Bahamas! — Fit2Sail

My last real update on boat progress was from Beaufort, NC, before Thanksgiving. Since then, we’ve spent hours motoring down the ICW, done a couple of offshore passages, seen a Falcon 9 launch from the cockpit, grabbed a weather window even though we weren’t far enough south, and finally - finally - cleared into the Bahamas. Here we are!

*It was so cold we used the electric blanket in the cockpit during the day!*

We got back to the boat right at sunset on Friday, November 24, spent Saturday provisioning, retuning the rental car, and generally getting ready to move. Sunday showed us there was no real window to go offshore for a couple of days, so we started the motorfest down the ICW. 2 long days would see us at the Cape Fear River, perfect timing to get a window across to Jacksonville, Florida.

*Going through Camp LeJeune in North Carolina. Luckily no live firing was happening.*

By 11:20 on November 30, we were entering the St John’s River. 300 nautical miles in 53 hours, 5.6 knot average - motor sailing the whole way, but we felt a bit chased by an upcoming cold front. Not a sailing passage, but not a bad way to get the miles behind us. Back to slogging on the ICW.

*Barges are common sights. This one was a working dredge with a friendly driver.*

The section of the ditch between Mayport and Palm Coast, just south of St Augustine, is largely scenic, winding through marshes with the occasional spurt of development. By the time we got to Daytona Beach, though, it was just endless suburbia. Luckily we didn’t have the typical Florida experience of massive wakes thrown from close-passing motor vessels; I think we ducked out before that really becomes a thing.

Meanwhile we were in between St Augustine and Cape Canaveral, motoring along and watching the weather. Crossing to the Bahamas is best done from points as far south as you can get, since the Gulf Stream will sweep you north. Our aim was to go out from Lake Worth, still a bit too far north but doable. That inlet is a 140 miles further south than Canaveral . . . three days on the ICW, or an overnight if there’s good wind. Which there was not. There was a pretty fabulous weather window RIGHT NOW - and in looking further out, there was no window visible for at least a week.

So we took it. We filled up with fuel and water and topped up with fresh veggies in Titusville, then anchored for the night in the Indian River at the anchorage called “NASA Launch Viewing 2”, where we had a front row seat of the December 2, 11 pm launch of the Falcon 9 rocket (Starlink).

*We could see it. And hear it. And feel it!*

In the morning, with loon calls echoing around us, we were off through the fog. Bahamas, here we come!

Like the crossing from North Carolina to Florida, this was a motorsailing passage. It was just too light to sail. We exited the Cape Canaveral inlet and paralleled the coast of Florida for much of the day before making a hard turn to port to cross the Stream.