Headed North, steadily

After the extra unwanted day in Key Biscayne due to the weather, we set out Friday morning August 16 early in the morning. We decided not to be so over-cautious, and instead listen to the weather report after we left (knowing we could always go back). It sounded ok, so we headed back out into the Gulf Stream to see if we could make it to Lake Worth Inlet / Palm Beach. Including the trips in and out of the inlets that would be about 70 nautical miles, but we were hoping to make it in about 10-12 hours with the help of the Gulf Stream pushing us. And we made it by 7 pm Friday night!

We barely escaped a thunderstorm right at the inlet which made us scramble to reef the mainsail (frantic moments included when the sail would not furl again and the winds were getting over 20 knots – operator error of course).

When we came into the inlet and went to the place the 2019 Waterways Guide told us there would be an anchorage, we found a mooring field. That was awesome until we realized all the mooring balls were private! We ended up at the end of the mooring field anchoring, right before the next storm came through, which made for a very interesting sunset scenario:

We set off early again this morning (Saturday August 17) to make it to Fort Pierce Inlet. The weather was stellar, just not for sailing (4 knot winds). We motorsailed (more for stability than speed) on the last edge of the Gulf Stream, got our 45 miles in, and furled with no problemd at the entance to the inlet. We had read that this was one of the easiest inlets due to its wideness, so we decided to go in against the tide coming out, but OMG – what a ride! We did make it in safely and headed for the anchorage. The water in the anchorage was quite skinny, and yes – we ran aground. Luckily we were on mud, the wind blew us off in 25 minutes although the tide was still going out, and we ended up anchoring safely. Bad thunderstorms all around us as soon as we anchored, but all we got was wind and a few raindrops (and cooler air).

Every time we end our day there is a new adrenaline-infused challenge and learning curve, but we are loving it!

There is still no really bad weather (“hu…e”) forecasted to build in the Atlantic for the next 5 days (and having gone through Irma we are watching VERY closely), and we are now in the territory of semi-affordable haul-outs, so we feel reasonable safe, comfortabe, and not rushed. Tomorrow we will be going up the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) for about 4 days until we get to St.Augustine, where we will stop, finally get off the boat (boat fever is slowly kicking in) and explore!