fetchinketch

We got in Port Everglades at 10AM (almost right on schedule!) and found a suitable anchorage (26º 07.7’N 80º 06.6’W) while we wait for our haulout time tomorrow morning.  The weather is delightful.  We aren’t in a quiet and secluded place, but it works for now!  We are enjoying a last afternoon of peace and quiet before “haulout hell” begins.

For those of you who have never owned a larger boat, the periodic times when she is out of the water are crazy busy.  There is never enough time to get everything you want done, and every day costs money–money better spent out actually sailing!  There is no such thing as taking a break until it is all done.

In the meantime, do go back and have a look at our postings about the owl https://fetchinketch.net/2016/11/14/stowaway/  and the dolphins https://fetchinketch.net/2016/11/15/the-most-interesting-thing-around

They have been updated with pictures and video!

Time: 14:20 local
Lat: 27 54.9′ N
Log: 80 08.5′ W
Distance from Hilton Head Is: 256 NM
Distance to Port Everglades Harbor Entrance: 109 NM

What happens when you are the most interesting thing around? You get lots of attention! Today we have gotten a lot of attention from a pod of spotted dolphin. They have been hanging out and swimming with us pretty much the whole day. No good way to count, but certainly dozens. At any given time we have three to ten buzzing close around the boat keeping a close eye on us. We did get some pretty great video… better than my beginner editing skills should be working on!

In addition to the dolphins, our daily wildlife count includes a green sea turtle, two flying fish on deck, and a school of remoras that have adopted Harmonie‘s bottom as their temporary home.

Light winds have us making slow, but steady progress south. Wind has been straight from behind us between 8 and 14 knots. When we are on a run like this, 8 knots is barely enough to move the boat, 10 knots gets us about 3 knots of boat speed, and 14 knots has us cooking along nicely at 6 knots.

We are very much looking forward to getting our new “ballooner” sail, replacing the one we ripped on the way north. It makes running straight downwind like this fast, and really easy. It would be waiting for us in Fort Lauderdale.

Time: 13:30 local
Lat: 29 43.3′ N
Log: 80 48.3 W
Distance from Hilton Head Is: 145 NM
Distance to Port Everglades Harbor Entrance: 229 NM

It’s not unusual when sailing offshore to have land birds perch on the boat. Blown out to sea, the are exhausted and are looking for any place to perch and rest. I have found warblers, wrens, and sparrows on boats, sometimes great distances from land. I have even had them perch on a fishing rod I was holding in my hand.

But today while about 30 miles off Jacksonville we had a rarer visitor find refuge on the boat. An Eastern Screech Owl. He spent most of the morning moving around to boat trying to find a place he was most comfortable. He seems to have settled on standing on the foredeck as his best option. Fortunately for him, our course is taking us closer to shore. Hopefully he’ll hang out here long enough to get within whatever flight distance he has left in him of shore.

Right now he is just standing on the deck, watching the world go by. I wonder, does he understand that we are moving? Does he know we are getting closer to shore?

If we keep up our current pace we’ll be entering the inlet at Port Everglades on Wednesday morning.

Time: 14:15 local
Lat: 31 50.6′ N
Log: 80 45.8 W
Distance from Hilton Head Is: 18.1 NM
Distance to Port Everglades Harbor Entrance: 346 NM

We are back at sea again, headed south away from winter as fast as we can go. Karen checked weather forecasts this morning, looking at forecast low temperatures back along our route. Newport: 33; New Jersey: 36; Annapolis: 37; Hilton Head: 48; Fort Lauderdale: 68. I think we are headed south just in time!

Our initial leg out of Calibogue Sound, and the Savannah River approach channel was very rough in a confused sea heaped up by the strongly flowing tide. It’s a bit scary following the channel when you see breakers off to both sides, with a narrow gap of smoother water between that marks the only water deep enough to float your boat.

Now we are a bit offshore, the waves are more regular, and the wind is behind us. Right now the wind is blowing 15 to 17, and the forecast is for it to ease up a bit overnight. We are making 6 to 7 knots, on a deep broad reach, and all looks good for about a 72 hour trip to Fort Lauderdale.

We were scheduled to depart for Florida this morning, the weather was crappy, so we stayed put.  Anchored here off of Harbortown on Hilton Head Island.  Right now it is cold, and windy and gray.  All good reasons we really SHOULD be further south already!

The weather forecast for tomorrow is better, not great, but better.  We’ll be underway on the rising tide tomorrow afternoon.

For this week we have been anchored here near Hilton Head Island visiting while family vacations nearby.  Nothing exciting, just simple fun.

We are finalizing arrangements to get Harmonie hauled out in Fort Lauderdale for bottom paint and our last major upgrade projects.  Then we’ll be off to the Bahamas and points further east and south for the winter.

Time: 11:00 local
Lat: 32 53.2’N
Log: 79 01.5 W
Distance from Port Annapolis: 384 NM
Distance to Calaboge Sound: 102 NM

If the wind holds steady as it is forecast to do, we’ll be arriving at the entrance to Calaboge Sound at about 01:00 tomorrow morning. We should have the anchor down by 3 or 4. For those of you who will be in the local area, we’ll most likely be anchoring just north of Daufuskie Island.

Caliboge Sound has a very tricky entrance. Many shoals, not well marked, fairly strong currents, and not at all a straight and obvious way through. Normally not at all a place I’d try to go into at night, especially for the first time.

What will give us a large cushion in the wee, dark hours of tomorrow morning is the the tide will be high. With a height of tide of over 5 feet, even Harmonie’s draft of 6′ 7″ won’t be too scary. Add to that a flooding current to help keep the waves down, and it should be pretty straightforward. Once inside the Sound, the water is deep and navigation is pretty straightforward.

As always though, there is a “Plan B.” If for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason at all, I decide that the entrance to Caliboge is making me nervous, we can go into Port Royal Sound on the north side of Hilton Head which has a deeper and more easily negotiated channel.

Time: 11:30 local
Lat: 34 23.9’N
Log: 76 18.6 W
Distance from Port Annapolis: 274 NM
Distance to Calaboge Sound: 265 NM

After a slow and difficult night rounding Cape Hatteras, much of it motoring straight into the wind and a sloppy sea, the weather front that was predicted has passed. The wind is now behind us, and it has picked up a lot, running 25 to 30 knots. The waves are larger and further apart, and it is pouring rain.

Last night we listened on the radio as the Coast Guard sent out a helicopter to rescue three people off a sailboat who had run aground and was taking on water.

But… in our enclosed cockpit it is warm and dry, the autopilot is doing the tedious work, we are sailing fast, 7.5 to 8 knots, and as I write this we are surrounded by a pod of spotted dolphin who are putting on quite the show. Darting around the boat having a grand time, and several times now six of them kept out of the water together at least 8 feet into the air right in front of the boat.

So, windy and rough–but all is good.

Time: 09:30 local
Lat: 35 38.6’N
Log: 75 05.1 W
Distance from Port Annapolis: 210 NM
Distance to Calaboge Sound: 356 NM

We are threading our way between the ship-eating shoals off Cape Hatteras, and the north-flowing Gulf Stream. Here the very deep water of ocean is very close to shore, and the powerful Gulf Stream follows that steep drop off. While we were on our way north the Gulf Stream was our best friend, frequently adding 3 knots to our speed north. Now, heading South, it is something to be avoided if at all possible.

Since leaving the Chesapeake we have been close hauled following the wind. The wind has been unusually cooperative, holding a steady speed of about 12 knots while clocking around from South to West in a way that let us sail the perfect course. The weather models predict more of the same.

Along with a huge and varied collection of shipping traffic at the entrance to the bay we saw several pods of harbor porpoises. Since then the ocean hasn’t presented us with anything exciting except a display of phosphorescence in our wake overnight.

Time: 09:20 Local
Lat: 37º 18.1′ N
Long: 76º 11.4′ W
Distance from Port Annapolis: 102 NM
Distance from Caliboge Sound, SC: 385 NM

Thomas Point Light, an icon of the central Chesapeake Bay just south of Annapolis.

All day yesterday we sailed close hauled in 12 to 17 knots of wind, tacking back and forth across some of the wider parts of the Chesapeake Bay.  A delightful and smooth start to our trip.  As night came on, the wind lightened, and turned to straight on our nose so we elected to motor sail over night.  In addition to keeping us moving at a faster rate, this let us navigate narrower parts of the bay without short-tacking at night, and by staying on the edges of the shipping lanes we could avoid the fields of crab pots that crop up unpredictably around the bay.

Bloody Point Bar Light

So far, sailing and motoring we have not had any problems with mechanical issues.  All the things we fixed are working fine. The only exception is the boat’s sensor that measures speed through the water.  An older model, but very sophisticated. Maybe too much so.  It uses time-of-flight of sound waves to measure the boat’s speed.  Very sensitive and stable, but it has proven very sensitive to electrical interference. It has always been a bit fussy, but now it seems to be working union hours, at best.

Right now we are approaching Hampton Roads, VA, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, and the open ocean. The local channels are crowded with Navy and Coast Guard traffic–vessels both very large, and quite small.  You need to pay constant attention to the ASI, RADAR, radio, and your eyeballs to keep out of everybody’s way.

One thing obvious about the Chesapeake, you could explore it for a lifetime and not see all of it. There are hundreds of recognized, and many unnoticed, anchorages scattered around the bay. Places to go are varied and (mostly) beautiful. There are services everywhere for the casual and professional boater. If it wasn’t for the summertime bugs and jellyfish it would be perfect!

Wolf Trap Light