When the frost is on the pumpkin in Exeter, NH and the sun is 79 in St. Augustine

Mazu had a last run before we went out to sea for a few days as she shakes and pants most of the time when we're under way.

 

Seems she is getting more frightened as she gets older rather than used to it.

We left River Dunes to sail/motor to St. Augustine over a 3 day (72 hour) beautiful weather window at sea.  Life in the waves 35 miles off shore is different than digitally connected and in sight of land.  We set up the lee cloth so when we take turns at the helm one can sleep without falling off the settee in the salon below.  The string holds up the side of a navy blue cloth that's also secured under the cushions.  The boat rolls quite a bit so  the blue cloth keeps us from rolling out when sleeping.  Someone is at the helm at all times.   I claim the 10 to 2 am watch and then it's sort of whoever is awake is on.

 We use a red light at the Navigation station so our eyes stay used to the darkness, and we can see in the dark outside at the helm.  Every night had a glorious moon shining too.

At the Nav station the picture shows the computer screen lit up that tracks our route,  the radar screen that shows us if there's a boat or barge or cruise ship heading our way.  We can set it for a 1/2 mile to 48 miles out.  The yellow screen is the data like speed, depth, longitude and latitude.  The little white lights on the left are all of the items on the boat that are being charged by batteries: plugs on port and starboard sides, hot water heater, VHF, radio, lights inside and outside, the upper right hand yellow light is the VHF that monitors stations for US Coast Guard announcements or ship to ship conversations.  You're not supposed to use channels 9,13, or 16 to chat.  They are for marinas and important conversations.  All of these instruments can also be seen in the cockpit at the helm where we are on watch. If there's a storm and it's too rocky and unsafe to be outside we can navigate from down below with this nav station.

We had very smooth sailing and the usual beautiful sunsets. You can see how calm the water is. 

Then it got a little rougher:

The rougher weather was predicted by the expression: "red sky in morning sailors take warning"   The sunrise:

We arrived in St. Augustine Thursday morning at 7 am leading about 7 boats into the inlet.  It can be sketchy.  The inlet shoals so much there are no permanent markers, but the word is 'hug the red.'  We followed that local knowledge and never saw anything less than 16'.  Easy in.  We did have to wait at the beautiful St. Augustine bridge for half an hour for the drawbridge to open.  We then slid through, fueled up at the St. Augustine Municipal Marina, and signed on for 2 months at "water storage" rates since we won't be on the boat. 
There is one big problem when you leave your boat - seagull poop.  If they decide they like your boat it can be a major cleaning disaster.  Trawlers and motor boats have different ways to deter the birds, but sail boats usually feel the shrouds (all the wires and spreaders) are enough of a deterence.  Since we've experienced the opposite we decided to make our own deflectors.  We used tinfoil squares, baggies, tape and string
















 to hang from the boom that is over the bimini canvas top.

You can see the tinfoil hanging and swinging around on the left.  We'll see how it works.


Mazu always eager to get to land on edge of the launch as we headed into the dock to load up the car.

 We rented a car to drive back 21 hours straight (switching at the wheel like a water passage) to New York City in order to give Sarah a wonderful baby shower (due Dec. 28th) with her friends and relatives.
At the shower:  Sarah and me and Sarah and her niece, Violet (Dillon's daughter)

Violet and Sarah.

And the usual Tate and Violet playing with the balloons at the shower.

A Huge Wind/storm (more than a gale) 55k predicted on the ocean SC to Maine

This kind of weather is when the Coast Guard says everyone off the water.  With west winds sometimes the water is all blown out of marinas and boats are left high and dry until the wind changes direction.  Boats can be aground for a couple of days.  Fortunately we haven't had this experience yet.  And fortunately we are in a very protected (on all sides) marina.

Saturday I got up to do the laundry and for the first time there was a line and all the talk and place to be was in the laundry room trading stories.  Glad I didn't have any to tell.  Sailors who don't watch the weather, don't plan ahead, don't check their oil...most stories were ones where the adventure could have been avoided.
   Mazu and I took a 3 miles walk in the windy, windy weather.

For us we are in this incredible marina, River Dunes, (trying the hot tub today)! 

Nice time at River Dunes, Tomorrow we head outside -- Gulp!

The winds whistled through the shrouds and even in this very protected harbor rocked the boat Saturday night with the 35+ winds. 
Saturday morning I did our laundry.  With the storm coming people were actually in a line to use the washer and dryer.  The room buzzed with stories or adventures.  Fortunately I didn't have any this year.  Just listened to how so many mishaps are preventable.  Then there are always the ones that are unavoidable.

Mazu and I headed out to explore while Drew went shopping for oil via the courtesy car.  These are some of the houses in the community.  The channel was man made for boats to come into the protected harbor and slips.  Should have taken a video of Mazu tearing across the field.

 Double porches and high ceilings are part of the southern architecture.  Really beautiful homes.

Time to change the oil  (every 200 engine hours) and the racor filter.  One storyI heard included a captain who owned a boat for 8 years and never changed his oil - that's the one who was installing a new $15,000 engine.
Here's the crud at the bottom of the filter.

There was a wedding at the place Saturday night and one of the traditions is to take the couple around the harbor. All the boats ring bells and honk horns.  We did this in the cool rain to celebrate.  The bride heading up the ramp off the little boat.

We went to dinner at the restaurant with a wonderful fire blazing.

I missed going in the hot tub afterall  : (  This is the pool at night and the hot tub is the little circle on the right side.

We had Captain Bruce Gregory and his crew for dinner tonight on our boat, a rare thing.  He was the Captain who took us on our first passage from Florida to Buzzards Bay 10 years ago.  We've stayed in touch, but this was the first time we could sit down and catch up.  
We are off to Florida tomorrow outside (open ocean) so out of Internet touch for a few days.  Putting on that good ole Transderm patch to keep the seasickness at bay.   If we average 6 k it will take us 69 hours.  Good luck Mazu.  Hello Audible books.