Hello Miami!

Our first ocean sail was a great success and we made it the 23 miles from Lauderdale to Miami without any trouble. (Actually had to motor half the trip it was so quiet!).

Bye-Bye Ft. Lauderdale!

Heading "out" into the ocean this morning! We have just sailed out of Bar Cut at Ft. Lauderdale headed for Government Cut at Miami. This is our chance to cut our teeth with ocean sailing in the company of two other boats. So far we have calm seas, light wind and blue skies!!!

Great Times with New Friends!!

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale on Thursday around noon. We had hoped to pick up a mooring ball at the city marina, but there were none available. So we went to plan 'B' which was to motor up New River to a marina where the Tucker family had recommended and were staying. We had been warned about the strong current up the winding river, and knew the recommendation was to approach the docks at slack water, but thought we'd give it a try. Approaching the first major bend we found ourselves on the wrong side of the channel, looking for deeper water with a large power boat proceeding downriver. This surprise, along with the current of about 3 knots caused us to turn around and head for an anchorage to wait for better conditions. The little spot we were headed for was Lake Sylvia which posed it's own challenges. The approach instructions say to 'hug the east breakwall, about 50 feet off the pilings'. The current was still pretty strong and so Greg had to point the bow of Cee Jem somewhat toward the cement wall in order to account for the drift caused by the current. It was all very surreal and was an excellent lesson in drift!
Once arriving in the anchorage, the next task was to find an appropriate spot to set the anchor. There were already a few boats established, so we needed to give enough room for them, and us to swing without conflict. We found as good a spot as we could, but would have liked to have put out a bit more chain for holding power in the wind that picked up overnight. In the end, Greg was up for a lot of the night watching the anchor alarm, and catching up on his e-mail.
Friday morning we pulled out of the anchorage at 8:30. We wanted to get up the New River at high tide, slack water and there were 3 bridges that had to open for us, but they don't open until 9am on weekdays, following rush hour. By 9:30 we were settled at Cooley's Landing marina, and with the help of Chris and Ben from the sailboat Dharma, had tied our lines and secured our boat. Jessica and Madeline were very excited to have arrived, as there are now 3 boats with kids at this marina. Greg and I were equally excited to meet other cruising families. In a previous post I have spoken about Kerry, Julie, Connor and Dylan from the catamaran sailboat Hi-5. They are from Milton and headed to the Bahamas. We have now met Chris, Courtney, Ben and Cole on the sailboat Dharma. They are from North Carolina and also headed to the Bahamas, and perhaps beyond....? We are all planning to be here until early in the week when we hope to all go "outside", meaning out into the ocean to make our passage from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami.
On Saturday night a sundown party was planned and by dusk about 25 people from at least 8 boats had gathered under the picnic pavilion at the marina to share munchies, drinks and conversation. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and feel that our long haul south has all been worth it to finally get into the groove of "cruising".

Our Next Boat?

Passing by the Port of Palm Beach, we think we found our next boat. Though there was an impressive selection, we chose the one with the helicopter on the deck.
Dinghies are so last year!

Boca Raton by Boat

After 19 bridges and another 10.5 hours on the engine we have arrived in Boca Raton. We are anchored in the harbour just north of the inlet, surrounded by tall, pink and tan hotels and condos. There are worse places to send a night.

Tomorrow we are into Fort Lauderdale and will stop at a marina for more provisioning.

More Friends

Hello Friends and Family
when we were in Vero Beach we ran into some friends that we met while we were waiting for the tide to go down. The girls name was Rivers and her brother is Stephen, I really liked them. I am almost done my diary of a wimpy kid book. Today I wrote a book about canoe camping called "Adventures". At Vero Beach (Velcro Beach because you stay there so long) I got to row the dinghy,I might of stayed out too long because the no-see-ums got me.
Talk to you soon,
Jessica

It's the 22nd November, Still in Shorts and T-Shirts!

Hey blog readers,
Today we are going from Vero Beach to Hobe Sound. Now that we are here we can see that the water is much clearer. On Saturday we went dinghy exploring to the beach part of Vero Beach with the people on the boat Hi-5. At the beach I found a mermaid's purse (skate egg). See below for a picture. On our mooring ball at Vero Beach we rafted with a boat named Orion which was owned by two friendly people Joan and George with their cat Little One. They also have an orange kayak and we got to use it. If you want to see a picture of me in their kayak and Little One in front look below the mermaid purse. We finally caught up to Morning Glory (the catamaran that we met at the Pablo Creek Bridge) and we got together on their boat one night and we've run into them a few times on the bus going to and from the grocery store and getting all our provisions.
Bye for now, Madeline

1000 Miles from Norfolk

One Thousand miles from the start of the Intracoastal Water Way.
This raises a number of questions in a captains mind.

How did we get here? The time has sure flown. Barring the groundings, burnings of alternators, refrigeration issues, power issues, and the occasional howling wind we have managed to make the 1000 mile mark without too much difficulty.

What's next? That answer is obvious. We will sail out of Government Cut at Miami in the next few weeks and sail across the Gulf Stream to Bimini, Bahamas. We will wait for a weather window and we will make sure the sea will be safe to cross. the crossing is only 47 miles, about 2/3 the longest distances that we normally cover in a day. We will carry enough fuel aboard to run approximately 5 times the required engine time for this crossing...and yet...the captain is anxious, nervous, alright, down right scared of this crossing. You see I've come to realize I'm a pond sailor. The Great Lakes, while fantastic bodies of water do not contain waves that found their genesis 4000 miles away in a tropical storm off the African Coast. While Lake Ontario can be a punishing beast I am not sure she has prepared me for the Ocean. This is certainly another level that the bar is being pushed to.

And finally...how will we get home?
At some point in the future, I have to figure out how to do this all in reverse.
But that's for another day.

"Velcro" Beach

We have settled for a few days in what has become known as "Velcro" Beach. Aptly named, as many cruisers passing through seem to get here and then never find reason to leave. We certainly see how that would be tempting. The mooring field is very secure - about 1/3 mile wide, 2 miles long, protected on all sides by trees and mangrove, and with minimal current. There is a city bus that runs hourly from the marina office into town for plentiful shopping. You can dinghy to the beach in about 20 minutes. AND, best of all, here it is the middle of November and it is already 80 degrees; actually 83 with the humidex. That's right, November and we're talking humidex!
Yesterday morning we took the bus into town and did a bit of shopping. Once we got back to the boat we met up with the Teskey's. Kerry, Julie, Connor and Dylan are a family (from Milton!!) on a catamaran that are doing a similar trip. We wanted to hook up with them for a couple of hours so the kids could play together on the beach, and so we could pick their brains about points further south. They have already done this trip once, so were a wealth of information. The kids had a great time playing in the water and sand at the beach while the parents watched and chatted. We went back to our respective boats for dinner, and then Kerry and Connor popped by so the Captains could peruse some charts of Bahamas and look at possible routes and popular anchorages. We are grateful to Kerry for sharing his knowledge and advice! Based on their conversation and the planned routes of other boats with kids that we've come across, we now are planning to get to Miami, and then cross from there to Bimini, Bahamas.
Today is laundry, and a few boat chores that needed a stop to get done: rig tuning, stowing of charts and guide books for waters further north, and figuring out where we are going to put all the stuff that we would like to take when we do our big provisioning shopping.
Likely tomorrow we will continue moving south again, our plan being to take 3 days to cover the 110 miles to Ft. Lauderdale.

A Day in Vero Beach

Today was a relaxing day that we all deserved.
Yesterday we began just before 7 and after covering more than 70 miles, we arrived at the Vero Beach City Marina mooring field at 5pm. Our day was spent motor-sailing down the Indian River - a generally shallow body of water just inland from the sandy coast, with a 10 foot dredged channel running through it - with the company of many dolphins, all manner of sea birds, and even a pair of manatees crossing our path. By the time we arrived and rafted on a mooring ball with a 45' Down Easter "Orion", darkness was descending, and shortly after the wind picked up as predicted. We had considered stopping and anchoring earlier to make the day shorter, and were now glad that we had pressed on. There are not any protected anchorages along this stretch of the ICW, so our blustery night would have been spent out in the open.
This morning we all began our day with showers. After a few days of showers onboard, it is so nice to have plentiful hot water and not worry how much the water pump is drawing from the batteries. On our way back from shore we stopped by to say hi to the family on "Hi-5", a catamaran that we met in St. Augustine whose home port is also in the Toronto area. We chatted for a few minutes, making tentative plans to go dinghy exploring tomorrow afternoon.
Then back to the boat for a bit of schoolwork, cleaning, radio fixing and reading. We spent the afternoon with Greg's Uncle Art and Aunt Mary who are in the area with their Airstream. They too are escaping an Ontario winter, and it was fun to chat and compare notes with them about traveling in small spaces, discovering new places, and the joy of traveling as a journey not solely a destination. We had a great walk along the beach, then shared a simple dinner with them on the boat.

Fronts, Fire Alarms, and Coffee

In an attempt to fly in front of a cold front headed our way we left our mooring early. Before coffee.
Within 5 minutes of our departure the fire alarm was sounding on board. I had left the oil cap off the engine and exhaust was filling the cabin. Shut down. Problem quickly fixed.
Within the next 5 minutes a strange rattle was emanating from the engine room. Sailors get to know the sounds of their engines and this was not right. Shut down. Rag wrapped around prop shaft. Problem quickly fixed.
Here's what I've learned.
Coffee first, then start your day.

Titusville and Kennedy Space Centre

Today was out of this world. Literally.
We travelled to the Kennedy Space Centre. Having heard school mates talk about their trips to Kennedy and Disney during March breaks in the late 70's and early 80's, my expectations were low. I could not have been more surprised.
Today turned into a fantastic trip through the history of space flight from the Mercury and Gemini missions, onto Apollo, and the Shuttle and then a look into the future.
We were fortunate enough to be able to watch the mobile launch pad crawl at 1 mile an hour with a next generation launch assembly to a pad (maybe for a mission to Mars).
The highlight of the day came from a talk given by a real astronaut. Wendy Lawrence, veteran of 4 shuttle missions, presented her experience as crew member and Canadarm specialist on the first mission following the Columbia disaster. She was on the flight that tried and tested the new techniques to check the tiles of the shuttle. It was terrific to be able to listen to a female astronaut speak and describe her experiences. Great contrast to the first years of space flight that were populated solely by male heroes. Jessica and Madeline both discussed being the first Female Canadian on the Moon or Mars.
They are the age of the humans that will do those missions. Look around you. One of the 7 or 9 year olds out there today will be the first human on Mars.
The concept of space travel is incredibly exciting and our tour of this space port was fantastic!

Rewind .... A Recap of St. Augustine

We were having such a good time in St. Augustine that we didn't get the chance to tell you what we did.
We arrived on Friday afternoon and picked up a mooring ball in the harbour just off the ICW. We spent a few minutes getting settled, and then were anxious to get ashore, so we launched the dinghy and set off for the dinghy dock. We had a quick walk around town, along the pedestrian mall and through Flagler College. Now a private arts college, the former Ponce de Leon hotel is a stunning display of Tiffany glass. It was completed in 1887 and was one of the first buildings in the US to have electricity. We were back on the boat by 5:30 for some dinner, noting an abundance of Canadian boats in the harbour.

On Saturday morning we were up early and did some boat chores before heading back into town. Our objectives for the day were to get to West Marine and the lighthouse. We passed by a great bakery, stopped in for some goodies, then carried on with our hike. With only minimal grumbling from the troops, we managed to find 2 of the 3 sets of charts that we will need for The Bahamas. We then decided that we would try to take the bus back to the marina with our purchases. Upon checking the schedule, we noted that we had about 30 minutes to the next bus, so stopped at the grocery store for a few items. We learned early on that you never pass a grocery store without picking something up. Now to the bus .... easier said than done. The buses in St. Augustine are 'flag down' buses, meaning there are no bus stops, you just wave your arms as they approach, and they stop to pick you up. In theory, that sounds great. In practice, not so much. Harder to catch a bus, when you don't really know where to wait. So, we waited for the 'blue' bus outside the grocery store and sure enough, the bus approached, we waved, it stopped, and we got on....the wrong bus. We got on the 'connector' instead of the 'blue' bus. In our defense, we did ask the driver if this bus would go where we we headed. He truthfully told us it would pass nearby. He neglected to tell us that it wouldn't get there for another 90 minutes. To make a long story short, we made it back sooner than we anticipated, and in the end he was very kind to drive a short way off his route to greatly decrease our walk back.
After dropping off our bags at the boat and changing into cooler clothes, we headed back for shore. We walked across the Bridge of Lions, which crosses the Mantanzas River to Anastasia Island. It was then a short walk to the St. Augustine Lighthouse. We all enjoyed the 219-step climb to the top, with a great view of the ocean and the harbour from the top. We could even spot Cee Jem! Lots of information was presented about the lighthouse, including the story of the lighthouse keepers son who designed a parachute which he tested from the top with his sister's cat! (The cat was unharmed, though not too friendly for the next several weeks.) On our way home we passed a little grocer that was mentioned in our cruising guide as having good produce. There we picked up the best oranges that I have ever had.

Sunday morning we set out to get to the bagel shop and do some laundry. On laundry days you try to find 2 errands that will take you about 45 minutes each. In this case the wash goes in, we go for bagels, we put the wash in the dryer and then we take a quick tour of the fort, and come back and pick up the laundry, Well, it almost went like that. We all found the Castello de San Marcos fascinating, so our laundry sat in the dryer for a while before we got back to it. The Castello was built by the Spanish with construction beginning in 1672, making it one of the oldest buildings in the US. The walls are built with blocks of coquina - similar to limestone, but made of seashells. The interesting thing about this material is that because it is quite porous, when struck by a hard object (such as a cannon ball), the walls absorbed them, rather than shattering as granite or brick would. The guide said it would be like shooting bb's into styrofoam. After an attack, the Spanish would go out under the cover of dark and stuff the damaged walls with straw and then plaster over them. By morning they looked brand new. The story goes that the English wrote home saying that the Spanish had discovered a magic stone that healed itself.
While walking back along the shoreline to pick up our laundry, we noticed a group of people watching something in the water. Upon closer inspection, we saw two old manatees rooting in the mud bottom near the anchorage. We thought they would have all migrated south by now, but were told that there are a few 'urban' manatees who stay in the rivers for the winter. As long as they can find 70 degree water they are OK, and there are several warm water springs in the area.
Sunday afternoon the girls had a dinghy driving tutorial. On our tour of the mooring field we chatted with another cruising family who was moving onto their sailboat that day, they were on their 11th, and hopefully last, dinghy trip to get all their stuff aboard. We also chatted with a few other Canadian boats that we had met up with earlier in Charleston.
Once back at the boat, we hauled the dinghy back up to the front deck, had some dinner, reviewed Monday's sail plan, and were off to bed.
St. Augustine certainly ranks up there as one of our favourite cities on this trip!

Daytona Beach

This morning started early. We had planned to get going around first light at 7. We were up shortly after 6. By 6:30 there was no sign of light in the sky, and upon further inspection of the clock, we realized it was only 5:30. Oops!
By 6:45 we were pulling away from St. Augustine as the sun rose.
Today was mostly canals with several bridges, some which we had to radio to open for us because they don't have enough clearance for us to get through with the mast up.
At the second bridge we had a bit of trouble hailing the bridge master, but finally got in contact with him once we were in very close range. We called a few other boats along the way to see how they received our transmissions and have come to the conclusion that there is a faulty ground wire somewhere in the antenna at the top of the mizzen mast. We are able to use the radio, but can only be heard in very close proximity to the station we wish to communicate with. Oh well....nothing else was broken, so it always has to be something.
We arrived in the Daytona area shortly after 1, and by 2 had pulled into the Halifax
Harbor Marina to fill up the diesel tanks. Two things of note here:
1. Yes, the river behind the beach at Daytona is called the Halifax River, and
2. We do have 2 diesel tanks. Up until this point we have only being using our main tank, which holds about 30 gallons. But, figuring that we are headed to some fairly remote islands (relatively speaking), Greg thought it a good idea to get the secondary tank cleaned up and filled "just in case".
While he was fueling the boat, I walked over to West Marine to pick up a diesel polisher. Of course, he sends me on these little quests saying "all you need to ask for is .....". I usually feel I have a good concept of what I'm looking for until the staff in the store start asking questions. Then it all falls apart on me.
So today, again, I returned without what I was actually sent for. But! I did manage to find a handheld VHF radio (see above), as well as a couple of flashlights that you recharge by shaking.
Now we are anchored just off the ICW, in a spot that we theoretically shouldn't be able to get to. The chart shows 3' of water between our current position and the deeper channel, which our 6' keel shouldn't float over. However, our handy little iPad app, along with a tip from the guy at the fuel dock, allowed us to treat 2 channel marks as a back course range (think of lining up 2 telephone posts to tell you where to drive across a field. That's a front course range. Now, follow them by looking out your rear window and you've got a back course range. You've got to keep them lined up, or you will drive into a huge pothole, or in our case, run aground) to get us through a deeper cut. We are in the company of 5 other boats, who also snuck into this great spot.
Tomorrow we are headed to Titusville. We are hoping to get another mooring ball there, and likely stay until Friday. There is supposed to be another front pass through the area on Thursday, so we will check the forecast before heading on to Vero Beach.

Interesting tidbit: from Vero Beach we're only about 65 miles from West Palm, which is where we are thinking about crossing to the Bahamas from! Time to start thinking about all the supplies we will need to provision with before we make the jump...

On vacation...from our vacation.

A day of downtime. No passage planning, no diesel roar at 7:00 am, no anchor mud to clean off the fore deck. We are on vacation from our vacation in St. Augustine.
Bit chilly though, it hit 43 degrees this morning and we hear it was 30 in Savannah. That's a bit close! The cold fronts have been blustery and powerful this year and I am concerned that the Bahamas will be chilly too.
We toured the town today to see some sights and just unwind. The weather was warmer than we expected and the girls had to return to the boat to changed into shorts. Beautiful day.
I even managed to adjust the corroded stuffing box to stop the stream of ocean water that was trying to sink our boat. Three cheers for Blaster penetrating oil. That stuff has saved this boat several times! Great on tight turn-buckles too.
Here's the photo proof off our day.

A Great Morning in St. Augustine

We were headed to a local bagel shop to pick up some breakfast (well, actually it would be our second breakfast - Madeline made apple cinnamon oatmeal when we got up at 6:30 this morning), when we happened to pass this great bakery that had people streaming in and out. Once stepped inside "The Bunnery" we knew why it was so popular.
Ovens full of muffins, cookies, croissants, danishes, scones, and 2 kinds of sticky buns. All which could be topped with as much fresh icing drizzle as you wanted. Apparently they make it by the gallon. The girls were thrilled!
Greg says the coffee is great, and they even have a 'kid setting' for their steamed milk and hot chocolate, so it isn't too hot. We were very impressed.

Now, to burn it all off we're headed for a 2 mile walk to West Marine to pick up our charts for southern Florida and The Bahamas. Later this afternoon we are hoping to get to the lighthouse.

Score: 4 for Julie, 5 for Greg

We have been keeping track of how many times each of us is at the helm when Cee Jem touches the bottom.
As of yesterday, we were at 4 each:
Greg touched bottom on our way into Frenchman's Bay in Lake Ontario; I touched on our way out the next morning;
our next contact with the bottom came in the Dismal Swamp (which we expected) with Greg touching once, me twice. I will admit mine was a good one, as it shook the whole rigging of the boat as the keel caught on a submerged log;
Beaufort, NC was a good one ... Greg caught the keel on an uncharted wreck while trying to anchor;
two weeks ago I put us on the bottom in Dewees Creek, again while trying to get into a good spot to anchor;
yesterday Greg tied it up when we were stuck in the entrance channel to Palm Cove Marina for a few minutes before the tide came up and we could carry on.

Today however, we had to adjust the rules to include grounding of any vessel, as Greg ran aground in the dinghy. He ended up having to get out and push us off the sandbar so we could continue on our way. (Greg here...let me just say that I touched bottom with the outboard skeg and the waves and wind were pushing us on a shoal. I decided that I should get out and push us off. the boat was never aground as Julie seems to want to suggest.) Funny...when he lifted the engine, it still didn't float!!!

We spent a couple of hours this afternoon enjoying a great walk around St. Augustine. It is a beautiful historical town, very European with its pedestrian malls, architecture and brick roads.
We walked through Flagler College, which is the former Ponce de Leon hotel. It is full of Tiffany glass and is beautiful! We watched carriages and trolleys pass by full of tourists, and even ran into a few familiar boating faces downtown.
Upon return to our dingy, we were greeted by an egret who had been guarding it from the port pontoon. We then returned to the 'mother ship' and enjoyed a great dinner together while a full moon rose across the Matanzas River.
We are here on a mooring ball for the weekend, and will be full of more stories tomorrow.

Just another day...

Hey Julie.
What should we blog about today? Kinda dull eh?

How about the crazy boomerang shaped shoal that we went the wrong side of at high tide (phew!)

Okay.

What about the 5.2 knots of current pouring under that Pablo Creek Bridge that we stopped for three hours and had lunch on the hook to avoid?

Oh yeah.

What about when we ran aground coming into the channel of the Palm Cove Marina at exactly low tide. They claimed that they had 6' at mean low water. Closer to 5'. Fortunately we were on a rising tide and came off a few minutes later. Half an hour later we cruised through without an issue.

I guess. Really kind of a dull day.

Just another day in paradise Honey.

Lunch "On The Hook"

We are sitting in a little anchorage just north of Pablo Creek Bridge having lunch. The reason being that we are in view of a bridge through which the current is now running 5.2 knots against us. We approached the bridge almost an hour ago just to see what it was like with 4.2 knots .... when the 45' power boat that was in front of us got turned sideways in the turbulence, we opted out.
In a couple of hours, the tide will have turned, and the current will begin to abate. At that point we will carry on.
Meanwhile, we have a front row seat to watch the rest of the 'parade' pass by. So far they have all made it, but it looks pretty exciting for a couple of moments right under the bridge.

To other Wimpy Kid fans

We were in a book store and the book store owner had a copy of Diary of a Wimpy kid Cabin Fever. She even let me hold it,I held it. Here it comes out November 15 2011. Here no one is supposed to have it yet. It was her only copy. She has probably read it already, lucky her. I told Mom and Dad we need to get it when it comes out,that is the only book I have not read.
#1 Diary of a Wimpy kid fan,
Jessica.

Finally Florida

We made it!
Through the elephants in St. Andrews Sound, down a narrow channel that we explored ourselves, without the help of the Corp of Engineers, to Florida.
The breakers were rolling across the inlet just south of Jekyll Island this morning and the admiral decided that we were not going "outside" today. On the chart there appeared to be another route that we could take through the sound by heading inland and then turning east to meet up with the channel that everyone normally follows. It worked! We did see water depths as low as 11 feet and we would have run aground at low tide. But we timed the tide and sailed through without a bump. You can see our route below. Imagine us cheering as our little red arrow sails along at the bottom of the screen.

We arrived without much other excitement in Fernandina Beach FLORIDA around noon (oh yeah, we hit a speed of 9 knots over ground! Blazingly fast in our boat!).
 I know that two months seems like a long time to get to Florida when a car can make the trip in 2 days and a plane in 3 hours. I was thinking about this as we cruised along this morning while Julie cooked muffins, Madeline napped and Jessica danced on the front deck. Just a different mode of travel. I think its worth it. Tough to cook muffins in a car (or dance on the hood on I 95.)

We picked up a mooring ball today for the first time. This have all the benefits of a dock (security) with the comfort and motion of being at anchor. (and no one walking down the dock peeking in at you while they wander by.) I like them. Mind you it took us three tries to attach to it and I dropped the boat hook and we had to go get it and I cut my hand up trying to secure the grimy rope to the boat. But I do like being on an mooring ball. We felt comfortable enough to leave the dock and wander the town.
Here are the pics of the adventures.

An Awesome Day!

What a great day!
30 miles from the Florida border and we have finally found warmer weather! We docked at Jekyll Harbor Marina and walked around the island. The sea turtle rescue center was fascinating, the beach was all ours, and alligators, horseshoe crabs, bald eagles, and deer wandered across our path.
We are passage planning right now for our last scary bit of water before Florida. St. Andrew's Sound is know to blow up badly and be full of "elephants" stomping around in bad weather. The BoatUS driver down the dock said the area was pretty good this evening. Let's hope it calms down more by morning.
Tomorrow we should be in Fernandina Beach on a mooring ball.
Here are some pictures of today's awesomeness.

Tomorrow is Florida

It is November 8 and we are still in shorts and t-shirts! We were walking through a palm tree forest today. We are in Jekyll Island today, that is in Georgia. Only 1 more day til Florida!
Today we passed 2 wild alligators in a pond beside the sidewalk we were walking on. We also saw some kind of land crab today. I am excited for Florida to get to the beaches. We went to a turtle hospital today. There were some hurt turtles in there. I saw one that was about 3 feet long. Not all the turtles there were hurt, some on them we there because they were babies. I saw about 15 tiny little ones. They were there because on her way to the spot to nest, their Mom got hit by a car. So they found the Mom, and took the eggs into a warm area and kind of adopted them.
We also found 4 horseshoe crab molts on a beach. We found some moon shells today. They were even perfect ones. We also found lots and lots of sea quills. Daddy says "we have hit paradise".
It even smells like the tropics.
I am having a great time,
Jessica

Out for a walk...

We are off to the Sea Turtle Rescue Center and walked past two alligators! how cool!

40 to go..

40 miles to Florida, that is.

We had another long day today, 65 miles or so of beautiful winding canals, interspersed with open sounds that would lead to the Atlantic, should we miss a turn!
There were dolphins galore, always a fun sight, as well as multitudes of pelicans, terns and even a bald eagle perched on one of the canal markers.

Yesterday, we managed to luck into passing through a lovely little cut called 'Hell Gate' at high tide and slack water. Though only a couple hundred meters long, it is an area known for serious shoaling, with low water levels of only 4 or 5 feet. The 9 foot tides of Georgia are helpful for such situations, as we can use high water to our advantage to allow passage through 'skinny water'. I still find it incredible that we can sail, at high tide, over what is dry land at low tide, only 6 hours later.

Today, our timing was not so impeccable. We were approaching Little Mud River at exactly low tide. Though the charted depths through this area are 13', local knowledge has it that most of the "river" has between 6 and 8 feet of water, with a few spots of 5'. We slowed our speed sufficiently to arrive at the top of the river as the rising tide was at 1.5'. Moving as slowly as we could (3 knots with the help of the current) we inched down the river, and though at times saw only one foot of water below our keel, we made it through without touching bottom.

Tonight we are in a cozy little anchorage in the company of one other power boat. Though we have been in Georgia for 2 days now, we haven't actually set foot in it, as we have spent the nights at anchor. We plan to change that tomorrow with a visit to Jekyll Island.

Next mail call

Because we've had a few people ask...
The next place we will check for mail will be in Vero Beach.

Mail can be sent to:
LeBreton's
s/v Cee Jem
General Delivery
Vero Beach, FL
32960
USA

please mark it "hold for arrival"

Georgia and Florida Bound

Over the last three weeks we have had several wonderful visits from many friends and family. One thing this trip has taught us is the incredible importance of spending time with loved ones. The four of us have enjoyed the company of everyone who came to visit and miss them lots.
We installed a new water pump on the engine in Charleston, SC and the Perkins 4.108 seems to be running better than ever. Thanks to Poppa Jack for all his running around helping us get parts.
We have provisioned with food and water and have taken as much fuel aboard as we can.
We are ready for the next chapter of this trip. We are headed for Florida.
Georgia has a relatively short coastline of only 140 miles. With the weather getting colder we are anxious to get to warmer temperatures.
Today's run was about 72 miles and we are now deep in Georgia. Rather amazing in a sailboat. We caught the tides, current and winds all right and moved along, often above 8 knots.
Several more runs like today and we will be in Jacksonville FLA.
Looking forward to warmer temperatures and sandy beaches.

A South Carolina Morning

We have just pulled out of a beautiful quiet anchorage between Charleston and Beaufort, SC. Mornings like this are among our most peaceful times on this trip. We sit in the cockpit, coffee and tea in hand, and chat about the day to come. The girls are playing in their room, and will soon surface to ask what's for breakfast. Often, they will end up making it for us.
Last night was a particularly remote anchorage, one other boat was the only sign that we weren't alone in this world. No traffic, houses or even a power line in sight. Here is a picture of our morning, the sun rising, and the parade of boats headed south, escaping winter, just tiny dots on the horizon behind us.
Have a great day!