A Long Trip Home

 Once again, several months have passed since my last post so to recap: Steve and I had just wrapped up our winter/spring season in the Bahamas and were ready to embark on our return trip to Florida. I also alluded to things requiring our attention at home. This prompted us to jump at the first promising weather window even though we had hoped to have a couple of days of down-time before leaving the Bahamas. 

What I didn't mention is that our life's circumstances have changed in such a way that we want to spend more time on land with our family and have made the difficult decision to close this chapter of our life and sell Starry Night. 

Many people ask whether we are ending our adventure because we're tired of boat life. The answer is, unequivocally, no.  Both of us have loved the beauty, the adventure, and the peace which we have experienced and, if not for the gravitational pull of family, we would have been ready to return to the Carribean and spend time exploring all of the island countries that we briefly visited or missed on our maiden voyage from Grenada to Florida. After three seasons spent traveling the eastern seaboard of the US, the Chesapeake and the Bahamas, I was itching to see new places and experience new cultures. 

What we came to realize, though, is that we are unwilling to make the sacrifices required to travel further afield: long stretches of time away from our families, missing celebrations and being a part of their everyday life. 

And so, we listed Starry Night in Boat Trader while we were in the Bahamas and received our first inquiries in late April. We made arrangements with a potential buyer to meet in south Florida upon our return from the Bahamas, although our ultimate destination was Charleston where we would list the boat with a broker and leave her for hurricane season.  We left Nassau at around noon on May 3rd after an early-morning dinghy ride to drop our nephews off at the taxi stand at a nearby marina, a grocery run, and refueling stop. Winds were light but we were able to sail, averaging 4.5 - 5.5 knots for the day.

Our planned route took us from Nassau past Freeport, and we fortunately had cell service while we were in the vicinity. Our potential buyers had decided that they were looking for a newer boat and they didn't want us to make a special stop in Florida for them to look at Starry Night. We were grateful for their consideration as this change of plans allowed us to skip the stop in Florida and travel directly from the Bahamas to Charleston. This reroute had the potential to save us a week or more of travel/waiting time. 

Our journey to Charleston would be our longest non-stop sail to date; we estimated that the trip from Nassau to Charleston would take a total of 3-4 days. So, with Day 1 behind us, we set our course to Charleston.

As we continued our path adjacent to Freeport, I was able to chat via WhatsApp with one of my sailing friends who was also making the return trip to the US that weekend. She warned us that there were some storms expected that afternoon in the area we would be traveling. 

The forecast was correct, and we found ourselves in the kind of rain that causes "whiteout" conditions. At one point we also spied a funnel cloud, which at first appeared to be headed in our direction. That was a bit disconcerting, but it eventually dissipated - no harm done. Apart from the storm, we had decent wind, but sailing was very slow. The seas were bumpy with short period waves and an unorganized chop in the area of the rain.

After the storms dissipated, the wind died completely so we dropped the mainsail and motored for five hours or so. Later that evening, we hoisted the main when the wind picked up again. 

Steve and I took shifts sleeping, as we always do during multi-day transits, and for the most part the journey was uneventful.

The highlight of this trip came on the 3rd day, when we picked up a couple of hitchhikers. We were at least 60 miles from the coast of Florida when I noticed a small bird on the boat. She was not a typical sea bird, and we wondered where she had come from. We have had birds come aboard before, but this little one was a social creature. She hopped around, seemingly unafraid of Steve and me. In fact, she kept us company in the cockpit for a while and actually sat on Steve's shoulder!

Bellas Keeps Steve Company in the Cockpit

Later we found her mate checking out the provisioning situation in the galley, but he wasn't nearly as friendly as the female and after the first hour or so, he disappeared into some safe place elsewhere on the boat. 

Bella's Friend

Bella, as I named the female, hung out with us though - especially at mealtime!

Bella Snacking on Tortilla Bits

It was nice having a pet to distract us from the monotony of our final day. Day 4 was completely devoid of wind and the final stretch of the trip dragged on interminably. We were rewarded with a gorgeous sunset that evening, though, and we reached Charleston Harbor close to midnight. Since Charleston is a major shipping hub, the channel is well-marked and well-lit, and we felt comfortable to proceed to our anchorage without the benefit of daylight. 

Our Last Starry Night Sunset Off the Coast of South Carolina

Shortly before reaching the channel, someone was hailing "the vessel near channel marker 13 in the Charleston inlet". We hadn't reached the channel yet, but we were headed straight for that particular channel marker, so I responded. The pilot captain (who was hailing the captain of a small fishing boat which had apparently anchored in the channel) was leading a huge freighter leaving Charleston Harbor and therefore unable to slow down or take evasive action. He continued hailing the fishing boat with increasing urgency and with palpable stress in his voice. Finally, the owner of the fishing boat answered - sounding somewhat inebriated - and said that his anchor had gotten caught and he had been trying to cut it free. He was able to move his boat in the nick of time; disaster averted.  Th pilot captain, clearly still stressed by the near miss, suggested that the fishing boat owner "might want to get a clue". This seemed sage advice to me. Midnight, major shipping channel, anchored in the channel, drunk....

After that excitement, we made our way into Charleston Harbor and motored to the Ashley River where we would anchor until the dock at the Charleston Maritime Center was ready for us, a few days later. There was a bit of fog that evening, but we anchored safely and collapsed into bed at around 2 am. 

The next morning, Bella and her mate were gone. I later learned that our friends were a pair of American Redstarts, which are migratory birds that spend winters in Central and South America and the Caribbean Islands, and springs and summers in the Eastern United States and Canada. We were happy to have been able to provide alternate transportation for a few hundred miles of their journey.

The next few days were spent resting and getting Starry Night ready to show. This primarily entailed off-loading as much stuff as possible and cleaning. There was still a relatively short list of items which needed to be repaired or replaced, but after we moved Starry Night to the marina, we rented a car and drove back to Florida. Steve returned to Charleston the next day to work through the project list while I took care of things in Florida. We swapped places a couple of weeks later, and we have now completed most of the "to-dos" that we had been wanting to do since we bought the boat. As is often the case when one prepares a home for sale, Starry Night is at her best. 

The two and a half months since we arrived in Charleston and began reintegrating into "normal" life in Satellite Beach have been eventful and often stressful, but everything that has happened merely validates our decision and we know that we are in the right place at the right time.

My next post will be my last.  Until then, I wish you all fair winds and following seas.