We arrived at Cape Canaveral inlet, our destination, September 21... in the morning …8:15am after 2 days at sea. A beautiful, crisp morning. We two, extremely tired sailors were greeted by the coast guard and thought...oh great!...a CG inspection now?! When our boat is a mess and we are both dead tired? But, no...they wanted to let us know a nuclear submarine was leaving the area and they needed us to move 1000 yards south to get out of the way. Cool! We can do that. That was exciting to see.
(If you click on these pictures to enlarge you can see the guys on the sub)
Our trip here was out of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. When we left Charleston on Wednesday morning, about 7:15am, it was freezing, and there were some big winds, but we were ready to go. I had on a t-shirt, a turtle neck, another long sleeve shirt, my hooded sweatshirt, and my foul weather jacket, as well as my pajama bottoms, my khakis, and Randy's sweats....and my woolen ski hat! This is NOT the kind of weather we want to sail in. We are used to cold sailing being from the California bay area, but not C-O-L-D sailing! It had to be in the low 30s. The wind made the seas coming out of Charleston really choppy. But Kwanesum was amazing. 
I loved how Kwanesum responded to the seas. Hence the number 2 thing I know for sure…I love our boat. She works the waves really well and smoothly. Like a surfer choosing his path. No pounding. And the auto helm was amazing. Held us right on course with not a falter. Love it! One of the things great about sailing is the response of a boat to natural elements.
We turned south out of the channel down the Atlantic and the seas calmed down. Our goal was to head to about 20 miles off shore.
Our friends from Deltaville, Jack and Marianne on GravyBoat, who spent that last week in Charleston, were going to head out that morning as well. We hailed them in the morning but they missed our call. They decided to leave later and let the winds calm down. Their destination was St Augustine where Marianne’s brother has a home. We do hope to catch up with them in the Caribbean or sooner. They have sailed many years in the Caribbean and were anxious to get where it’s warm! And that’s what we want, too! Warm sun and water we can swim in.
I was still really cold. It’s hard to warm up once you get that cold. We decided to motor-sail the entire way. Running the engine with the main sail up. Randy tested the wind with just sails but it was not enough for us to make good time. Ours is a heavy boat. We just wanted to get there. Plus our auto helm takes power. Running the engine keeps it powered up. We were doing 6-7 knots while motor-sailing. The engine just purred like a kitten. We were so proud of our boat. We do have an advantage in this kind of weather over others in that we are used to being miserable while sailing. =) We've sailed in rough, cold seas like this a zillion times out in northern CA, so this was just par for the course for us. We knew it wouldn't last forever.
We did 3 hour shifts which worked well. As the sun started setting the seas started getting larger. The weather was perfect...clear skies, but the winds picked up to 20+ knots and the seas responded to that. The course we were on had the seas hitting us sideways, which isn't the most comfortable way to go! But again, Kwanesum rode them like a surfing champ.
Ellen, however, didn't ride them as well. After a while, I went below to try to sleep and the creepy, crawlie, stomach stuff got a hold of me. Darn it! I hate when that happens. I do take Bonine and it works really well for me but when the seas are big and I’m down below…the 2 don’t always add up correctly for me. But it passes.
By now things were shifting off the starboard shelves, too. Books I had secured, but obviously not well enough. Kind of a mess down below. I did my thing in the head over the not-so-porcelan bowl and tried to sleep a little more, telling Randy I needed a little more time before my shift. He's amazing...just kept going out there even though he was freezing, too. Thank heaven for our dodger and bimini set up. This is the canvas covering the opening of the companion way (stairs down into the boat) and over the cockpit. It was perfect, in that we'd check the helm and the seas and the instruments, making sure all was well, then tuck in under the dodger to stay warm and out of the wind and seas. We had a kitchen timer we put on 20 minute intervals, then do our checking. It was a good system for us.
The seas calmed down and we moved along. It started getting warmer, too, which was a great relief. Still we had all our gear on, but it was a more comfortable temperature. During the day, the seas remained calmer. We found we had a hard time getting our sleep in. It's hard to relax long enough to really sleep. We cat napped often when we could.
That evening I had the 6:00 – 9:00pm shift and it was magical. The seas weren't bad at all. The weather was warm enough that I could enjoy sitting at the helm. I lay on my back across the helm and watched the stars for a long time. Do you know how bright the stars are when there is no light around from any source? It's wonderful. When Randy came on at 9:00pm I just sat out there with him and dozed until my next shift. Of course the seas picked up again, so we were riding the wild ride once more. This time I handled it well...my stomach handled it well. Kwanesum was a crusty old sea salt by the time she got into the marina. It’s amazing to see all the salt that accumulates on the boat after a bout at sea.
We are tucked in now very comfortably at the Harbortown Canaveral Marina at Merritt Island, FL. Near Cape Canaveral. If we had gotten here a little earlier we could have witnessed the shuttle launch! We're hoping to catch the landing. Not much around here, but just a bike ride to many stores. And the price is really reasonable. Considerably more reasonable than City Marina in Charleston. It gets chilly at night but much warmer than Charleston. We’ve had some beautiful warm sunny days.
When we got here we checked in at the marina office and then had a yummy hamburger at the restaurant here. It was perfect! Neither one of us ate much on the way, though we had plenty to keep us going. We came back to the boat and went to sleep for 4 hours. Ahhhhhh.
We got our bikes out and found lots to explore. We have also, of course, found a sports bar that serves my Shock Top beer and great bar food. What waistline? The burger here at the restaurant is a top runner for best burger in the area. For Thanksgiving, we were missing our family so we decided to make a picnic and ride to the beach. We rode our bikes to Cocoa Beach. I made fried chicken and macaroni salad and off we went. About an hour bike ride to get there. It was a beautiful day and a nice beach. A little trivia here...Cocoa Beach was the place where astronaut Larry Hagman lived in My Dream of Jeannie! (I didn't remember that. Randy gets the credit. Why would he remember that?)
We are tucked in now very comfortably at the Harbortown Canaveral Marina at Merritt Island, FL. Near Cape Canaveral. If we had gotten here a little earlier we could have witnessed the shuttle launch! We're hoping to catch the landing. Not much around here, but just a bike ride to many stores. And the price is really reasonable. Considerably more reasonable than City Marina in Charleston. It gets chilly at night but much warmer than Charleston. We’ve had some beautiful warm sunny days.
When we got here we checked in at the marina office and then had a yummy hamburger at the restaurant here. It was perfect! Neither one of us ate much on the way, though we had plenty to keep us going. We came back to the boat and went to sleep for 4 hours. Ahhhhhh.
We got our bikes out and found lots to explore. We have also, of course, found a sports bar that serves my Shock Top beer and great bar food. What waistline? The burger here at the restaurant is a top runner for best burger in the area. For Thanksgiving, we were missing our family so we decided to make a picnic and ride to the beach. We rode our bikes to Cocoa Beach. I made fried chicken and macaroni salad and off we went. About an hour bike ride to get there. It was a beautiful day and a nice beach. A little trivia here...Cocoa Beach was the place where astronaut Larry Hagman lived in My Dream of Jeannie! (I didn't remember that. Randy gets the credit. Why would he remember that?)
It feels so good to be in Florida! We're getting closer to the warm sunny beaches of the Bahamas. It’s definitely warmer here. We saw one little gator and the tails of some manatees since we’ve been here. I’m hoping to see more of them before we leave.
We are going to rent a car and go see the sites… and tour the Island Packet factory in Largo. Maybe even venture to Disney World! We plan to fly to California for Christmas on December 17, returning December 31. We will see what the next plans are when we return!
We are going to rent a car and go see the sites… and tour the Island Packet factory in Largo. Maybe even venture to Disney World! We plan to fly to California for Christmas on December 17, returning December 31. We will see what the next plans are when we return!
