I Hear the Whistle Blowing

We have trains passing through here all day and night. From our slip, we hear the whistle in the distance.

Our Pelican

This is our local pelican. He hangs out at the marina most afternoons, fishing and drifting in the current.

Laundry Day

Every week or so we have a laundry day. Today is that day.

Good News

We're still waiting for a temperature sensor for our engine, but this morning I found some good news about our air conditioning pump. As I was disassembling the hose connections it seemed that the pump wasn't primed. So, with the output hose disconnected, I opened the seacock briefly and it primed. We turned on the AC and now we have water flowing and everything seems to be working! Hoorah!

Sunset

It's the end of another beautiful day.

Pelican Ahoy

We have visitors every day! The only problem is they like to poop on deck. So, we're constantly having to hose off the deck.

AC Pump

Just to keep me busy, one of the air conditioning pumps gave up today. A new pump is on order, and the replacement should be straight forward since everything is accessible. 

Dawn

Colors over the marsh behind our slip.

5:00?

It's 80 here today and we're making the most of it.

Provisioning Day #1

This is the first of several trips to get food aboard for our trip to the Bahamas. Supplies are harder to come by there, so it's good to take as much with us as we can fit onboard.

Warmer

It's warmer today, 75 degrees, and partly sunny. There's a nice breeze blowing through the boat now that we can open all the hatches. 

Our engine sensor is expected to arrive on Friday, and we hope the mechanic can come on Monday to install it. We're keeping our fingers crossed for this to fix the issue.

Fort Pierce

We made it to Fort Pierce this afternoon. This is where we'll get our engine repaired and prepare the boat for the jump to the Bahamas. We're feeling good about getting to this point in our trip.

Blustery

Today, in contrast to yesterday, temperatures are in the 50s and it's blowing 15 knots with higher gusts. We're making the best of it, and we plan to make our way to Ft. Pierce tomorrow. There we will wait for a part for our engine, provision the boat for the Bahamas, and wait for a weather window to make our crossing.

Cocoa

We are docked at Cocoa Village for a few days… easy pleasant run today with sunshine and 70 degrees. But, it's cloudy now and getting ready to blow a bit tonight.

Daytona

Standing on the start/finish line at Daytona International Speedway today. The banking is steeper than it looks on TV!

St. Augustine at Night

Daytona

We made it to Daytona today. It's cold here (36 in St Augustine this morning)! At least we have sunshine, which keeps us warm in the pilot house.

Rain

It's a rainy day here, so we're taking the opportunity to get some administrative stuff done. We're hoping to dodge the rain and get out this afternoon.

St Augustine

We're safely docked in St Augustine tonight after a 24 hour run in the ocean from Hilton Head Island. The only drama today was watching someone docking their big Viking Sport Fishing boat with a strong current in the marina. He panicked and started using lots of horsepower to try to get out of the situation. He rammed a piling hard enough that he knocked it over. Fortunately, he missed hitting our boat, but it was close. Only the piling suffered, and the marina staff quickly lassoed it and got it out of the way. I wonder what they charge for destroying a piling?!?

Night Mode

We motored through the night, with very little traffic. We encountered one cargo ship heading out to sea from Brunswick following the VTS (Vessel Traffic Safety, like a lane on a highway to keep large boats separated), with a closest approach distance of 1.5 miles. We spoke on the radio with them before we crossed and carried on.

We also spotted what first looked like a flare, but it was actually a rocket launch. A very cool sight over the ocean.

On our Way

Heading to St. Augustine. Posting via Starlink.

Lunch in Blufton

Blufton

We took a little excursion today with our friends Ann and Ian to Blufton for lunch and a walk. It's a beautiful town and this church occupies the end of the main street, right next to the water.

Hilton Head

We're in a snug harbor, ready for the next storm tomorrow. Sensei continues to teach us lessons…

Hitchhiking

As we arrived in Hilton Head, a pelican decided to join us for our approach. Welcome aboard!

Onward

We are underway with calm conditions. Winds are expected to pick up again tomorrow, but we will be in a sheltered marina in Hilton Head. We're motoring on our starboard engine only.

One More Take

I should have waited a few more minutes… colors are intensifying.

Good Night, Beaufort

All is Calm

What a difference a day makes! Getting ready for departure tomorrow, on to our next port, Hilton Head.

Again!

The winds briefly picked up again at 3:00 AM. We saw 40 knots and then things settled down to 20 knots. Another tough night for the crew onboard.

Rocky Times

It was a rough day on the deck today. Notice how much the sailboat ahead of us is heeling! Winds are abating now.

In the Thick of It

Still a ways to go. We had a gust to 51 knots, and a lot of time in the 40s. The Bimini is peeling away, but might be ok. Should have taken that down before the storm!

It’s Coming!

Temperature Sensor

I'm pretty sure this is the source of our problem: the temperature sensor reads 225 degrees even when the engine is cold. Now the challenge is finding the part and getting some help to install it. To be continued…

Elliot’s Cut

Making our way through Elliot's Cut. One of our engines overheated, so we're only running on one engine today. We'll make it to Beaufort and have it checked out there.

Weather

The weather here is delightful this afternoon, but just a few hours ago it was bucketing down rain and it was blowing 30 knots in the harbor. We finished our provisioning this morning and we plan to depart on Monday for our next stop: Beaufort, SC.

Return to Charleston

Our ride south is here…