What do we do all day?

This is a question that non cruisers often ask. Well today was another exciting day in the life. We started by defrosting the fridge which caused Laurie to slice her finger on the holding plate. No big deal,we have found band aids essential and carry mass quantities.
Ok, on to the important stuff, we left our beautiful anchorage to get water and evacuate the "amazing tank of death"(waste holding tank). sounds simple enough. Well that is unless one forgets to check the bridge opening schedule and have to sit in 20-25knots of wind on a weekend in Ft Lauderdale waiting for the next opening. We made it through unscathed but we were instructed to go in a slip with a following current that is encased in concrete pilings. Twenty knots of wind,following current, can you say the word damage. So we requested to go to the face dock, easy as pie. Well the concrete pilings were challenging the anchor and keeping my cajones tucked up. After three go rounds we were securely tied to the dock,at least until we realized it was the wrong T-head. Round two went slightly better.
Now we are ready for "business", well almost. It took the marina personnel half an hour to find the fittings and another 20 minutes for me to figure out that someone had left another intake on the pumpout open. Oh, I forgot, the previous sanitation engineer didn't rinse the hose. I will leave that to your imagination. Finally we are done and off to another anchorage where the dinghy protocol is easier.
We arrive at the Middle River, 3.5 miles from our last locale. It is still blowing and the current is opposing so Kismet is doing her dance. Unfortunately she is trying to step on the neighbor's toes,not once but twice. On the third anchoring we called it good.
So the answer to the question is-not much but it almost took all day.

"Occupy" This

 

Sunrise in Lake Sylvia

 

Arrival in Lake Sylvia, Fort Lauderdale

After two days of travel from Stuart, FL, we dropped the hook at 1630 in Lake Sylvia. On day 1, we left Stuart at 0700 and motored down the ICW (through 8 bridges), to arrive in Lake Worth anchorage at around 1400. On day 2, yesterday, we left the inlet at Lake Worth at 0700 and sailed the entire way (46 miles!) to enter the Port Everglades inlet and wind our way through beautiful Fort Lauderdale to the Lake Sylvia anchorage. This is such a cool spot - we are really in Florida now!

The "Coastal Queen" 51 years on the ICW

 

Birthday Party at Mulligans in Vero

 

50NM+ Aliquots

Time for a breather. We arrived in Stuart Fl. Yesterday after breaking the cardinal rule(IMHO) of ICW travel for the past month, we are close enough to Ft Lauderdale to enjoy a new place. This trip is not a job and should be enjoyed, unless you have the dreaded "schedule". There was one stretch that we took 5 days to do one year and did in one day this time. We did have a nice birthday dinner for Laurie with our 2009 traveling friends,"Passages&Polar Pacer" in Vero Beach. Even "Velcro Beach" couldn't slow us much. Stuart seems quite nice and we hope to explore it.

Georgia was a Peach

We are currently in St Augustine Fl. Tropical Storm Sean, one of the oddest low pressure systems on record kept us on the ICW almost all the way here. We visited Beaufort S.C. and I(jim&george) finally got to take the carriage ride and historical tour. Laurie went shopping with Mo. Since Capers Island, we have been fortunate that the current and tides moved us along with no stress through the low spots. Georgia was beautiful with spectacular anchorages and amazing vistas. We made it to Sapelo Island(home of the best Thanksgiving ever) and went out Doboy Sound. We had a very pleasant spinnaker run most of the way to Fennandina Beach Fl.( Our remaining appendix is still intact). After catching up with Ed& Karen on the other "Passages" who were preparing to launch there, we made a very fast trip to St Augustine before the front moves in. Hoping we can slow down a little before we need to be in Ft Lauderdale to set up for Laurie's trip for her mom's 90th birthday.

All Cruisers Should Go to Capers

 

Won't Somebody Take My Picture???

 

Mo & Jim on Capers Beach

 

Capers Island

 

Millions of Monarch Butterflies on Capers

 

A Trip to Capers Island

For a couple of years now, I have read about Capers Island (North of Charleston SC, just off the ICW). So, this trip, we decided to make it a priority and stop. Passages and Kismet were anchored in Whiteside Creek by 1500. And off we all went in the dinghy for the mile plus trip across the ICW to Capers Inlet. The interesting thing about this area is that storms destroyed the dunes, and then exposed the trees to the sea, resulting in very interesting formations. Of course, before we took the right turn to the beach we walked 2 miles through the forest with gazillion mosquitoes chasing us. When we arrived at the beach (finally), we had cocktails, before heading back to the mother ships! Today we motored through Charleston, to set the anchor in Tom Point Creek for the night. Tomorrow we will be in Beaufort, SC. It was finally 70 degrees today.

81%

For those who think the ICW is a motor boat ride , the above is the percentage of days we have sailed(not motorsailed) since Deltaville Va. One of those days was the Dismal Swamp but we will count it because unfortunately we didn't sail all day, everyday. The run from Deltaville to Hampton was absolutely a magnificent sail, one of the top 3 in Kismet's nearly 22,000 mile career. The North winds have made it possible for us to have many pleasant trips while still making good time. Yes, we could have made more progress but being able to glide down the "Ditch" is serene. We spent the day in Georgetown S.C. visiting "Island Moon" Hoping to keep the streak going tomorrow.