Overnight sail to Charleston May 31 to June 1

Our overnight journey began on Thursday May 31. All conditions seems to be right to head to Charleston outside in the Atlantic. It was a trip of about 136 nautical miles. We figured the trip would take 22-24 hours putting us in the entrance channel close to slack tide.

It was hard to say farewell to our friends of 2 weeks, Joe & Cherie, but that is the cruising life....like sea gypsies, always moving on. Once off the dock by 7AM we encountered our first difficulty moving out of the East River. Our GPS system was upgraded the day before and it was not cooperating or sharing information with the GPS on the helm. It caused a few worries but we somehow worked through the initial problem and continued on our way passing under the spectacular Brunswick Bridge and out the St Simon's Sound inlet. There were about 4 fishing boats near the channel but after that we did not have any close boat encounter until we approached Charleston.


Here is the GPS when it works!!

From the beginning of the trip the NOAA weather prediction was incorrect. Instead of south 5k winds we had 10 to 12k out of the ENE upping our speed over ground to apx 7.2k. Our route was NE so we tightened the sails, set a course line at 47'N and rode on one tack to Charleston. The waves were as predicted 2-3' and that's what we had.....rollers which made for a comfortable sail.

Looks awful!

It was a hot day but at least we had a comfortable breeze. Peter spotted a large loggerhead turtle and we had dolphins escorting the boat swimming in the bow wake several times during the day. We never get tired of watching them. This time though we stayed safely in the cockpit so we could not get a good picture. There were many swirls of seaweed probably due to TS Beryl which had just moved through. Passing along the coast, though, we spotted "rivers" of something brown moving out to sea. It was a little disconcerting since it did not appear to be a naturally occurring ocean event. It appeared to be waste product from the Georgia Pacific Paper Mills which dotted the shore all through Georgia. We had seen this once before drifting by our boat at the dock in Fernandina beach right beside one of the paper plants.

We were traveling offshore about 10-12 miles so land quickly dropped out of sight. The winds quickly picked up to a consistent 11-14k with gusting to 17k. That increased our speed to 7.9 and 8.0. We were very happy to be moving along so quickly...full sail out, motor on, and perfect point of sail. Throughout the day we both tried to take naps so we could be more awake through the night. We had some more problems with the GPG but our paper charts were ready and our course of 47' was easy to follow if we did lose the GPS function. We could be sure we would not end up in the middle of the Atlantic!! It would not be too bad to end up with our friends Bob and Connie in the Med!!!!!!!!!!!

The sunset was beautiful. Jane fixed comfort food for dinner...scrambled eggs for Peter and grilled cheese for her. The waves were still rolling along at 2-3' with the occasional 4'. It was too hard to stay below for long and try to cook a proper meal. It did not become dark until just after 9PM. The moon was half way to full so we had our first moonlit sail. It was fantastic. All night we could see the horizon and see the water. Once darkness came the winds picked up to 15k gusting up to 19k and the waves seemed to be a bit higher. So we reefed both sails. Our speed over ground was above 8k all night until we got closer to Charleston. We quickly realized that we would be arriving earlier than planned so that kept us excited and awake. About 10 miles from the Charleston channel Jane noticed 2 red lights which we both thought was some sort of tower. Peter then thought the red lights were moving independently of each other. There was nothing on our charts to indicate a tower and there was nothing on the radar. About 1/4 mile away we found it was a sailboat under sail with both tri - light on the mast top and nav lights on the bow. There was no steaming light because it was not under power. Very confusing...Peter talked on the VHF with him and his motor was out and he was waiting for daylight for something...maybe to enter the harbor. I have to say that was more dangerous to us than the large tankers. We can easily see them on radar and their AIS signal and are easy to communicate with.

Sunset

Beautiful moonlight!

Our little corner of the dock

Waterfront property anyone?

We finally entered the channel about 2:30AM but it took another 1.5 hours to get into the harbor. We passed a really large tanker on the way in. The marina we came to has 24hour service so someone helped to guide us in and tie us up. We took the easiest slip to get into in the dark....on the outside corner of the south dock. Jane calls it the waterfront since the waves were washing over the dock during high winds. We were tied up by 4:15 AM and in bed by 5AM. Jane woke at 9 and could not sleep anymore so we both got up for the day. After a busy morning of putting things away and getting the GPS sorted out with Raymarine we took a cab to the grocery store. After returning from the store we spotted a familiar boat entering the marina, a 55ft Hinkley, (wow). When we stayed here in the Fall of 2009 during hurricane Ida we were tied up beside each other and had a very enjoyable few days together. Peter and his mother Sandy travel from Maine to Florida and the Bahamas almost every year. What a coincidence to meet again in the same marina after 3 years. We celebrated our reunion at the Friday night beach party at the marina last night. We were glad the docks were much calmer on our return to the boat!!!!