We are in Florida now

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Nov.,21/2009 Fernandina Beach Fl. 30.40.305 81.27.965

To date we have covered about 800 miles of latitude. We left Charleston S.C. On the morning of the 19th and headed outside for the hop to Fernandina Beach area, arriving on the 20th. In slightly more than 24 hours we finished South Carolina, Georgia and began Florida. There are some choices here, go up to St. Mary's or head round Amelia Island, we headed to the beginning of Amelia Island.
Although I am a bit nervous about these outside hops I must say these last two were reasonable sailing, motoring and motor sailing. From Charleston to our present location we encountered less traffic of all sorts and that was a bit of relief at night. The radar that came with boat certainly has been useful on the night portions of things. We have used it before in the fog but not often, it has seen more use in the last couple of weeks than it saw in all the years we have had the boat.
Witchcraft came with a tiller pilot we had never used, because we were told the box it was in was better than the pilot. We tried “Oscar” out on this run. He requires lots of tweaking but did relieve us of the tyranny of steering all the time. My neck and arm thank that mechanical device.
When sailing this area there are areas that are protected, due to the northern right whale being present. There is also a large alarming area that is marked as dangerous, it is roughly 40 miles long and 10 to 20 miles wide. If you come here off shore pay attention, we saw live fire and various explosions in there throughout the night. I wonder why one always seems to be around these spots at night?
We caught a couple of whales in the distance ( it is against the law to approach closer than 500 yards) Dolphins were present to play around the boat, although this trip they played in the dark, suddenly you could hear splashes and smell as well as hear when they blow, it can be a little startling when it happens all of a sudden on the moonless nights we have experienced on these last couple of runs. New types of birds are appearing as well, shearwaters, different types of gulls and terns than what we see at home. There are others that I have yet to identify. I must say it is great fun watching the shearwaters across the tops of the waves, pelicans make very spectacular dives as do the terns.
We are going to stop here for a few days and explore a little bit, do our planning for the next leg of the ICW. Yes folks the plan is to ICW from here until we reach our crossing point. We also hope to spend a few days in the Vero Beach area, I have a friend there I would like to meet.
Take care all, we will post more as we are able.

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Photos

charleston
Street view in Charleston

sunset at sea
sunset at sea