18 hours to Fort Pierce 82 degree Gulf Stream

Oct. 31, 2019
Drew and I Faced time today so they have connection closer in.  He said they've done more sailing than ever.

You can see on the map they are close to shore as they travel for the last day to Fort Pierce.  It's a little north of Port Saint Lucie.  They are scheduled to arrive at the Fort Pierce Inlet around 8:30 am.  Drew always wants to arrive at an inlet during daylight hours so he keeps his speed accordingly.  Can't go too fast or they arrive in the dark.  

If there was an emergency(that's the way I think) there are only a few inlets down the eastern coast of Florida for anchoring or getting into marinas:  starting from the north:
1. St. Mary's River - the Georgia/Florida border near Mayport, then 45 miles south to
2. St. Augustine Inlet (best at hightide and follow markers into great City Marina, call Boat US for local information) 70 miles to
3. Ponce de Leon Inlet at New Smyrna Beach then 50 miles south to
4. Port Canaveral Lock near Cape Canaveral Air Force Station south of Titusville, then 40 miles to
5. Sebastian Inlet  to the Indian River and ICW that leads 14 miles down to Vero Beach City Marina (hardly call it a city, mostly a town, but it has a couple of great movie theatres and big malls)
There are bridges over some of these inlets, rivers, and the ICW. Sometimes you have to wait for a draw bridge on the inside to get to your marina.
Then 26 miles to
6. Fort Pierce Inlet into Harbor Town Marina
Total of about 250 miles or 40+ hours by boat to Fort Pierce from the top of FL. Via Route 95 Florida, excluding the Keys Florida is about 442 miles long.

What doesn't show up on the map are the many public ocean and river beaches and unoccupied islands to explore north and south of Fort Pierce.  Almost the entire North Hutchinson Island coast up to Vero Beach is State-owned and South Hutchinson Island is also almost all state beach down to Stuart.  In Fort Pierce, a long, stone jetty public park is heavily used; it's a walkway on one side of the Inlet where you can watch the water traffic, birds, beach life, and eat at one of the many restaurants or stay in a hotel.  Not fancy.

Pictures along the way as the boys were out at sea.
Nice breakfast of Lox and tomatoes (no fresh bagels).



The biggest entertainment is the morning or evening sky. A little telltale showing on the left with the breeze.



Instruments at night showing radar on the right  -12 miles out from the boat there are no boats around, track upper left - 186 compass degrees, depth 82' and speed is 5.5K, and bottom left is the direction of the wind - indicator showing it's on the nose.  Bottom right,-the dark, round thing is the real compass - not digital or electrical.

 


Nice speed showing on the iPad's Navionics program, going 7.2 k. That's a good clip.



A clear, full moon night - not sure if it's moonrise or set.  Bright planets too.
 


Adam on starboard, near the coast in the background



Nice

Passing SC to GA, passing Cumberland Island

Shawnee is sailing a lot and has moved past Charleston, SC, past Savannah, GA and closer to one of my favorite spots, Cumberland Island National Sea Shore www.nps.gov/cuis.  (see pics on their website.) It's a little, beautiful, protected island where John F. Kennedy and Jackie spent their honeymoon.  We biked there a few years back and brought Mazu too.  Live Oaks enshrouded with Spanish Moss spread over dirt roads - no cars - where wild horses roam about, and we walked the wild beaches.  Only accessible by boat it's a great place to explore.  The Park Service has a ferry from St. Mary's, GA, right on the GA/FL border. There's one place to stay on the island. We stayed in St. Mary's at a little BnB.  Photos are probably in our archives.




Out at sea, life vests or PFDs (Personal Flotation Devices) are required for safety.   They fill up with air when you hit the water (though I've never tested one.) Or you can pull the cord.  They are lighter and easier to wear than the big orange PFDs.  A cord from the vest clamps on a Jack line, lines that are tied from the bow to the stern, port and starboard sides, on the cabin top of the boat.  If anyone goes outside of the cockpit they are required, and some people wear them during the whole voyage.  We also have a bright yellow lifesaver and an attached line system that is thrown if there is a Man Overboard, MOB.  I want to buy a diver's aide, like a tall colorful noodle, that would shoot up to see MOB from behind tall waves. Scuba divers use them; markers up to 7' tall, a Promate Scuba Diving Inflatable Safety Tube Sausage Signal Marker Buoy Tube.

From St. Mary's, GA it's another 265 miles down the coast of FL to Fort Pierce and Harbortown Marina dockside slip with electricity for air conditioning and cable hook-up.  It's a balmy 87 there today : - )   At 6 k per hour, that's about 45 to 50 more hours at sea.

Heading south to Fort Pierce

Shawnee left the mainland just south of Cape Hatteras, a major eastern point of the US for big weather, and off of Cape Lookout, NC.  Now 9 hours after leaving Shawnee is just north of Cape Fear and Frying Pan Shoals, making good time.

Before he left he installed the nice clean, fixed Esbar Heater in the cockpit locker.




And wiring work.

Maybe we need a few labels for the wires.

He also put a jerry jug of fuel in the bow of the boat for ballast in the anchor chain locker. It evens out the weight in the boat.

 

They also had a nice dinner out again at Floyd's.  Judith in front, her husband behind, Drew on the left, Reuben and Adam, our new crew member, on the right.

 

 Two IP380s left the yacht basin about 8:30 am, Shawnee following identical Touche´ with Judith Jacobson and her husband.  Destination sunny Florida.

From Belhaven to River Dunes to Moorehead City Yacht Basin

A perfect sail down to River Dunes with nice winds that allowed an engine off period.

A couple of nice sailboats to see along the way.




Photos courtesy of Drew Sunstein (on Shawnee).  Blog courtesy of Deborah Twombly (at home)




 
 They followed the Pungo River to the Neuse River and tucked in at River Dunes.

    Arrived dockside, such a wonderfully protected marina, and hurricane hole, always calm. 


 



Saturday morning they ate breakfast at the River Dunes cafe and left at a reasonable hour for Moorehead City Yacht Basin, about a 5 hour motor at 6k.  When they arrived Drew's Esbar heater was waiting for him.  He actually did install it in a couple of hours.  Yea - fixed!
  They had dinner at Floyd's 1921 with a couple who have sailed from CA thru the Panama Canal and up to NC.  Reuben ran into Judith Jacobson on Touché, an IP380, who has sailed the globe.  They are headed through the Panama  Canal and down the South American coast.  See this little Youtube of them in Svalbard in 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yaWGWdYlSY
   Luckily, he's found a leak in the mast collar so there will be another project when he arrives in Fort Pierce as well as new blocks to replace that I'm sending to him Monday.  Adam arrives Sunday afternoon to add to the crew for shorter, nicer watches at the helm on the 3.5-day off-shore trip. 
  Seventy-seven degrees today in Moorehead City. Rainy all day in Exeter, NH with temps about 48. Fair winds, you guys!

Headed to Coinjock, NC to the anchorage, to Belhaven and to Oriental - River Dunes

After a night at Centerville Marina Shawnee headed east then south, across Currituck Sound back into the canal - ICW and to North Carolina to the famous
 Coinjock.  Reuben was ready for a prime rib.
 Before.                                                  and After -


 He ate the whole thing!

On down the ICW you see a lot of things.  This is 120-foot cruiser with his tender in tow just easing out!   You can see it's in front of another large yacht.


A barge.  This time of year the ICW is pretty crowded.
Some insurance policies don't cover boats for hurricanes or storms down the ICW until after Nov 1, but that doesn't seem to be stopping a ton of boats this year.


 Another Island Packet, I think, like Shawnee - no yellow Tweety on the stern.
:
 Note few are sailing. The waters show how calm it is with little wind.

 If you see whitecaps in a picture then the wind is at least 14k

 
 anchorage one night.
Always light appetizers and a drink at the end of the hard day of boating.



 On to Belhaven where they stayed at the town dock.


  

 In Belhaven, NC there is a grand restored house used for events, River Forest Manor https://riverforestmanor.com/.  Many times we've walked the grounds. For years it was under construction.  Now it's open.


 



Pretty calm this evening. Drew walking back to the cockpit.

 

The next day they sailed to Oriental and turned off the engine!!  The wind was taking them to 6.4 K! 



 

Map shows Belhaven to River Dunes Resort near Oriental.  One more leg to Moorehead City on the NC coast.


The captain
likes those calm waters.  Fair winds.
No things to fix ... at the moment.






























[The repaired Espar heater https://esparparts.com/ is being mailed to Moorehead City where Drew will install it. "Just take a couple of hours."]

Oops not so fast -- BLOCKED AT THE LOCKS

Shawnee missed the 3 o'clock opening for one lock, waited til 4 and then Per Reuben from his blog:  "So after waiting tied up in the Great Lock the gates opened at 5:45. We untied, left the lock, only to come to the Great Bridge not 100 feet downstream that remained closed 

 

 

till 6pm. More 

The great bridge finally opening

 

We milled around and finally at 6:02 we were off. Our stop was the Centerville Marina where we had a reservation.  [Just in front of another bridge to await it's opening tomorrow morning.]

 

 

 

 

 

We had talked with them several times during the day explaining our progress and finally, recognizing we wouldn’t get there till after they closed at 5 pm they told us to come into the fuel dock where they reserved a spot for us between two trawlers. 

When we got there at 6:30 we saw a very large powerboat (about 70’) pulling into what was supposed to be our spot. There were no other spots.

Much yelling ensued - from our side. Several of the folks from other boats too. One of them had been in the dock masters office during our last phone call and took our side. Finally, at 7pm, the large boat (Rambling Rose, full of “good old boys” from the south pulled out to go anchor downstream someplace. We finally pulled in, tied up, plugged into power....and had a bit of wine. No idea what we’re doing for supper, if anything (it’s now 8pm)

Coinjock tomorrow where a 32oz rib eye has my name on it."

Next: Leg 3 Hampton, VA to Moorehead City, NC

And they're off.  At any moment see where they are:  https://share.garmin.com/share/svShawnee.

Don took a 12-hour train ride back to Pt. Judith, RI where he left his car.  He's hoping to do it again with his girlfriend next time.  Drew spent 5 days going to the famous Hampton Rendezvous, http://www.hamptonrendezvous.com/. 
This is the 6th annual event for sailors heading south with amazing speakers talking fixes, routes, books, apps; all kinds of help and information.  There are group dinners, receptions, and a dinner with music at the Hampton Yacht Club.  This was the event that helped us so much our first year south in 2014 when they had their first annual event free.  Now it's hosted by the City of Hampton. 


 Hampton Public Pier.  And there' s Shawnee with her yellow dinghy hanging off the stern (lower left). I count 8 masts.

On Sunday, Oct. 20, Reuben drove down from Baltimore to join the next motoring leg to Moorehead City, NC, a five day trip down the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW.)  It's very crowded at this time of year with so many boats going south to Florida for the winter.  Canadian, Wally Moran, a colorful sailor, is leading a group of 16 boats - the Sail to the Sun Rally, down the ICW (see Sail to the Sun rally on facebook).  Drew snagged his schedule on the internet to avoid Wally's stops.  He's headed down the Dismal Swamp route rather than Drew's route down the broader ICW way.


Most boats only motor during the day because at night it's hard to see, and hitting bottom is always a potential problem.  It's not IF you'll hit, it's when.


Map shot Monday Oct. 21, 11:40am

Of course, all is subject to change.  If the weather cooperates, they keep moving about 30 miles a day, and it doesn't get too backed up at the locks, the planned approximate route is:

Oct. 21, Monday night, Chesapeake, VA  - Atlantic Yacht Basin. http://atlanticyachtbasin.com/ (a huge full-service marina that did a terrible job on our boat several years ago applying a finish to the teak - we had it totally redone this past winter.). A little walk leads to mostly fast food here.




Tuesday night - At Mile Marker 50 of the ICW there is famous Coinjock Marina where they already have a dockside reservation for the 32 oz. prime rib. http://www.coinjockmarina.com/





Wednesday night - Alligator River Marina, NC or anchorage south of the bridge, eat aboard.   They are in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge (no internet coverage).  The website shows photos of alligators,  bears with cubs, birds, wolves, otters, and other wildlife, but we've never seen any animals here.  https://www.fws.gov/refuge/alligator_river/


Thursday night - Belle Haven, NC anchorage or marina and dinner at delicious Tavern at Jack's Neck.





Friday night - elegant River Dunes near Oriental, NC where there are beautiful homes, pool, hot tub, laundry, bikes, a free car to market, nice restaurant, store, cafe, great place. riverdunes.com

 




Saturday night - Moorehead City Yacht Basin, NC, a great restaurant near the marina.
http://www.mcyachtbasin.com/


Only a short walk to dinner to Floyd's 1921 www.floyds1921.com
Eat inside or out, excellent food.




Probably wait a few days before Leg 4 outside to Florida.