Chasing the sun

After a great overnight sail we entered at Jacksonville and made our way to St Augustine, one of our favorite spots on the ICW. With its Spanish history, the town has a lot of character and we enjoyed 2 nights there on a mooring, catching up with friends and walking the streets.

The ICW is not always that interesting and often involves days of motoring down long straight stretches, but at least it is getting warmer. There is a mix of wilderness and housing, a lot of it extravagant trophy houses, all built on very low land and now that we are in Florida, it is also subject to hurricanes.

This always surprised us....a small power boat with four huge outboards on the stern...a bit over the top!

The birdlife has been amazing which is great to see....a huge variety...

We spent Christmas anchored off a friends house in Cocoa along with Dave and Helen on "Grace of Longstone" After almost 4 years stashed away in the forward cabin, our 3hp outboard replaced the oars as the 1/2 mile row ashore, often in windy conditions, with 4 onboard, was a bit much even for Phil to attempt every day. 5 days later it was retired again and now we are back to rowing. Mark and Carol joined us here and are with us for the next few months, and we waved off Warren and Deb from NZ as they continued on their road trip. Parts ordered online were picked up and yet more food was stashed onboard for the months ahead.

 

We are anchored at Lake Worth tonight and plan to set off at dawn tomorrow for the Bahamas. There are a lot of boats here planning to do the same as it has been a while since the weather has been suitable for the short hop over. The boat is sitting low in the water, laden with fuel, water and food, which is always a sign that we are about to set off on another adventure. This one sees us heading to the Panama Canal via the Bahamas, Cuba and maybe the Caymans and Providencia.....and then we will be back in our ocean again after 4 exciting years in the Atlantic.

Mast repairs in beautiful Bluffton, SC

We had a couple of great stops along the way, at Oriental where we tied up at a public dock and could have stayed because everyone was so friendly, and then Beaufort NC where we caught up with Dave and Helen on Grace of Longstone, an English couple we have met before and hope to hang out with a bit on the journey back to NZ.

Together we sailed to Bluffton, South Carolina, a trip of 290 miles, arriving at the entrance at dawn and then wandering for hours up to George and Lillian's dock. We had met them in Nova Scotia and were keen to re-connect.

 

 It's been a non-stop social whirl here. Potlucks and sitting around a fire late into the evenings, lots of shopping to stock our boats for the next few months, good walks and visits to other towns. Once again we are blown away by the friendly locals.

PHIL TURNED 60 ON THE FIRST OF DECEMBER and kiwi friends Warren and Deb were there to help celebrate the big day.

Bluffton's Christmas parade was a 2 hour event with the streets lined with spectators. We lasted an hour or so before we headed for home.
                                                                                                
 Amongst the playing there was a lot of work done while we were here. The mast was rotten at the base and had dropped an inch over the last year or so and finally we had found a good place to repair it. Roger introduced Phil to a local fisherman who was okay with him putting Windora alongside and using the outrigger to lift the mast out. Unfortunately the engine wasn't going on the fishing boat but our windlass was strong enough to do the lifting. Dave climbed up the outrigger and attached a strop and 2 blocks, so one line came down to the windlass and one to the fishing boat.

 

After some line adjustments and much advice being voiced by all the willing helpers, the mast made it's way down and was loaded onto a skiff to be taken to shore where it was put on two trolleys and pushed half a mile or so back to George's place without disrupting too much traffic.

                           Great work team!

Phil ended up cutting 18" off the bottom of the mast and a further 10" up the sides to remove all of the soft timber. This acted as a key for the new piece of timber. Here's Roger routing out the sides.

We bought a 12 foot long piece of 8" by 1.5" Douglas Fir and had it dressed, then machined the rebates to repair the butt of the mast.

The base was painted with red lead paint and it was ready to go back in. Bad weather was coming so the pressure was on to get it done quickly.

Putting the mast back in place was a lot easier as everyone knew what to do this time. We used 2 skiffs to move the mast and with Windora back alongside again, the mast was lifted with the butt resting on planks in the second skiff and then left dangling while Phil turned Windora around to position the boat under the mast.

Time for a beer and chocolate cake once the mast was in place. Thanks Roger, George, Dave, Helen, Warren, Deb, Adam, Steve, Andy, Doran, Larry. Then followed hours getting the rigging back on and the sails on. Feels good to know that job is done and that Windora is in fine shape for the Pacific crossing in a few months time.
Tomrrow we take another leap south to Titusville to meet up with more friends and wait for fair weather to cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. This is the longest we have stayed anywhere for a while now and it's been great. Feels time to move on though.....NZ is calling...

Chasing the sun

Three anchorages later we made our way into New York via the East River which is a great way to see the city.

We anchored the first night by the Statue of Liberty . Here's our view that evening.....

Next morning we motored up the Hudson River to 79th Street Marina where we picked up a mooring. It's only a short walk to Central Park and we joined the crowds on a beautiful sunny Autumn Sunday to walk the park and then down to Broadway.....

Terry left for home and we headed south with one last pass close to the Lady. It was a grey, cold day so we bundled up and set off for Norfolk at the bottom of the Chesapeake. It was a 2 night sail and  we couldn't believe the difference in the temperature by moving 300 miles south, so nice to drop a layer of thermals!!

As we approached Norfolk we were joined by 5 other boats all chasing the sun. It was the first time we have been amongst so many boats in a long time. We got to see some of America's mighty naval vessels as we made our way up to the city of  Norfolk where we found a free public dock so we enjoyed a night tied up and topped up our water.

The Intracoastal Waterway starts here so it became days of motoring from one channel marker to another (one grounding), often in very narrow canals, plenty of bridges, some which opened at set times. We noticed that a lot had been replaced by new bridges with a height of 65 feet so that definitely made life easier. There were anchorages everywhere, always in stunning places of wilderness.

Looking back and looking forward shows you the flat marshy land, plenty of tree trunks on the sides of the canal, birds, a few small villages....that was it for the next four days...

As we head south it really feels like we are on our way home. Every mile takes us closer to the Pacific with plenty to see before we reach Panama Canal. It's going to be a great year....I wonder where we will be for Christmas...