Beaufort Town Docks are popular stop along the ICW with many transient boats coming and going. There’s a strong current due to tidal change which makes timing of arrival and departure important. Our timing for arrival had been less than ideal but for departure everything was in our favor at 6:00 am Monday November 3. With a temperature was 39 degrees and a good weather window to travel south we were quickly off the dock and headed out the inlet to the ocean.
The day started well, with full main and Screecher up we were seeing speeds from 8 to 9 knots. After a while we pulled out the spinnaker for the first time on the new boat. All went very well until as predicted, the wind disappeared. We were then under engine power for the duration of the journey.
We put out a fishing lure for the first time in months and soon had a fish on the line. We lost him just before pulling on board but no worries as we soon had another. We are feeling optimistic that we have upped our fishing game with the new boat. Given that we now travel a bit faster, at more of a trolling speed, we hope to be much more successful in our efforts. We plan to upgrade our fishing gear before heading off shore again and are considering adding a filet table to make fish cleaning a bit easier.
It continued to be an eventful day. We had to perform another flag burial at sea – winds are tough on flags. We discovered a stowaway. A small bird was flying around into the cabin and since we were 50 miles from shore he had to have hitched a ride. We heard several warships on the radio and even caught a glimpse of one on AIS. They like to travel more stealthily and don’t often seem broadcast their location.
Jeff and I have continued with our 3 on 3 off watch schedule on passage and fell into it much easier than any previous trip. We both did experience a bit of queasiness the first day with 4 to 5 foot swells, we used patches and wrist bands to get us through.
It was a treat to be out with a full moon but our first night brought an odd occurrence. During my midnight to 3 watch the seas and wind had calmed to nothing yet all of a sudden there was a patch of small close together waves that caused the boat to rock around quite a bit for about a minute or so. Then back to completely calm seas. We speculated about several possible causes but have no idea why it happened. Given that we were 100 miles off shore with no other boats in sight it’s hard to imagine what caused the disturbance. Was is it a whale? Was it a sea quake? Was it a tsunami? We will never know.
By Tuesday morning we were southeast of Charleston (still 100 miles off shore) enjoying a much warmer temperature. This was a less eventful day with little traffic. Mid afternoon we began feeling the effect of the strong northerly current of the gulf stream. Although we were running both engines at full speed we were making only 4 knots over ground. We had to move in closer to shore to get out of the current. Unfortunately there is more traffic nearer to shore. Not a big deal, just have to watch things closely and adjust course as necessary.
Watching Dolphins at sunset
At sunset Tuesday we were treated with a visit from several Dolphins playing in our bow wake. Always magical!
When heading out Monday it had been our intention to go as far as Stuart Florida, arriving early Thursday. Wednesday morning we had difficulty hearing Chris Parker’s weather report over the side band radio and we were consuming fuel at a faster rate that anticipated. Although we probably could have easily made Stuart, we opted instead to head in to Jacksonville that afternoon.
By that point we had traveled 365 miles in about 2 1/2 days. Had we gone from Beaufort to Jacksonville along the ICW it would have been 550 miles and would been accomplished in segments of 50 miles per day while anchoring or docking each night. So when you want to make tracks and the weather is in your favor, the ocean is the way to go.
The ICW does have it’s charms. There are beautiful anchorages and nice towns to stop in; a variety of shore birds along with manatees and dolphins; you get to sleep through the night; usually have flat water and weather conditions don’t often stop you; you sometimes benefit from a fast current heading your way and you can grocery shop or stop at a nice restaurant. Some of it’s challenges include the fact that you can only make 50 miles per day; sometimes your nice flat water is severely disrupted from a big cruiser’s wake; you almost never put a sail up and always burn fuel; you need to pay attention to bridge opening schedules and tide clearance boards on fixed bridges; your bow acquires an ugly brown mustache from the water and those fast currents impede your speed when they are flowing opposite of your direction of travel.
Once back inside at Jacksonville we continued on the ICW. We stopped in some nice anchorages, one near Saint Augustine and then at Fort Matanzas where toured the fort there and hung out in the beach. We also stopped for one night at Harbour Village near Ponce Inlet. We had stopped here in the spring with Echo 1 and visited with out friends Angie and Kelly. We were happy to see them again and show them the new Echo. We had a great visit and a wonderful dinner with them.
Echo at Harbour Village
Hard to believe another year has passed, Nate would have been 23 yesterday. We recently had many memories of traveling the outer banks with him when he was young.
The boat is now on the dock at Titusville Municipal Marina for the next few weeks while we take another quick land trip to Washington and Michigan.Still undecided as to where exactly we will head once we return to the boat but certainly further south. We are feeling more confident with ourselves and Echo as we continue to get more miles under our keel!
~ Jeff and Mary ~
Bob and I returned from Singer Island last night. Sorry to have missed you.
Sherry – I thought of you as we were leaving Florida last week. We’ve been in Washington and now Detroit, can’t wait to get back to the boat. Sorry we missed you too!
Wonderful to read you, Mary… your readers can easily picture what you describe. Stay safe. Love to you both and remembrance of Nate.
Thank you Brid. I appreciate hearing the compliments. It was tough to get started writing again after taking a break but I’ll keep at it. Mary
Again Mary, great writing…. It is like being there with you…. Tell us what catch and eat also.. John.
Thank you John, glad you’re enjoying it! We are a bit challenged on the fish identification effort. We have books and cards but are still unsure about identifying what we catch. We will keep working at it.
We’re looking at making a bag or two with the star field of our worn out flags.
Maybe that sudden disturbance at sea was something Jeff ate?
Echo II looks fantastic. You must be enjoying the extra room and feeling a little more comfortable sailing and sleeping! Hope you continue to have good fortune with the fishing.
Thanks Darryl! We are enjoying the new boat in so many ways.
Your “On the Road Again” logs make us pine for our boat. We plan to drive down in February and spend about 4 months cruising in the Sea of Cortez. Then we will decide whether to do another season in Mexico, or bring the boat back to San Francisco Bay. Would be great to connect with you some day. Any plans to come our way, or cross the Atlantic, in your future?
Breeda and Bruce
Bruce and Breeda – I read your email, looks like you had fun with with your houseboat. Another great way to travel! We do plan to eventually make our way to the Pacific but have yet to make a specific plan. We want to explor more of the Caribbean before either crossing the Atlantic or heading your way. Have to study Jimmy Cornell’s “World Cruining Routes” and make a plan. We may also explore the ARC World Rally, haven’t done so yet but some things about it are intriguing. We would love to have you visit us too. Enjoy the cruise and the Sea of Cortez!