A Little Magic

Candidly, as pragmatic parents, we are not above bribing our daughter to get what we want. The bribe required to motivate her to leave all of her friends and toys in Winchester and hang out 24/7 for over six months with her parents on a small boat needed to be a big one. Ultimately we promised her a trip to Disney World. Having forgotten our promise, a month before we started our trip we put a big map of the east coast up in the kitchen so that she could get excited about our many potential ports of call. Amelia responded by putting one big red sticker on the map, squarely on Orlando.

We thought that her interest might fade with exposure to so many other destinations and activities over the past few months but, the moment we crossed the Florida border, Amelia reminded us: “Now we can go to Disney World!”

So last weekend we made good on our promise, parked the boat in a marina, rented a car, and drove to Orlando. We discovered that The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS - down more than $1.00 per share since we left) is brilliant at extracting maximum dollars from its guests at every turn while still making us feel like we have been sprinkled with fairy dust. We did have a lot of fun – we checked into the Swan Hotel and enjoyed the Magic Kingdom. Amelia got her princess fix (including dinner at Cinderella’s castle), Dave had an opportunity to chill out without boat obligations and I enjoyed the opportunity to sleep in a queen-sized “heavenly” bed and swim early morning laps in the hotel pool.

Having finally made good on our promise, we are back in Saint Augustine preparing to continue South and planning a hop to the Bahamas. We hope that our newest stuffed toy passenger – Minnie Mouse – has her passport ready.

Finally Florida

We were getting a little tired of cold weather after three nights below freezing in Beaufort SC. So, despite Beaufort’s manifold attractions, we decided to take a run for it and get to Florida as soon as possible. It sounds a little easier than it is – we had ice in the cockpit when we left Beaufort in the early morning on Friday to take advantage of favorable tides and winds and then sailed 36 straight hours, bypassing all of Georgia to rejoin the ICW at Jacksonville and end up in St. Augustine, Florida late Saturday afternoon.

Thirty-six straight hours of sailing requires sailing overnight, and that means that Dave and I rotated two-hour watch shifts all night and both days. I can personally attest to the ugliness of the 2:30 am to 4:30 am shift. It was pretty lonely out there – only a couple of passing boats far away, and a few very distant lights on shore.

We rejoined the ICW by entering the St. Johns River inlet at dawn, and had an extremely rare treat – just beside our boat we spotted a northern right whale. These whales are nearly extinct – only 350 are thought to exist in the Atlantic. Soon after we spotted him, the radio was abuzz with the coast guard and others warning all to be on the lookout and very careful.

We are now relaxing in St. Augustine, which is one of the oldest settlements in the U.S., having been settled by the Spanish in 1565. Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon believed that he found the fountain of youth here and the site of his discovery is now an archeological dig and tourist site. There is a well preserved fort – the Castillo de San Marcos – which we toured today. Here’ s a picture of us on the ramparts. The town has a strong Spanish heritage and there are numerous other attractions, which we hope to explore tomorrow before wending our way south.

Now that we’ve crossed the border into Florida, Amelia has become very excited about Disney World. Of course, this has been the major attraction of our trip for her all along. We are doing a little planning now, and hope to park the boat so that we can fit in a short Disney excursion. In the meantime, we’re enjoying the warm Florida sun.

Inside Out

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One of the great dilemmas of cruising south is deciding whether to stay “inside” in The Ditch (follow the inland ICW) or go “outside” (sailing in the open ocean). When we meet other sailors at marinas along the way, one of the first things they ask about our next leg is whether we plan to be “inside” or “outside.” “Outside” is the tough-guy choice and, if Dave’s vote prevailed, we’d be on the ocean the entire time.

Sailing in the Southeast is a little more complicated than sailing in the Northeast, where there are rocky shores, scores of protected harbors and no inland alternatives. It seems that the entire southeastern US coastline is one big shoal close to shore, with prevalent and dangerous shallow areas and only a few, poorly-spaced, sometimes-treacherous inlets. In the southeast, a decision to go “outside” requires careful planning, good weather and, in some cases, a willingness to sail overnight or more to reach the next navigable harbor. Our caution here is reinforced by hearing over the radio from coast guard broadcasts about a couple of boats missing at sea en route to Florida.

The downsides of staying “inside” are the near-constant motoring (vs. sailing), the time required to follow the winding path of the ICW, delays while waiting for bridges to open, and the anxiety of navigating and sometimes running aground on the occasional unexpected shallows and shoaled areas. We’ve been lucky/smart about monitoring the tides and bridge opening schedules to minimize problems, but the experience of having run aground multiple times (as everyone seems to do) continues to daunt us. The upsides of being “inside” are calm and more predictable waters and the ability to access many beautiful stopping points.

Yesterday, taking advantage of favorable distance and weather, we decided to shake out the sails for the first time since the Chesapeake and take an ocean passage from Charleston to Beaufort SC. This required us to leave Charleston at 5:00 am, well before sunrise, and navigate Charleston Harbor's busy shipping channel in the dark. Once the sun was up and we could see our surroundings, however, we had a beautiful day of sailing. It was a little bouncy at sea and we seem to have lost our sea legs somewhere in The Ditch so Amelia was pretty seasick (although in good spirits throughout). We made fantastic time, averaging nearly 8 knots, enabling us to just catch the last bridge opening into Beaufort before dark. We celebrated New Year’s Eve here and, because we had been awake and traveling since before 5:00 am, settled in well before midnight.

Beaufort is another beautifully preserved southern town, recognizable from its starring role in many movies including Forrest Gump. There is a lot to do here, a terrific waterfront park, and numerous dining options, as well as historic district we plan to explore today during a brief stop. Then, as we continue south, we will try to make good decisions about “inside” or “outside” as we proceed through Georgia towards the Florida coast.