Ocean Voyaging

If it isn't too late to tell about the ocean voyage we took... I will try to tell all now. We left mid-morning from Charleston and headed out the inlet to the Atlantic. We left about 2 hours after our friends Snowaway. We heard them say on the radio that the weather was a little stinkier than was predicted. We immediately put on foulies and life jackets. We already had the tether system setup, so we hooked into that as well. Before crossing the jetty, we decided to raise the sails, something I would not recommend to anyone else in that weather pattern. The wind was right on our bow and the waves 5-6 feet causing Thaleia to crash and boom. Mom and I had eyes the size of saucers and were clinging on for dear life. Mom actually grabbed the back of my jacket at one point. After struggling to raise the sails, we hurried back to the cockpit. It was until we were very clear of the jetty and surrounding shoals that we were able to turn south and put the wind at our backs. Once we were able to do that, the ride got much smoother and nicer. The sun tried to come out, but was mostly cloudy all day. We took turns sailing. Our system was 2 hours steering, 2 hours navigating and observing for the helmsman, and 2 hours rest and relaxation. We followed this pattern all day and thru the night. The ride was wonderful and exhilarating, an experience that I will never trade. If you looked behind you, you could see the waves coming and prayed that the boat would flow with them. They certainly looked like they could swallow the boat. I had to keep looking forward. It was so beautiful. We went well out of sight of land, but no more than 20 miles from shore and that was only for a little bit. That night, we were very lucky because there had been a full moon the previous night, and being still very large, the water was lit up. We could see for a fair ways all around the boat. It made for a pleasant evening and night. The weather was supposed to change from North winds to East winds and wax and wane throughout the night. At some points, we would crash more and others would be much smoother. It always seemed that when it was my turn for some rest, things would go flying. We obviously hadn't secured everything. Things were flying that we had never expected would. Nothing broke though and we are thankful for that. The only damage done was to our dorade vent which got ripped off by the foresail line in a moment of light winds and a gust, a repair that was quickly and easily managed. We did find out just how bad our deck leaked into our engine compartment as wave after wave crashed into the cockpit through our scuppers. When morning came, we were just off the Georgia/Florida border. We came into St. Mary's (Amelia Island) inlet at about 0830. We were met by a shrimper going out near the jetty fishing. Most boats anchored right inside the inlet (back on the ICW) but it was right next to a large factory. We decided that we didn't want to stay there and moved onto the next anchorage a couple of miles away. It turned out to be the most beautiful and peaceful spot. When we awoke the next morning, our friends aboard Snowaway were anchored near us. We are so happy they made it too!

The next day we moved to just above St. Augustine. It was a quiet and quick day. We enjoyed our first real day of Florida sunshine and warm weather. We lazed about on deck well after we anchored, a luxury not afforded to us earlier. I made us our first Painkillers with the real Pussers rum (thank you Saddlers). We had a wonderful evening.

We moved onto Daytona the next day. It was a long day but it was full of things to see. We saw several more odd and other beautiful homes. We saw palm trees, new birds (we have yet to identify some), and St. Augustine (one of the oldest cities in the States). It had amazing architecture. I was astounded. It also has some of the worst current conditions, but we were too in awe at the buildings to let that ruin it. We had several bridge hailings to make and luckily made the last one just in time before it closed down for rush hour traffic. It was our day!!!!

We are now sitting in Daytona. We have been here for a few days and will probably be here a few more. We recaulked the deck, have installed a new radar reflector, fixed the dorade vent, done massive laundry, cleaned the boat through and through, and are working on provisioning before the Bahamas. We still have plenty of work to do, but are making sure we are playing some too. Mom and I got our hair cut (really really short too), a much needed event. We have also met so many wonderful people here. We truly understand how someone could get stuck some place. This is our favorite marina so far. We might just spend Christmas here. We still plan to be in the Bahamas for New Years (Junkanoo, a celebration much like our Mardi Gras).

Good weather and Happy Sailing!