Beaufort, SC through St. Augustine

11-11-11 through 11/16/11

Leaving Beaufort, SC on a foggy monring.

We left Beaufort early in the morning, heading down the ICW. It was very foggy for a while. Several boats left about the same time we did and we were all glad when the fog lifted. We got to Port Royal Sound and saw a sailboat, named

N Aimless,  we had been traveling with, turn left instead of right like we did. Shay called him on the radio and asked where he was going. He said on the “outside”, which means out to the ocean. He explained that the wind and waves were going to be perfect for the next 48 hours and this was the time to go out. We called Rocking B and asked what they thought. After a few minutes of discussion and listening to the weather we decided to turn around and go outside. We were all a little nervous but definitely excited. Most people plan and plan for an outside passage, we just decide and go. If the weather is favorable and you have good inlets to leave and enter, an outside passage is the way to go. It is faster since you go in a straight line, uses less fuel, has no bridges, no “skinny” water once you get out, and none of the twists and turns you have on the ICW.

We weren’t sure how long we would have cell phone reception for so we started calling people. Shay called his brother, Joey, and told him our plan and if he hadn’t heard from us in 48 hours to call the Coast Guard and tell them when and where we left from and when and  where we expected to at Jacksonville, FL. I called daddy, Billy and Michelle and told them the plan and that we would be out of cell phone range for a while. 

 

Looking out at the sea buoy at Port Royal Sound.

When we finally got to the ocean at 9:30 am, it was perfect. A gentle breeze and small rolling waves. But I got hot and started feeling bad so I took a Bonine and laid down for a while. When I got up I felt better, but not normal. We took turns being “on watch”. Once we got to the last buoy marking the channel into the sound, Shay drew a straight line on the chart plotter to the buoy marking the start of the inlet to Jacksonville.  We set the autopilot to follow this line and didn’t touch the wheel for hours.  

 

Once you get out that far there’s not much out there. We did see a floating marker for a “fish haven” on the chartplotter, which concerned us, since it was not lite and we would not have seen it after dark. But for the most part it was just keeping an eye on the chart plotter and watching a few lights on the coastline pass by. We did see a few other lights on boats through the night but they passed by and were gone. The wind got up a little during the night but we were still ok. We were very glad that we were traveling with Rocking B. It was nice to see another boat going the same speed and to the same place that we were going. They put up their sail and were beautiful in the moonlight.Shay tried to get a picture, but its hard to get a good one if the only light source is moonlight from a moving boat.



The conditions were perfect for an outside trip. The water was calm.
The winds were good and the trip was great.





A beautiful sunset during the outside trip.

Escape doing the passage from Port Royal to
St. Augustine



Me taking a long nap during the overnighter.

  

Shrimper near Jacksonville, FL at 6 am.



We got to the inlet at Jacksonville, FL about 6 on Saturday morning. It was full of shrimp boats getting an early start. We talked about how long it would take us to get to St. Augustine going inside and outside and decided we’d rather stay outside until there. Shay was a little nervous about the inlet at St. Augustine, since he had heard it can be rough. He called several people and they assured him we would be ok as long as we watched the markers and stayed in the channel.

Looking at the St. Augustine Lighthouse as we were coming to the inlet.

The inlet was a little rough and swifter than we like, but we watched the markers and took it slow.

We moored at St. Augustine at 2:00 pm on 11-12-11, Saturday. We had left Beaufort, SC at 6:15 am on 11-11-11, Friday. We were glad to be moored, tired from the long trip, and proud that we had done it. Margaret got a call from Ken’s sister telling her that most people plan for a trip like this, they don’t just decide while passing the inlet. Well that is true, but the conditions were right so we just did it.

I thought we were ready for the moorings at St. Augustine since we had done it this spring. I go to the bow with my boat hook, ready to grab the line attached to the mooring buoy and tie it on. Well, it had a short pendant with a thimble on the end of it and couldn't be tied directly to the boat. We were tired and didn't remember how the mooring was configured. Shay came down and we tried to get a dock line thru the thimble but he had to go back to the fly bridge so we had to start over. I attached 2 dock lines to cleats and tried to run the other end through the thimble but had one going over the rail so we had to let it go and try again. A guy on a moored boat got in his dinghy and came over to our mooring to help me put the dockline through the thimble on our mooring. Shay said he wished he hadn't helped as he was in the way when we reapproached the mooring.  We thanked him for his help anyway. It takes a long time to put things away and turn things off after a days run.  We got everything settled and checked on Rocking B. They were fine and we were all ready to get off the boat for a while and stretch our legs.

We ate at Harry’s on the waterfront and enjoyed out meal. We were all ready for an early night. The next morning Margaret and Ken decided to explore the town since they had never been to St. Augustine. They took a tour and walked down the streets and enjoyed the sights. We ate dinner with them and Bob and Linda, our friends that have live here for a while. We had a great time catching up with Bob and Linda and sharing stories. Shay and Ken had planned to ride bikes to West Marine but Bob offered to take them by car so they made plans to meet the next morning.

Shay had been having problems with a place on his finger and decided to go to the doctor the next morning. He called Bob and found a walk-in clinic and Bob took us there. We spent the morning there getting x-rays and seeing the doctor. He doctor said the x-rays didn’t show any foreign object in the area and started him on antibiotics. Shay had probably gotten something in his finger while working on a project that caused an infection. We hope the meds will fix it. Bob picked up Ken at the marina then picked us up at the clinic, we stopped at Publix to get the meds and stock up, Ken picked up his part at West Marine then back to the marina. We thanked Bob for coming to our rescue and went back to the boat. We all ate lunch then the guys went back to the boats to work on projects. Margaret and I walked around town, rode the red train, visited a Catholic church Linda had recommended and then toured a winery. We were disappointed we didn’t have time to tour the chocolate factory.