jeff's daughter-in-law Tina. Jeff's son, Troy, is currently working in the Philippines so unfortunately he was not with us (except by Skype!)

 Going through Ladies Island Swing Bridge in the rain. We docked in this stuff, too!

However, the evening was beautiful - Northern Lights is the left mast

11/27/13 - Conference Calls, Art Galleries and Shrimp n' Grits
Jeff had his usual Wednesday calls and a demonstration of his Provider Directory so he was busy in the salon until afternoon. Neala met Tina for brunch and they spent the morning touring the many art galleries and little shops that line Bay Street. Beaufort, SC is such a great little town! By 1300 Tina was off to her work and Jeff was done with his so we both walked around the town together in the afternoon. Tina picked us up for dinner and we drove to the Dockside Restaurant where we had dined with her last year for some of their famous Shrimp n Grits. We have been sampling the various recipes of Shrimp and Grits (no one prepares it the same way!) and, hands down, the Dockside's is the best!

Neala, Jeff and Tina at the Dockside on Ladies Island - truly the best Shrimp n Grits ever!

11/28/13 - Thanksgiving Turkey and Time With Tina
We drove to St. Helena Island to Tina's who had prepared a yummy breakfast of fruit crepes, coffee and Swedish sausage, then went for a long walk with her two award-winning Shelties -  Fiji and Chanel. Tina is a national-level Agility competitor with these dogs and she has a complete agility course set up in her back yard to train them with. It is amazing to watch the dogs fly around the obstacle course following Tina's verbal and hand commands. After our walk we returned to the boat to change for Thanksgiving dinner at Panini's in town. They prepared a delicious smoked turkey dinner with all of the trimmings and we had a wonderful meal.  After dinner Tina drove us to Port Royal for another walk and tour of the town before we returned to Northern Lights for dessert (Dutch apple pie in the cockpit) and to say farewell. Tomorrow, we plan another offshore overnight to Jacksonville, hoping to avoid the shallow small intestines of the ICW the rest of the way to Florida. We just had another big front blow through yesterday and the weather forecast looks like what we saw from Wilmington so we are heading out again tomorrow.

Tina and Fiji showing us their award-winning Agility moves

 Neala and Tina on the neighborhood dock

 Nice Thanksgiving day walk

 Jeff and Tina with Fiji and Chanel 

 Pretty scene of the salt marshes along our walk

 Port Royal Sound from the observation tower

 We loved this "shrimp" mailbox we saw along our walk!

 Jeff and Neala in front of the "Traveling Buoy" that broke loose and traveled 6,000 miles to Scotland - we couldn't make that one up!

 Plaque at the Traveling Buoy

Ladies Island Swing Bridge at dawn