Farewell, 2020 from Titusville, Florida!

After a brief stop at anchor in Rockhouse Creek in New Smyrna we arrived in Titusville and picked up a mooring from the municipal marina. First impression—this is going to be a good stop! The mooring is only $100 a week, the facilities are really nice, laundry is cheap, and mobile pump-out (up to twice a week) is included. The location is also walking distance to a grocery store, a pharmacy, and a really good brewery! The real treat? The adjacent park has a sweet skate park! The kids are thrilled!  

Loving the skate park!

We’ve ended the year by enjoying a brilliant full moon, exploring the little island near our mooring, hitting the park for exercise, and exploring the town on foot. We are going to stick around for a week so that Trent can have another paintball experience, we can visit Kennedy Space Center after the local school breaks, and so that we can hopefully see a rocket launch that’s scheduled for the night of January 4th. I’m not sad to put 2020 in the rear view mirror, and pretty content to be welcoming 2021 from the space coast.

Stunning shot of Lehe Paine and the full moon on Dec 29th from one of our neighbors 

Fun on Horseshoe Crab Island

10 nights moored in St. Augustine

We managed to secure a reservation for a mooring in the St. Augustine Municipal Marina mooring field for 10 days over the Christmas holiday! Moorings are cheap (<$25/day), the facilities are nice, mobile pump-out is easy, and it’s a fantastic location in the heart of downtown! This time of year it’s also all lit up for “Nights of Lights.” While we still thoroughly enjoyed the historic charm of the “Oldest City,” it was really crowded in the afternoons and evenings with holiday travelers. It would have been a little crowded for my taste during normal times, and given the global pandemic we chose to retreat to the quieter streets or the boat to keep some distance at times. 

On the “fun” side of things, we visited the iconic lighthouse (holy crowded!), the Oldest House (good history lesson), and the distillery (we couldn’t pass up this favorite). We walked/jogged the streets and alleys, took in the lights from sea and land, ate lots of great take-out, and celebrated Christmas from our cozy home. We enjoyed the ease of Amazon Prime/Whole Foods delivery of our provisions, and Trent spend hours hanging with me in the laundry room/lounge so he could fully update his Xbox using the marina WiFi.

Lighthouse (left) and Oldest House (right)

Around town

Nights of Lights (and our contribution to the display!)

Merry Christmas!

On the “not-so-fun” side, we were beam-on to a 40+ knot blow on Christmas Eve which caused a few minutes of “discomfort.” We had some blissfully warm days, but also had to have the heater on a few times! We also suffered a propane leak (on Christmas Day, of course!) which required a long hike with a heavy propane tank to get it refilled and two hikes through throngs of tourists to get to the hardware store for parts. In the end, the Chief Engineer simplified our propane system a bit as part of the fix. He also recommissioned the water maker! Ok, that wasn’t so bad, but it was “work!”

A pesky propane leak resulted in lots of exercise, but the water maker is also back in business!

Time to get this party rolling south into the new year!

It's tradition! Christmas carries on...

Merry Christmas, family, friends, and fellow cruisers! Every year I tend to reflect on our holiday traditions and 2020 has brought that reflection into focus even more. The holidays can be tough for some people every year and 2020 seems to have made it much harder for many of our friends and family. But let's focus on the positive! What traditions were you able to carry forward into this crazy year? What new ones did you discover?

Admittedly, Christmas 2020 isn't totally different from many of the holidays we've had over the years. When we were still a military family, we were often away from extended family and didn't travel to big gatherings. We've managed to be together, just the four of us, for all but one holiday where I was on the other side of the world with some of the best shipmates a girl could ask for. We had a few holidays near extended family, but for the most part, we keep our celebration small and intimate. So what makes for a traditional Christmas for the crew of Lehe Paine?

- Lights! While we don't carry all of our decorations on the boat these days, we do carry our LED up-and-over lights. I will unapologetically run a generator to power those bad boys! 

- Stockings! We have had the same set of stockings since the kids were babies and they are hung on our cabin doors every holiday season.

- Getting away! We prefer to celebrate "on the hook" or "on the ball," surrounded by water and nice views. Some years weather kept us at the dock. Last year we were at a dock in Bahamas celebrating and laughing with new friends.

- Christmas Eve festivities! We like to plan a dinner (usually some variant of Asian cuisine), watch movies, bake or decorate cookies, and the kids exchange their gifts from one another. We used to give them pj's that night, too, but...teenagers! Red wine...that's also part of my Christmas prep tradition!

- Christmas morning...gifts! This is when we have opened gifts from the extended family, Santa, and mom & dad. As the kids have gotten older and we've gotten more minimalist, there isn't a huge pile of presents, but everyone seems great with it.

- Food! If I've properly provisioned there will be easy, canned cinnamon rolls for breakfast! As the craziness winds down mimosas are served, gifts are stowed, and I prep whatever is needed for some sort of feast that afternoon/evening.

- Calls to family! Between cooking and relaxing the day away, we have calls and video calls with friends and family. We were doing this pre-COVID and will surely continue it into the future!

We were able to retain these traditions quite easily this year. But 2020 was hard for me (Jody) for a non-COVID reason. We don't expect to have Katreina with us next year so I was really trying to make all of our traditional things happen. She even let her brother sleep over one last time (she said they are too old for that tradition, but...)! And then she got me...got us matching bracelets to "make bonds" when we are apart. I cried...I cried a lot! It was super sweet and I absolutely love it. Katreina's gift is her trip to France, Trent ended up with a serious paintball gun, Frank's whiskey/Scotch selection was expanded, and I got a really sweet GoPro that I'll have to figure out how to use.

Wishing you all health and happiness into the new year!

And then there are the sleepless nights...

I’ve said it before...it’s not always cocktails and sunsets! Last night it was sleepless!

We pulled off the ICW by the Atlantic Blvd Bridge and were delighted to see M/V Egret, a boat we’d anchored and moored near a few other times, just finishing up on deck after anchoring. This spot is deep and narrow with a ripping current, and just for fun we had a stiff NW breeze as well. So we had to have lots of scope out for the depth, but not too much because of the limits on swing room, and we had to worry about wrapping the chain around the keel when the tide was against the current. Setting the hook in those conditions can be a challenge, too, and of course the wind and current were against each other when we dropped the hook. We dropped, set, snubbed, monitored, and set the anchor alarm.

We were down by the southern pink anchor mark.

So what’s the problem? Around 2200 the Skipper was monitoring our “track” on the plotter and saw indications of us dragging. As best we can tell, the anchor had set in the deep hole near where we tried to set it. Tide was high, wind was blowing, scope was shorter...about a 25’ shift and we stopped, but it was enough to cause anxiety. We let out more scope and I was plenty awake so I offered to stand the first anchor watch. I didn’t think we were dragging, but the extra scope had me worried about the shallows near us during the tide change. I read, researched things to do along our path, culled my photo collection, and watched our position electronically and visually. We were fine all night, but it was worth having someone watching so that at least one of us could sleep soundly.

We woke to 38F temps, sun, and a chilly wind. After weighing anchor, I hit the rack! 😴 Next stop—St. Augustine!

Adulting and playing in Jax

We tend to hit Jacksonville (Jax) on our transits for a couple of reasons—it’s near our mail facility (St. Brendan’s Isle), near our storage unit, we can provision easily, we can usually stay on base cheap, our doctor is nearby, and we are technically residents of nearby Green Cove Springs! This time there wasn’t room on base, but after negotiating a shallow spot (<6” under the keel!), we made it to the Ortega River Marina and really had a great stay. What did I like? It was tidy but not pretentious, great showers and laundry, fast WiFi, easy walk to stores (West Marine, Publix, CVS, etc.), a KILLER burrito shop next door, and super nice folks that offered us rides. I would absolutely return.

We rented a car for the week and managed to knock out medical appointments (including a few referrals), a huge mail pickup, renewing boat/car registration, a trip to the storage unit, lots of provisioning, and even a trip to a dive shop to freshen up our gear stash. On the fun side, the fam had a day of fun at a paintball field while I stuffed booze and food into the bilge. We didn’t have anything too major to take care of on the boat—only had to run up the mast to fix the steaming light (I hate festoon bulbs—so finicky in their mounts!). And we put up our Christmas lights! So we are ready for the holidays, mostly ready to cross to the Bahamas, and very ready to quarantine ourselves if needed.

Last night we also got to meet another liveaboard, Oak Meadow homeschooling family that I had connected with ages ago via Instagram. It was so great to finally meet in person, and we met another boating couple as well. That’s what’s great about being in FL—we can still have safe, outdoor gatherings without totally freezing. It really made me long for the days of boater beach parties. Someday...  

We made it out of the Ortega River and are bound for St. Augustine for the holidays!

Finally...Florida!

Ok, Florida wasn’t too great of a jump Cumberland Island, but we made it! Now we are officially in reach of warm winter fun.

We started off with a few days in Fernandina Beach split between anchoring and moorings. We like this little town—tons of great dining, sidewalk-lined streets, and even a little putt-putt course that serves great beer! We got to see some old neighbors from Herrington Harbour while there and we also welcomed another teenager to the crew with the celebration of Trent’s birthday! His big present is waiting for him at our mail facility, but he still had a great day!

And now we are on our way to a “business” stop in Jacksonville. We ALL have medical appointments scheduled this week—time to rent a car and adult! It’s a slog to get up the St. John’s River so tonight we are staying at the awesome free docks at Sisters Creek near Jacksonville. We are here with a total of four sailboats and three power boats, including old marina mates on Ka’Why Knot! So great to see them, even if briefly, as they race toward warmer weather, too!

So all is well! Lots to do in Jax, but I’m feeling good!

Cumberland Island, Georgia

When we left Beaufort temps were in the 30’s, but somehow we managed to stay comfortable on deck (even without a cockpit enclosure) and had a great transit, mostly under sail, to St. Mary’s Inlet on the Florida/Georgia border. Though we have been near here a few times before, this is the first time that we dropped the hook in Georgia to explore Cumberland Island National Seashore. Loved it! The walk around the island was enchanting...moss-draped live oaks, wild horses, ruins of the Carnegie family mansion, and miles of pristine seashore. 

We avoid the Georgia stretch of the ICW mostly because of the skinny water for a boat of our draft, but also because of the new anchoring laws that seem to have been written to discourage cruisers. Let me be clear—I support laws that work to control abandoned or homesteading boats (especially those that don’t properly discharge waste), but I’ll actively support communities that welcome cruisers. So no money spent in Georgia again this year, but I’m glad we were able to visit this amazing national park!

Beaufort...a South Carolina favorite

We came back to one of our favorite little towns on the coastal journey—Beaufort, SC! But first...how did we get here? We have never arrived here via the ICW, but have rather always come from offshore via the long inlet. We passed Charleston at 0400 on our transit and just kept going as we would end up at the mouth of Port Royal Sound at the start of a flood tide with only 10 knots of wind in the forecast. Well...that’s not how it all went down. As I was coming off my 04-08 watch dark clouds were ahead of us. Heavy rain limited visibility at times and winds were a solid “+10” over what had been forecast. As I turned into the inlet on my next watch, winds were on the beam at 20kts creating steep, short period waves. It was hell. I got pushed off my track to the other side of the channel and struggled to get back on “my side” and there was a boat exiting. My confidence was shot and I turned the helm over to the Skipper. The next hour was rough, but he got us through no problem. A few more hours up the river and we were securely moored! Whew!

Once there, Beaufort was every bit as charming as we remembered. It was also cold and windy again (is it us?), but we were able to enjoy walks around town, dining outside at Herban Market and Cafe (our favorite!), some local shopping, and the Skipper even got a visit from a college friend.

We also had to trace the source of some major water that was pooling up in our pantry over our fridge (where the microwave used to be). A leak? Condensation? After taking down some panels, drying condensation, and removing an outlet, we think we have solved the mystery. Nothing appears to be leaking (had a good rain with everything dried and taken apart and couldn’t see a leak), but we found a weird void behind an outlet that was filled with slimy, old water. We think that condensation may have pooled here over time and just recently “overflowed” on our transits, causing the pools of water in the pantry. For now, everything is dried out so we can continue to monitor it. 

Forecast is good for a cold, but easy departure from the inlet tomorrow and we are bound for Cumberland Island, GA!