Update – Jan 14, 2023
Well, what do you know; we’re back in The Bahamas and have been for 17 days. Today it is absolutely blowing like stink, 25-33knots while at anchor, and will continue to do so for another 12 hrs or so. Good day for me to relaunch the blog and get up to date. I am planning on backdating 4 posts to continue the saga from April of 2022 including a brief recap of our 2021/2022 sailing adventure.
‘The Wild Hair‘
12/25/2022
We had been prepping the boat & ourselves to make the jump out of Brunswick, GA to Cape Canaveral, FL to stage ourselves for the crossing to The Bahamas. The ‘plans’ were to leave on Dec 28 w/a favorable wind forecast. We would then have to sit in Cape Canaveral for a couple days for the opportune weather window to cross the Gulf Stream. D happens to walk down the dock at the marina around 10:00am and spoke w/some dock mates to wish a Merry Xmas. They were all in a tizz; friends of theirs on 2 boats were planning on leaving the next day to go directly to The Bahamas and they were going to join them. From Brunswick, some 331nm!!! D came back to the boat, also now in a tizz, replaying the conversation and said “should we go with?” I proceeded to get into a tizz and say “WHAT”? We met w/the other boaters who received direct emails from Chris Parker (the sailing weather meteorological ‘god’) saying the passage would not be ideal but would be manageable. LET’S GO!!! So, we thusly proceeded to scramble to get ready.
Four boats left at 0500 on Dec 26th in 23F degree temps; heading out the Brunswick River to the Atlantic. We were about 3 miles offshore when one of the boats turned around suddenly and radioed, “our alternator isn’t working”. A critical piece of equipment for charging the batteries. If they were to turn off the engine, no guarantee that it would start back up. One boat down. A check of the updated Gulf Stream crossing weather forecast revealed the wind speed and direction had changed. Not by too much; however the wind direction was to be from the NE 12-16kts. Since the Gulf Stream flows from the south anywhere from 2-6 knots having a north wind hitting it head on is not the ideal situation. Think washing machine effect. One boat, who had not crossed the stream on their own boat before said, “we’ll divert to St Augustine”. Two boats down. Leaving Rory and Bella Luna. Hummmmm, what to do? Bella Luna was going for it; they however have a faster boat than Rory so we knew we’d lose them after awhile. So, taking a leap of faith, D & I decided to proceed to The Bahamas. We would enter the Abacos at a different location than Bella Luna so not to arrive in the dark. As w/many of our blog posts in the past, us & wind direction & the ability to sail sometimes just isn’t in the cards. As w/this trip; either light and directly on our back then in our face. Sadly to say we motored most of the 331 miles (some motor sailing across the GS, and 7 lousy miles of pure 3kt sailing), 60 hours to Little Grand Cay, Abacos, where we would clear customs. The actual Stream crossing was not bad at all. We compared it to a brisk day on Lake Michigan. In The Bahamas 1630 Dec 28th.
What did we learn? Lots! Snap decisions are ok as long as YOU do some additional research into the situation. We relied too heavily on the thoughts of others. No repercussions; but we might have made a different decision about the trip if we had done more research.
Could not leave Brunswick w/out one of their stellar sunsets. Honestly, we’ve not been anywhere that consistently had phenomenal sunsets. Luckily, you’re only getting one picture 😉
Hotel California
“Welcome to the Hotel California
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)…
…You can check out anytime you like,
But you can never leave”
The Eagles, via album of same name
So, take out ‘Hotel California’ and insert ‘Brunswick Marina’ and call it good. We had become too complacent in getting our act together in warmer weather to make a move or a ‘plan’ to head south. Brunswick is a nice town, great restaurants, great people in the marina; the marina itself puts on a bazillion social events such as oyster roasts, holiday parties, etc. One really becomes comfortable just being there. Did I mention free beer and wine three nights a week? We had a standing date nite at Reid’s Apothecary Kitchen & Cocktails. Awesome in both categories. We loved going to Taco’s La Fiesta for authentic Mexican tacos, etc etc. We attended town events such as Porch Fest; musicians playing on Southern Home porches or the Holiday Light tour, etc etc. We returned to Brunswick Oct 16 and Rory splashed on the 19th. Along comes Dec 15th and the thermostat dropped into the 40’s, 30’s and we were SO not amused. Kinda caught us w/ our pants down! So, we lamented and beat ourselves up for not leaving sooner. “It’s the South, it’s supposed to be warm”! Therefore we were forced to do a few tasks in not so fun weather, like going up the mast. I also wore a LOT of wool!
Tropical Storm Nicole nicked Brunswick around Nov 10th. We had Rory tied up like she could never move, removed as much canvas and ‘stuff’ from the deck as possible; she was ready. We lucked out, high winds for a few hours, some tidal flooding in the parking lots and she was done. Lucky for us, not so lucky for others further south.
And it wouldn’t be worth if but for all the wonderful people we met during our time in Brunswick. Strong bonds are built quickly but are lasting. It’s the best part of the cruising lifestyle. And the worst, because at some point one needs to part ways. Never say “goodbye”, but “our paths will cross again”.
Summer of ’22
So how does one top off 11 months of a sailing adventure? One goes on a 3 month road trip beginning on the Atlantic Coast, traversing the country to the Pacific Coast, then back across the country and Canada to the Atlantic Coast for a total of 11,039 miles! Of course you do. All predicated on the fact that our niece was getting married in Reno, NV on June 4th.
Beginning: 1,383 miles, 8 states. We rented a car to get from Brunswick to our home in Arkansaw, WI. Brought back stuff we did’t need on the boat. Went thru Smoky Mountains Nat’l Park, Bardstown, KY (bourbon tour) and visited some dear friends Dan & Jodi at their new ‘farm’ in western WI. We spent a week at our place in WI, doing a few Dr appts, etc.
Middle: 7,754 miles, 14 states, 1 Canadian province. We packed up Tesseract for the cross country adventure. I know there’s some strong opinions out there about Tesla; but we do love our car. People were questioning us “How are you going to find charging stations when you need them”? “Won’t you have to travel strictly on the interstates”? And so on. Answer: you search them out and no you don’t have to stay to the interstates. Of course there’s an app that helps to locate charging stations other than the Tesla superchargers, and the car tells you when and where you can charge if you need to. Hotels allow you to plug in, as do town/city chambers of commerce, grocery stores, malls, restaurants and bars. Quite nice. Went to a mall in CO to charge up and D ended up spending $200 in a great outdoor clothing store. We chose hotels if they had chargers. Get it? We were refused only once. And 2 places we wanted to go (in outstate Idaho) we had to call ahead to assure that they would let us charge or we would not have made it. We saw a lot of the country and met up w/many friends and family members. We had a blast. Highlights of people then places below. I could have added many many more place pictures, but I’ll spare you.
We got back to Arkansaw and spent 2 months on the farm. We finished up Dr/Dentist appts (kudos to Kim B for guiding me thru 2yrs w/o a teeth cleaning and getting an excellent ‘review’), tax appts, solar farm maintenance projects. We got together w/many friends we hadn’t seen since we left in June 2021. Which was such a treat. Some pictures below, didn’t get any of Tom & Linda W or Bob & Karen S. or our cousin Kevin; somedays picture taking just isn’t important, getting together is.
Ending: 1,902 miles, 9 states. Loaded up our F150 truck BabyCakes, and started south. We kinda hustled to get back to Brunswick, but did manage to divert and spend some time w/Jennifer & Eddy in Washington, NC. Met them sailing last year as well. Met some friends of theirs and another bond was born.
People – its always about the people!!!
Recap of Our 1st Major Sailing Adventure
You know, this post really should have been done just after we took Rory out of the water while ‘stuff’ was fresh in our memories. But doing it now has given us time to reflect on that time perhaps giving it a deeper perspective.
STATISTICS
Time Involved: Left Manitowoc, WI June 16, 2021, put Rory on the hard May 16, 2022. 11 months exact.
Nautical Miles Traveled: 4,190
Engine Hours: 469
Diesel Consumption: 350 gal
Sailing/Motoring NM: 2,312, 55%/1,878, 45%
Anchoring/Marina+Mooring Ball Days: 223, 75%/76, 25% (did not include prep-out month @Brunswick)
Average Cost per Nite: $28.77
THINGS LEARNED
-> The allure and power of water: Water is beautiful; the colors, textures, patterns, wildlife presence, mercurial properties; its mesmerizing. It is also very powerful; will pitch you forward & aft, roll you side to side, butt slap you now & again, and crash into the cockpit because it wants to. It is a force to be reckoned with and deeply respected.
-> The amount of ‘stuff’ you need to know: If someone would have told us ALL we needed to know for this trip, we’re not sure it would have happened. Boat stuff; engine, pumps, hoses, electrical, power consumption/production, backups needed. Navigation stuff; wind & weather forecasts, tide & current info(takes the cake for the learning curve), lock transit, plus a billion more.
-> Shit happens: Things break; things stop working, things fall overboard, things get ‘lost’, one falls, things rip. It’s all a part of the gig.
-> Salt water sucks: It permeates everything; you, your hair, the bedsheets, your clothes, the sails, the boat, the stainless. It is difficult to get off/out, feels slimy and makes things instantly rust. I honestly don’t think I ever got it totally out of my hair!
-> Ourselves: K turned out to be a pretty good navigator, did the hand helming during dicey inlets and cuts entry/exit, many in high winds; did the anchoring and mooring ball navigation, nailed em! D is an excellent captain; excellent at determining power needs of the boat, excellent at analyzing problems and solving them. We both experienced anxiety at levels never felt before. Dwight feeling really for the first time. Our feelings/nerves tend to overreact while waiting for things to happen. All part of getting out of the comfort zone.
-> Trust your gut: Had to learn this over & over. If something sounds, smells, feels wrong – it probably is. Every single time we paid attention, it was true. And if we ignored it, it was also true 🙂
-> Provisioning/Cooking: B- for this. Provisioning was actually good, but K’s cooking desire and inspiration came up short. Did well on occasion but definitely not consistent. Lunches were particularly a challenge. Maybe because preplanning helps and K is a Gemini, which = procrastinator?
-> Passage making: For all the previous posts on how mostly sucky our long passages were, we FINALLY realized (thank you Mark M) that you are just moving your ‘home’ from point A to point B; and you do it as quickly and safely as possible. There is very little romantic sailing associated w/this. You are given a weather window to go and you go-motor or sail-at the speed needed to get you to that next spot.
FLAT TOPPERS
WHAT?!? About mid way thru the trip when we would hit those all time ‘lows’ (remember-in sailing- highest highs/lowest lows) we would start commenting, “why don’t we just get a flat top house and be done w/it”! We have been in love w/flat top houses for ages, so seemed appropriate. We actually started keeping a tick list. Luckily enough the highs prevailed and we are still sailing. There are times tho!
IT’S THE PEOPLE STUPID!!!
This cruising lifestyle as it is referred to is predicated on traveling via sailboat/motor boat to fun, unique and beautiful places. However, nothing compares to the people you meet along the way. Yes, its similar interests but there seems to be more of an instantaneous bond built. Maybe because you know the time together is limited, you just cut out all the BS and get right down to what matters. We have built deep friendships w/whom we correspond frequently. I’d love to include a picture and a diatribe w/each of the below but it would take me forever(lazy). Most have had pictures included in other posts.
Bob & Linda – Tiger Lily
Susan & Todd – Freya
Jim & Rita – Daisy
Lee & Jeanne – Lanea Jane
Mary & Kevin – Orphan Girl
Julie & Jeff – Renegade
Caroline, Nate & Soren – Bequia Suite
Sinesa & Kat – Bebe I
Phillip & Rachel – Wandering Star
Jennifer & Eddy – Kairos
Rick – Raindancer
Dave – Restless
Jim – Manitou IV
Dick & Zilda – Elitsha
Laurie and Karl – SP and Me
Thus ends the first of our sailing adventures; time to move on to the next.
Brunswick, GA
April 25, 2022
Hey y’all, how y’all doin? Why yes ma’am, well no sir. That’s just fine ma’am; well glad to help sir. Wow, the southern vernacular & accents are strong here. I believe I have been ma’am-ed more times in the past 2 weeks than I have in my whole lifetime. When younger I hated being called ma’am, assuming it meant I was construed as ‘old’. Can’t get around it here. Y’all; a colloquialism that unfortunately I feel that D & I are going to pick up and carry around w/us awhile. Maybe it will replace the current word we’ve been beating to death for the past few months – ‘theoretically’. We picked it up watching a sailing vlog, “Sailing Uma’; when Dan & Kika were installing an electric motor on their sailboat. Dan said it about every other sentence and through about 4-5 videos. Now the way we throw it around you’d think we thought we were elite college professors. “Well theoretically K, we should be able to rewire this alarm system like this.” “Theoretically D, we have about 5 more flushes on the head before we have to pump out”.
We arrived in Brunswick on the 11th of April, motoring from Fernandina, FL w/the headsail up for the last 5nms. We had traveled to this area 8-10 yrs ago and upon seeing the Sidney Lanier Bridge back then, D stated he wanted to sail under it some day. Well he got his wish.
We will be staying at the Brunswick Landing Marina for nigh on a month to get Rory & Bo ready to be stored. Rory will be placed on the hard but we haven’t quite figured out where to put Bo yet. Will work it out. The marina is great; friendly helpful people, free laundry, free beer & wine every Mon Wed and Fri, events almost every wknd. Downsides – no-see-ums, and some days it seemed as if there were billions! Since it has been warmer lately 78+ they have greatly diminished. The other – WHAT IS THAT NOISE? Literally for the past 2 wks we have been trying to figure out what the pulsing, rhythmic, foghorn-like, electrical-type vibrational sound is; mostly at nite. We get up to see if we can locate it, put our ear to the mast to determine if its coming from one of the instruments, go out onto the docks to see if it’s the electrical boxes, turn off all the power to the boat to see if Rory has a short of some sort, ask some dockmates who think we each have 3 heads. Up until yesterday when we finally asked Mr Google the right question did we determine what it is. Ta Da; it’s the mating call of the Oyster Toadfish. Yep, it’s a damn fish. Found an underwater recording made by the Univ of GA and it matches perfectly. At least it’s nothing electrical w/Rory. However that knowledge doesn’t help us sleep much better. Another noise that is more prevalent in warmer waters, one we’re used to, is the snapping or pistol shrimp. These shrimp are ~1″ and have 2 claws one being much larger. The larger claw closes so fast it produces a bubble that makes a loud snapping noise; think Rice Crispies, think frying bacon, think dry wood burning. It is used to stun its prey. So noises in the nite, yippee!
The marina is located very close to downtown Brunswick. A sleepy town not touristy like St Simon’s or Jekyll Island but wanting to be. The town has been undergoing a huge revitalization process for the past five years and it shows. There are many great restaurants, music in the parks or downtown squares, an excellent brewery, an award winning rum distillery and more. However get away from the downtown area and the scenery changes drastically. Very poignant differences, sad.
Some of the sights. Will take more for the next post, promise.
An event that we went to to celebrate Earth Day was the 5th Annual National Water Dance performed by Core Dance Brunswick. It is a national artist driven collective confronting critical water issues in the US. The dance was simultaneously performed around the country in about 100 locations near local water sites. The Brunswick performance took place in a labyrinth by the river built out of donated canned goods to also focus on food justice. It involved spoken quotations derived from 3rd & 4th graders at a local school. It was quite moving. The quotations were written on rice paper and ceremoniously tossed into the river after the performance.
What would our cruising travels be w/out meeting up w/old friends, Jennifer & Eddy(met in Ft Pierce, St Augustine, Fernandina and now here, finally have a pic; and meeting new friends Rita & Jim on Daisy, our across dockmates. This is what it’s all about.
Oh, yeah; boat work, that’s a part of this too right? A few of the seemingly hundreds left to go…
Y’all have a great day y’all hear!
Up the Florida Coast?!?
April 10, 2022
So, someone want to tell me what we were thinking??? The whole purpose of this trip was to avoid seeing the dreaded ‘Wind Chill’ factor in the weather. This is only 9 degrees warmer than at our place in WI!
We’ve made 3 stops coming up the FL coast, Ft Pierce, St Augustine and Fernandina Beach, all places we’ve been to before. So, not a lot of pics to include due to redundancy.
Ft Pierce: the place we first stopped after leaving the Bahamas. That’s where we cleared into the USA; it was incredibly simple using an app; one just filled out all the info, answered the questions and had a video chat w/an immigration agent. Whole process took less than 15 min. WOW! Impressed! That’s where we weathered the blow and played dodge boat. That’s where met an awesome couple on a catamaran Kairos (thinking of you Jay) from Raleigh, NC; Jennifer & Eddy P. We ‘met’ them on AIS on our way from the Bahamas and anchored next to them here. We’ve proceeded to have multiple happy hours and excursions w/them due to buddy boating w/them to St Augustine AND Fernandina Beach. Pic? Not yet 🙁
St Augustine: We did our last overnite sail to here, D got to see a hammerhead shark next to the boat. He also managed to catch the same type fish, same size fish, only 3 miles from where he caught the 1st one 3 months ago, what are the odds of that! The town had A LOT less people than when we were here at Xmas time. One did not feel claustrophobic every time you turned around. We celebrated Jennifer P’s 60 Bday (nope, no pic) and wandered the town unfettered by crowds. Visited the Flagler College entrance which was in the day one of the most opulent hotels. Rory (and Dwight) got an exquisite wash complete w/a hail scrub one afternoon, she was clean, Dwight was soaked from a walk into town.
And look who we ran into again; our great friends Mark & Cheryl M, our dock mates from Manitowoc. This is the 6th time we have met up w/them on our adventure, completing the circle from/back to St Augustine. It really becomes a small world in the boating community. They have been so helpful in guiding us every place we’ve gone in FL and the Bahamas; offering great advice, giving us engine oil when FL was out, too many things to list; but all was appreciated. We will miss them! Can’t wait to travel late this summer to Manitowoc to visit them.
Fernandina Beach: Ok, so you’ve had a taste of the sail from St Augustine to here in a previous post but man, it would be nice to have a weather forecast be right for a change. Friday’s sail was actually good but just taxing on the body & mind to pay close attention to all conditions the building winds. We grabbed a mooring ball in 30+kts of wind. D read somewhere that one should use an anchor alarm when you use a mooring ball, never quite sure if one can trust them. So, @1:30am the alarm goes off, what? (The only time this entire trip it has gone off!) We scramble around and get ready to move the boat, look outside and assess the situation. Doesn’t seem like we’ve moved, did we, I’m not sure, did we? We didn’t; there was a slight miscalculation of distance that set it off. Back to bed. Saturday proved to be even more exciting w/the winds averaging over 30kts w/a couple 40’s thrown in for fun. Started at noon ended around 7:00pm. Constantly checking our surroundings; Rory for some reason likes to do her own ‘thing’ and dances around oblivious to the direction the rest of the boats are facing. Yep, she’s a princess bitch!
Oh, and the exquisitely clean Rory was absolutely covered in salt, D&K were covered in salt, the waves hitting the boat forced water in the vberth port hatch, the bed was covered in salt.
We’ll go into town today since its so wonderfully calm, grab some lunch maybe a couple groceries and rest up for our trip to Brunswick, GA tomorrow.
Again, WHY???
