Sitting in Vero Beach at the City Marina. Nice place, full of cruising boats getting ready for the cruiser thanksgiving feast. We have never been to this but it looks to be a big deal. Apparently lots of boats plan their trip south around being here at thanksgiving. We shall see.
We sat in Morehead City for 5 days waiting for a window to go outside. What we ended up with would be what Lisa would describe as “least bad” of our options. WInd and seas predicted to be mostly behind us, but a weak cold front was scheduled to pass over us that night. Unsettled weather means there is a good chance that “weak” could become “strong” once we got out there. I assured Lisa that would not happen. What else could I say?
Anyway, the weather was fine, the cold front came through at midnight with some gusty winds out of the North for a few hours, but that was about it. By the time we got to Charleston (30 hrs later) everything had calmed down. Plenty of current at the City marina, but a very long face dock that paralleled the current so no big deal.
Charleston is a very pretty city with some great restaurants. On our first night we ate at “Husk” which was excellent. Somehow Lisa snagged a space for two at “R Kitchen” the second night. Since this is the No 1 rated restaurant in Charleston that was quite a feat. Patrons mostly sit at the counter facing the open kitchen and the chef cooks whatever he wants to. Take it or leave it. We took all of a very nice 5 course meal. With a bottle of wine the bill was $99. Quite a bargain for such a good place.
Our next hop was from Charleston to St Augustine, via the St Johns river inlet at Jacksonville. I was a little concerned with coming in at St Augustine because it a moving target for the pass through the reef. I am sure it would have been fine, but the route through Jacksonville to St Augustine worked out fine.
Comanche Cove Marina, our destination, has a somewhat challenging entrance as the current goes from 2+ knots to zero as you pass through their break wall. I cam in too slow, requiring too much crab, and got thrown up on the sand bar just inside the break wall. Looking back, no big deal, but a few tense moments at the time. I would go back, but use better technique next time.
St Augustine may be one of the more beautiful cities in the US. Maybe. But not the way we did it. Having only one day, we opted for the local troly tour. Driver took us from one tourist trap to another. And there are plenty. You wont go wanting for a Tee shirt saying “I visited St Augustine”. Meanwhile, we barely got a comment or two regarding Flagler college or some of the other more interesting sites. We did get off and tour the old Spanish fort and that was interesting. We will have to come back and approach the city from a different perspective and not through the lens of “Ripley’s Believe it or Not” museum.
From St Augustine we were pretty much committed to the ICW as the outside weather was ugly. Stops in Daytona (Halifax City Marina) Cocoa (Cocoa Village Marina), with a lay day to let some serious thunderstorms pass through, and now Vero Beach. Thunderstorms scheduled for today and tomorrow, so may extend a day. But today is turkey day so we will worry about the weather in the morning