Fernandina Beach and Alberto, Callawassie Island and Beryl.....

 Now for the weather issues:

First, the storms: they caught us just south of the railroad bridge that had been closed most of the day for a week for painting. We had to be at the bridge after 5:30, but the storms were moving fast. So we (with Carolina Moon who we are traveling with) turned around to go to a less open place. But that didn't quite happen. We got to a turn in the ICW and the winds and rain hit. And what wind! We saw a gust of 35 kts. at one time. It was blowing us both sideways at times. We tried to drop anchors in shallower waters, but wound up in 26 ft. with only 100 ft. of anchor chain out. 4-1 scope at anchor is not good. But the anchor held and with Elden at the helm and the engine running, we waited out the storms for about an hour. We pulled up and headed through the bridge and into Fernandina around 7 pm. As we pulled into the harbor, there were more storms moving in where we had anchored. (Sorry, we were so busy with handling the boat, we didn't get to take photos.)

Next was Alberto, the first of the tropical storms to waylay us. We were only planning on staying a couple of days, but the weather outside was way to rough to even try it. So, we upped our stay to a week, and explored Fernandina Beach.

Aftermath of Alberto: a really great sunset

Tall ship visiting Fernandina Beach. Belongs to a religious group that trains their youth in sailing basics. No not Mormons.

Surprise visitor at the docks. Stayed around for days before we finally got a good shot.

Ft. Clinch at St. Mary's inlet











Offshore stories are up next from St. Mary's Inlet to Port Royal Sound and Callawassie Island.  We headed out around 8 am to the inlet to start our offshore trip. Winds were SE at about 5-8 and building. We had a double reef in and were glad we did. The winds upped to 10-15 and gusts to 18 kts. We were making such great time we had to slow down so we didn't get to Port Royal Sound too early. Elden was thrilled to be able to sail without the engine. After about 2 hours of sailing, we reached the inlet and motor sailed the rest of the was to Callawassie Island. I had made the mistake of taking my vitamins that were oil based and started feeling a bit queasy. Gingersnaps weren't working, so I had to pull out the Sturgeron pills. They worked great! No more fish oil before we go offshore!

 Carolina Moon heading out

 Offshore heading to South Carolina








Callawassie Island, SC

If you wanted a place to wait out a storm, this is a great one. Far enough inland with good protection. Also having friends along who have a place there doesn't hurt either!  We made it to Callawassie Island after a calm overnight offshore trip and tied up for what we thought was going to be a couple days rest and then Beryl decided to join the mix. We spent a week waiting for her to move on, enjoying the area and company of BeJay & Mike.  Got to catch up with Sami & Barry (Deja Vu) and Chick & Dorothy (Illusion) to share MTD games and great food.

Part of the ambiance of Callawassie Island

Low tide from Beryl

High tide from Beryl

Sunsets were beautiful and plentiful

BeJay, Mike, Sami, me and Elden after MTD. Barry was MIA afterwards, doing work on Deja Vu.








Next post Toogoodoo Creek and Charleston.

And hopefully no more named storms!

My bad.... sorry for not posting!

No excuses, I have been sidetracked by relaxing. WiFi hasn't been the great, but still accessible. So I will be posting a lot this week before we start back South.

Again, my apologies for my lack of initiative.

Susan

Next stop: St. Augustine

 St. Augustine was great as we spent three days on a mooring ball. We were able to find the great pizza place and bakery with the $2 bread. Bejay and Mike are great traveling companions and have made the trip a lot more fun sharing experiences. 
Here a  few photos we were able to take while on the mooring ball.

St. Augustine Lighthouse

Shrimper heading out before dawn

Storm clouds over St. Augustine

Bridge of Lions

Schooner that gave tourists a taste of sailing






It was good to spend time on land after a week on the hook. Short days mixed with longer ones made the journey easy.  Next stop: Fernandina Beach and then offshore to Port Royal Sound

Next post will have the report on Alberto and Beryl. Two reasons to spend 8 extra days in marinas!
Til then fair winds and calm seas!

We are on our way!

It's finally begun, we are on our way north and what a journey it has been. We are sharing the journey with friends from Carolina Moon, Bejay and Mike Gracken. From Stuart to St. Augustine was great and uneventful. So much that the next two weeks are making up for it!  First was the line of storms that caught up to us just south of Fernandina Beach. Then the two, yes two, tropical storms that have stalled us during our trip.  This will take more than one entry to cover all that has happened so far.

Leaving Stuart was exciting and sad at the same time. New experiences vs. leaving good friends we made at Loggerhead. We will miss them all!

Loggerhead Friends

            Good bye Stuart!

Traveling companions were everywhere

Carolina Moon at anchor at Titiusville










We anchored every night until we reached St. Augustine. The sunrises and sunsets were fantastic.

Sunset at Cocoa

     
Another gorgeous sunset










Titusville was a great place to anchor as we were close to the Kennedy Space Center, where Spacehip X was waiting to launch.

Space shuttle museum

  Launch and assembly areas










St. Augustine was a great place the first time we visited, and even better this time. The next entry will have more on the time spent there.

Until then, fair winds!

The Journey North begins...

Apologies for no posts lately as we have been getting ready to head North for the summer. We have left Stuart, FL and are going up the ICW with fellow sailors, Mike & Bejay Grackin on "Carolina Moon". As time and WiFi allow, we will be posting more and adding photos. Here is just a sample of the views we have had the past 4 days. Till the next time, fair winds to all.

 Sunset at Cocoa

Sunrise at Cocoa

Evening visitors at anchor at Cocoa

We are a sailboat again!

Finally after 8 weeks of waiting and working and more waiting, Soteria is complete and moving! Ok, if only on the St. Lucie River, but we can move. A friend went out with us to calibrate the auto pilot again(seems we didn't tell it we were a sailboat the first time!) and the wind instrument, while her friend went around us taking some great photos.

Enjoy the following and will post more as we get ready to head North for the summer.

The silence is deafening, and can be expensive......

Sorry for the long lapse since the last post. It has been a rough winter as far as repairs go. Late January we discovered a problem with the compression post and deck. Long story made short, the post was vibrating much more than acceptable and Elden thought that the deck was a bit delaminating. It has taken almost 7 weeks of waiting and working to get to the place where Soteria is back together.

Feb. 3 we pulled into Allied Marine to pull the mast and get started. Mack Sails has been doing the  work, but had a very hard finding a carpenter to check and fix the deck(almost 3 1/2 weeks!) Finally, a local carpenter was able to come, check out and repair not only the deck situation, but replace the water tank top in the V-berth.                                                                                                                                                                         

Before

After

Finished

The deck delamination was not as severe as first thought. There was none behind the mast and very little in front. Both the tank and epoxy fix were done in one day.

New deck plate under the mast

Finally, the crane is requested for the installation of the mast, but still has some things to add before it's lifted. Seems the boss didn't relay the instructions for a wind indicator or new main halyard, and the rigging was only partially attached. After a morning of catching up, the mast finally was reattached and we returned to the marina as a sailboat again!

Final adjustments

Fianlly! A sailboat again!

The big lift

Attaching the roller furling drum

Since the work took longer than anticipated, the wiring had to wait until the next day. So now we are sitting at the dock, waiting for the riggers to come back and do the final tuning to the standing rigging and wire the wind indicator.

Til then enjoy the photos and will post more as it happens!

LED Spreader light

Steaming & Deck light

Wind Indicator

Final mast top configuration

Spreader boot

                                                    

Just when you think you're ready...no go for the Bahamas this year :-(

We were ready to start provisioning for the Bahamas, when Elden noticed the compression post vibrating during a recent wind storm. Ok, not just vibrating, but moving about 3/16 inch or so in either direction. Upon further inspection, the deck around the mast is delaminating. Really NOT a good thing, especially when we thought it was fixed less than 2 years ago in Washington, NC and paid for! That really ticked us off, as now we have to postpone our trip to the Bahamas til next year as the cruising kitty will be depleted to re-repair the deck. It's not worth the effort to go back to the marina and try to get reimbursed. So while the mast is removed, we decided to have the standing rigging replaced (which we were planning on doing next year) and have a wind anemometer added to the top of the mast. It seems by the time we're done, we will have a new boat! :-) And I can think of worse places to be. After the repairs and upgrades are complete. we will still have time to explore the coast or go thru the Okeechobee to the West coast before heading North for the summer in late April.
Will keep information posted as it becomes available.
Until then, enjoy the attached photos we have had the pleasure of taking while here in Stuart.

Sunrise on Christmas Eve morning

                                           Daily visitor to our docks.

We have arrived!

Finally we have arrived in Stuart, Florida for the winter. It has been a challenge with unexpected expenses and repairs added to what we planned on doing.  The new main, engine water pump, knotmeter/depth sounder were scheduled and budgeted, but the stuffing box/drive shaft were not. Credit has to be given to the guys at Indiantown Marina for catching a potentially dangerous mechanical problem. The stuffing box (where the drive shaft is attached the engine and goes thru the hull) was definitely not correctly installed and could have resulted in a major leak. This should have been caught during the initial survey, or at least when the engine mounts were put in while we were in Washington, NC. Suffice to say we will definitely not be going back to that marina for any work.

New Stuffing box correctly installed and clamped

 Finished fiberglass and realigned and treated drive shaft. With the realignment , our speed was increased at higher RPM's than we originally had on the trip down. Goes to show you what good mechanics can do!





On to better things, the new main with all the bells and whistles and the autopilot have been installed. Calmer winds are needed to test out the main and to finish calibrating the autopilot. We did the initial compass calibration successfully, but the auto-correct kept doing circles. Seems the wires to the wheel motor needed to be reversed!

We were able to finish the autopilot calibration and sail with the new main.  Winds were enough to sail at about 4 kts. but had to cut it short as it looked like a front was moving in.

We have had a great time reconnecting with boaters we met last season and meeting new friends this year.

More to follow as we get ready to head out to the Bahamas in March. Til then fair winds!

Finally back on the boat, well sort of....

We are finally back on the boat, even if it's still on land. Indiantown marina has a work yard that we are currently occupying to check on some items and replace others.  Good thing, too, as the thru hull on the air conditioner wasn't set up right. Very little caulk and the water pump was sitting on the thru hull. One set of rough waves could have knocked it out and we would have been swimming! The depth sounder and knot meter are being replaced as well as the engine water pump. A new main is also on the list, but that will wait til we get back to Stuart. It never ceases to amaze me, just how much work it takes to get the boat back in shape to get it back in the water! Between the cleaning, waxing and restocking, it makes me think twice about pulling Soteria out next summer.

So far the weather has been sunny and warm, at least for us,  but Rina looks to be bringing some rain later this week. It's taken a week for us to start getting back into shape. Who knew climbing a ladder was so hard!
The people we have met since we've returned are as anxious to get back in the water as we are. The yard is the busiest we have seen and have been told it gets busier! Loggerhead Marina was beginning to show signs of activity when we visited last week to catch up with friends. Still a little empty, but that will change after Nov. 1 when boaters start heading back South.

Well, it's back to work and God willing we get in the water by Oct. 31 and head back to Stuart to start this years adventures. Till then fair winds to all.