Where were we....ah yes: St. Augustine.
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| Steve, Laura and Starry Night in St. Augustine |
We had planned to spend a few days in St. Augustine, visiting several friends who live there and nearby, and also exploring a bit since we hadn't taken the opportunity during our last stop. This also allowed us to try to wait out the severe weather patterns that had plagued our northward journey until this point.
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| Hanging Out with Ed and his son, Edmund |
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| Ed's lovely girl, Melly |
St. Augustine is, of course, the oldest city in the United States and is home to many historical sites. It's beautifully maintained and - since my last visit - has turned into quite the party town! Our mooring field was located right in the middle of the tour boat path, and sometimes I felt like I was part of the tour. Hanging out towels? Wave back to thirty people taking pictures of you from their tour boat! Bachelorette party on the party barge? Stand up and start dancing as they pass!! I have 20 new best friends!! Woooooo!
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| Juan Ponce de Leon |
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| St. Augustine Waterfront Wedding |
We stayed in St. Augustine from June 16-19, one day longer than planned, hoping for a stable weather window which would allow us to do an overnight sail offshore directly to Charleston, but to no avail. The potential for severe thunderstorms persisted and so we opted to do an off-shore day sail to Fernandina Beach.
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| Less than Ideal Weather Conditions in St. Augustine |
We left on June 20th, even though the winds were projected to be too light to sail. We motored the whole day, and made it to Fernandina Beach. As we were entering the mooring field, we could see a storm approaching fast. Would we be able to moor before it arrived??
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| Storm Approaching Fernandina Beach |
Uh....no. Five minutes earlier, and we would have beaten it. What's a little wind (33 kts) and water to a sailor though? And it validated our decision to pass on the overnight sailing.
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Happy to Be Moored in Fernandina Beach and
Not Offshore En Route to Charleston |
Steve and I decided to minimize the number of days on our northward journey through the southern states this year, so that we would arrive in the (cooler) Chesapeake earlier in the summer, and then leave the Chesapeake earlier, taking our time on our southbound trip when the fall weather arrives. With this plan in mind, we continued our travels along the ICW for the next couple of days without stopping to see the sights. We were lucky enough to have enough wind to sail wing on wing to Sapelo Island, GA on the 21st, followed by several days of motor-sailing to Savannah, Beaufort, SC, and Edisto Island, SC.
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| Anchorage in Savannah, GA |
Finally, on June 25th, the forecast looked safe to travel offshore from Edisto Island to Charleston. Unfortunately, the winds were still very light and we were unable to sail without motor assistance, but it was a beautiful day and nice to get back into the open sea.
The one exception we made to our quick-hop approach in getting to the Chesapeake was our a longer visit in Charleston. We had not stopped in Charleston last year on the way up, and this year, we wanted to take our time there and spend a week with Bridgette.
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| Steve and Our Grandpuppy, Mae at Anchor in Charleston |
We anchored the first night in Charleston before docking the next day, for a week, at the Charleston Maritime Center, which is in Charleston Harbor, and is home of the water taxi to Fort Sumter and various tour boats. It is situated next door to the Charleston Aquarium and the International African American Museum, which opened during the week of our visit. It's a city-run operation with only a few slips, and is very reasonably priced. We were happy to stay on a dock this time, since it was during a particularly hot week in Charleston. We actually ran the air conditioner for the entire week! This was the first time since moving aboard over a year and a half ago that we ran the AC for more than 2 hours.
During the week, we spent our days taking care of laundry, shopping and such, and then spent evenings with Bridgette. Two of the evenings, we had friends of Bridgette's aboard for Happy Hour and enjoyed getting to know them and giving them a glimpse of boat life.
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| Happy Hour #1 - Friends from the Bridgette's Indoor Volleyball Team |
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| More Friends at Happy Hour #2 |
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| The Rest of the Happy Hour #2 Crowd |
We spent one of our weekend days with Bridgette walking around downtown Charleston, enjoying the architecture and historical sights.
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| Antebellum Homes Along the Battery |
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George Washington Once Worshipped at
St. Michael's Church, Built in the 1750's |
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| Philadelphia Alley, Created in 1766 |
Enjoying a Respite from the Heat at Watherfront Park
We were unable to visit the new International African American Museum because it was sold-out during our stay. I really loved the outdoor exhibits, though, and this will be at the top of my list of things to do during our next visit to Charleston.
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| Garden at the IAAM |
Outdoor Seating at IAMM Overlooking Garden
Particularly moving is the Tide Tribute, which marks the former site of Gadsden's Wharf, where 40% of American enslaved persons disembarked upon their arrival to America. This memorial is a representation of the Brookes slave ship diagram which depicts the method of transport of Africans from their homeland to the U.S. The mosaic was dry when I first saw it, then later I noticed it was filling with water. Over several days, it became evident that water was engulfing the display and then receding - in concert with the rise and fall of the tide - further adding to the somber iconography.
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| Tide Tribute at Gadsden's Wharf |
In addition to the culture and history, Charleston is renowned for its restaurants, so we enjoyed a fabulous dinner out with our favorite foodie, Miss Bridgette.
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Dinner Out at One of the Many Fabulous Restaurants in Charleston
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After a wonderful week in Charleston, we were gifted with a storm-free weather window AND perfect sailing conditions so we set sail for an overnight passage to North Carolina. We stopped at the Carolina Beach Mooring field, and there spent the 4th of July. The highlight of our one day in Carolina Beach was lunch at the "must-do" hamburger joint "Island Burgers and Bites"- which is located inside the local Sunoco gas station. They serve only burgers and fries, and there's always a wait of at least 40 minutes to get your food. It was very tasty. 😋 "When in Rome...", I always say!
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| Island Burgers and Bites |
We left Carolina Beach on the morning of July 5th and headed offshore again, with the promise of calm seas and low winds. We planned to sail for 24 or 48 hours depending on how the weather developed and get to either Ocracoke, NC or Norfolk, VA.
We started the passage motoring, but were able to set sails at around 1 pm. The winds were variable and light, as predicted, so we alternated between sailing and motor-sailing over the course of the day. Steve and I took turns at the helm during the evening hours, as usual, and all was well when I headed for my sleep shift at around midnight. And then the weather gods decided that sleeping through the night wasn't really a requirement. About 3 am, I was awakened by the sounds of high winds and churned up seas. I went up to the helm where Steve was, once again, wrestling against the forces imparted by winds up to 40 knots, and this time the mainsail was still up. In order to reduce the wind load on the mast and sail, we spent some time heading down-wind even though it was in the opposite direction that we were headed. It was a couple of hours before the stormy weather subsided, but eventually Steve was able to get some rest.
In light of Steve's long night at the helm, we decided not to push on for a second night under way and stopped at Ocracoke. Our anchorage had a nice view of the lighthouse, and as we knew from last year, was a short dinghy ride away from both land and beach access for Jake.
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| Lighthouse at Ocracoke, NC |
We arrived on July 6th, and during our post-sail inspection, found a few items that needed to be repaired as a result of the storm. Our next decent weather window did not open until four days later, which provided ample time to make our repairs and get some rest. We also discovered Shrimp Hour at one of the local restaurants, which occurs between lunch- and dinner-time, where peel and eat shrimp are half-price. 😁
Steve and I deliberated over the next leg of our journey long and hard during our stay at Ocracoke. Last year, we traveled from Ocracoke directly to Virginia Beach overnight on the Atlantic side of the Outer Banks (red path in picture below). Since there was a small chance of severe thunderstorms, and given our experience with this year's weather, we decided that we didn't want to risk an overnight trip offshore so we decided on the alternate route through the Pamlico Sound (black path in picture). This path would require an additional stop but allowed us to see another picturesque town in the Outer Banks: Manteo, NC.
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| Route from Ocracoke to Manteo and Beyond |
Manteo is a small town, with a population of roughly a thousand. It's economy appears to be based on tourism, and there are lovely shops, restaurants, and condos. It is also well-appointed for the boating community. All of the conveniences - post office, grocery store, laundry mat - for cruisers like Steve and I were available within close walking distance.
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| Manteo Lighthouse |
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| British Pub |
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| White Doe Inn, Bed & Breakfast in Manteo |
We had planned to continue the "in-shore" ICW route to Elizabeth City from Manteo, but after two nights there, a twenty-four hour window opened with no chance for storms. This also meant that we would probably need to motor the whole way, but that would be the case whether we took the inland route or the offshore route. So we crossed our fingers and set out! Next stop: the Chesapeake!
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