On south

We repacked the boat after all of the repairs, that took a day.  We waited for a weather window after the rainstorm and front came through.   Using grib files (wind direction and speed), Chris Parker's weather service for boaters going south and the usual weather apps decided Sunday Dec. 15th at 3:00 was the best time to go.  The wind was predicted to change from west to south.  We sailed out of the Cape Fear River channel with huge breakers on both sides of us where the water was shallow.  Kind of an eerie feeling to motor through the calm part with breaking waves on either side of us.
    I was glad to leave the ICW because we couldn't sail very often or for very long and the depth is just constantly changing from 12' to 6' in the blink of an eye in spite of all the good buoy markers.  Out to the open ocean to be greeted by this glorious sunset.

Out in the open ocean we saw the moon rise and set.  The sunset is very much the entertainment for the evening.  The sky goes through so many changes for about 45 minutes.  Just feel close to nature with water, sky, reflections, and this air that was about 45 but felt much colder.

Mazu is not much for offshore sailing.  She doesn't ever get sick, just nervous and scared.  She is always touching one of us.  I took the 10pm to 2am watch at the helm.  It requires watching out for boats on the radar screen.  There are a few radar settings like 1.5 mile out up to 48 miles out.  We usually set it to view 6 miles out.  6 miles is the equivalent of about half an hour at 6 knots.   We used our travel apps to determine a route.  Once the route is set, the program on Navionics tells how long, how far and all the tide and current information.  Night on the open ocean is wonderful.  We were out for 2 days and nights.  The clear sunrise, starts warming up our enclosed (zipper in and out vinyl) cockpit like a sun room.   

We arrived in Florida going down St. Mary's River to the Amelia River to the marina.  : ) One side of the entrance from the open ocean is Cumberland Island,  a nature preserve in Georgia.  The other side is Florida, our primary destination. : ) Fernandina Beach.  Mazu was so excited to get off and go to the bathroom that she jumped and slipped falling in the water between the boat and the dock.  It's about 4' down to the water.  I dragged her up by her leash (yes, around her neck) until Drew grabbed her paws.  Saltwater wet dog is not fun.  But she was cooled off and wasn't scared by the event at all.

Tomorrow we go outside and sail farther south to St. John's River where we may anchor for the first time (anchoring is free.)    If you want to just receive this blog as an email so you don't have to put the address in every time, go up to the top of this page on the right hand side and you'll see a place to type your email address.  Keep in touch.