All Things Bright and Beautiful

The memories of my first extended passage are becoming dim. Must be time to get back out there and create some new ones. I'll attempt a short account of the passage, but I'm sorry it will lack the immediacy that it would have had if I had written about it earlier.

Although winds were forecast to be southerly, they were westerly. While making progress north, I was also getting pushed farther out into the ocean.

During the trip, I found that I needed some sleep between the hours of nine and midnight. I'm more of a morning guy and fade during those hours in social situations anyway. I owned midnight to four am and enjoyed the star filled sky and watching the moon rise. As far out as I was, I could still see light pollution from land. I needed an hour or two of sleep towards dawn.

Sleep was not very restful. It seemed every time I awoke, the light of another boat was visible on the horizon. There is a surprising amount of traffic twenty miles out. If I stay closer in, I don't see nearly as many boats.

I saw a manta ray, a sea turtle and a right whale! The right whale was the coolest because it broached the surface close to the boat a couple times.

I had the fishing pole out the entire time. At first I had the lure trailing some 50 yards off the stern. But then I saw little fish swimming behind my rudders, and then a big fish appeared behind them. I reeled in the line so that the lure was closer to the boat like the little fish.

I think the big fish was a cobia. I've been told that they hang out around manta rays. My boat might look something like a manta ray to the fish. And it is a movable feast for the fish, with all the algae attached to the hull. Something bit off the back half of one of my lures, but not the hook. I also got a hard hit on another lure, but instead of picking up the pole and setting the hook, I just sat there watching it like a dummy. The fish must have spit it out.

The water was clear and a beautiful aquamarine color. According to NOAA, I was not out in the gulf stream, but the water was still very different from the stuff you see closer in.

The first three days and two nights were an almost perfect cruise. Certainly a new and wonderful experience for me. I listened to the weather radio, and predictions to continue were for winds 10-15 mph. Up until then predictions had been 5-10 mph. I thought 5-10, 10-15, what's the difference? I'll continue on.

I think the rest of the trip has been hashed out enough. I certainly don't want to talk about it any more. Let's just say that as I entered the St. Augustine inlet, the computerized voice on the weather radio was describing current conditions as sustained winds 20-25 knots with occasional gale force gusts.

There are standard navigational buoys marking the St. Augustine channel, but there is also a large cross on land. To navigate the channel, you basically steer towards the cross and pray. At least that's what I did on my way in with that weather and without an engine.