| Seaesta |
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| November 20-30 2006 |
November 21st, 2006 We set sail from Charleston in the dark to avoid rush hour bridge restrictions. It was a little erie traveling in the pitch dark along the ICW and not something I would encourage sailors to do. We motored down the ICW to Beaufort, South Carolina (pronounced Beu-fort) and anchored at sunset. November 22 - 23rd, We stay in Beaufort. A storm is brewing and blowing off the coast and heading this way. The storm is predicted to have 80mph winds in the gulfstream.. probably an overcautioned prediction but I don't want to be any where near the storm. It is hailing here on the boat.. it is cold ... yes.. I sleep with a hat on. :) It is COLD and we are only 50miles from the boarder of Georgia! I thought this was the hot south but I guess it was cold in November here last year. November 23rd Today is Thanksgiving in the USA. We had planned to spend a festive meal with other boat crews in Saint Marys, Georgia but due to the storm we are still in Beaufort, South Carolina. We were invited to a Thanksgiving meal in town at an Episcopal Church called Saint Helena. Seaesta crew made chocolate turkeys out of chocolate covered cherries and cookies, (a tradition in our household) We brought some of the candy turkeys to the church to share. The spread of food was quite impressive and the southern home cooking marvelous, much better than I could have cooked on an alcohol stove. The congregation of the church made the hall look like a resturant and had more waitors than they needed. It felt strange being on the recieving end of church charity for a change. I had to remind myself that it is a gift to the giver to recieve.. November 24th-25th Today we set off sailing from Beaufort and headed 15 miles offshore. The waves were large rollers left over from the storm. The wind was light and variable but with following seas we were able to keep our speed over 6 knots. We decided the weather would hold for another 24 hours so we continued sailing overnight November 26th We spent a grand day out in St. Augustine visiting the town and eating ice cream. November 27th, Chore day in St. Augustine. November 28th, Here we sit in St. Augustine. James spent the entire day at Sailors Exchange, a store selling used sailing stuff! He loves the place and brought a few items we no longer need over to the shop to sell.. I expect him to come back with more boat parts than he left with. I do hope he finds another windlass however since ours is truely dead. Bringing up an anchor and chain by hand is muscle work and possibly dangerous for his fingers. James installed another connection to the fuel line in preparation for a new fuel tank. November 29th We ran the engine for half an hour to eliminate any air problems and then motored around awaiting a bridge opening. The bridge opened and while driving under the lift bridge our engine stopped. Yes ...just as we were under the span. Murphys Law. AHHHHH. The current was going against us so we had little control or movement. With the assistance of the bridge tender another sail boat which threw us a line we were pulled us to safety with seconds to spare, since we were drifting towards a construction barge. The name of the boat that assisted us was aronically called "Drifter". We anchored just off the channel to assess what had happened. After much searching James discovered that the main fuel line had been turned off to make another connection. James forgot to turn the fuel back on. So the whole time we were running the engine to make sure everything was fine we were using the fuel in the line, which ended as we entered the bridge. That's Cruising ! November 30th We motor sailed from Daytona to Titusville, Florida. It was a long day with the wind on our nose the whole way. |