Journeys of Soteria: We're Back and What a Story to Tell!

We returned to Beaufort after a great week with the family in Georgia to continue our journey. There was a social and we discovered two other boats were leaving the same time as us, but were going "outside" to save time. Needless to say, I was a little hesitant, but after being reassured and convinced (Thanks Elden!) we decided to join them. Safety in numbers, right? So, 10:45 am on Saturday we set off on for St. Mary's inlet in Florida, 122 miles away. The one sailor reassured me that the farthest we would be offshore would be 3-4 miles. Right, we were 20 miles offshore at one time and averaged around 10. Good thing we could still see land or the lights at night.

The trip was going well, except for the lack of predicted NW winds (they were SW and really fluky), until the predicted winds hit us around 10-10:30. It caught us off guard, and we wound up having an accidental jib, breaking the main sail traveler. For a few seconds it was scary, but praying and training kicked in big time. We were able to get the engine started, the main down and secured and told the Coast Guard we were OK and didn't need their assistance. One of the other boats called them when they saw us having problems and couldn't see us very well. Thinking about it now makes us realize just how fragile life is and makes you appreciate what you have now. It was a dangerous situation, but with God's help and teamwork, we came through safely. We have learned to rely on God and each other so much more than before, and just how much we can handle.

Now for the fun part, after the excitement, the motor sailing went really well. We took turns at the helm, resting a bit while off watch and watched the sun rise over the Atlantic. We tied up to a mooring buoy in Fernandina Beach for two days to recover from the trip after 22 hours of traveling. We saved 5 days of travel and over 50 extra miles. 15 hours of sleep later, we felt a lot better, so we went to tour the town.

Next installment: the trip to St. Augustine, FL.

Enjoy the photos!