Happy Mother's Day!
We are about 40 miles outside of Beaufort, NC just before
noon and there isn't much wind and not much fuel so we expect to get in a bit
late. Fortunately we know the area relatively well.
Since leaving Saint Augustine we have seen an amazing amount
of sea life. I suppose sailing on the edge of the Gulf Stream has a lot
to do with that. The weather has been settled with a big high pressure
over us, which has meant minimal wind and minimal seas. We have been
sailing as much as possible but have had to run the engine a fair bit as
well. We are still running on the fuel we bought in the Canary Islands on
January 1st, Amazing!
Just outside the inlet to Saint Augustine we saw a large
shark on the surface. We couldn't see his body but the distance from the
dorsal to the tail was considerable. There have been abundant sea turtles
the size of your kitchen table. Fortunately, they seem to know enough to
dive when you get close to them. Lots of Dolphins have visited us with
multiple species and lots of acrobatics.
We saw schools of Mahi chasing bait and free jumping as high
as 10 or 12 feet.
The fishing has been out of this world. The first two
days we caught four tuna and three Mahi Mahi as well as lost others. We
did the trick of leaving a Mahi attached to a line and then casting with a
spinning rod. That proved very effective but our gear is not beefy
enough! We fought a big bull for nearly an hour before we gaffed
him...but we got him. A third fish broke the line. Not fishing today because I am sick of cleaning
fish.
Kim bought a bundle of movies in Saint Augustine and the
kids have been busy catching up on those. Anna has done some school but
it is difficult for Kim to facilitate when we are on these overnight
passages. It has also been sunny and hot so we tend to hide down below
for a lot of the day just to preserve some skin.
The VHF radio is busy with people battling their way up the
ICW and we are glad to be on the outside this time. At least three boats
have capsized near various inlets since we left St. Augustine. We suspect
drinking has a lot to do with it but who knows. Again it's a lot safer
away from land.
FYI, our satellite phone subscriptions are running out
this coming week and we don't plan to renew so this may be the last MIDWATCH
email.
We aren't sure what our next step will be. We have decided
to sell the boat in Annapolis but we have a lot of work to do to get it cleaned
out and fixed up for sale. We are considering NC for a haul-out and
possibly NH. Kim and I are gearing up for some real work. In any
case, we expect to spend much of Monday on the phone and internet getting
organized. We are also out of milk, coffee and fuel so we must stop.
Bob, Kim, Anna and Finn.
Current Position:
12:30PM Lunch time
34 D 06.226N
76D 53.762W
Speed 5.8 kts
Course 19 D true
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