36 Hour Solo Offshore

4AM and my iPhone alarm is buzzing. I need to weigh anchor and get underway before the 4:38AM start of the Winyah Bay inlet’s flood current. Somehow I lose track of time and don’t get underway till 5AM.

First light won’t occur until 6:24AM.

I weave my way through the other anchored boats quietly without shining my spotlight directly on them. It’s dark but the radar and spotlight are helping me find the daymarks and buoys that line the channel out the inlet and into the Atlantic.

Now at 6:05, 19 minutes before first light, if I look to the east, I can differentiate sky from the sea.

Moments later and First Light has arrived.

First Light on the Atlantic

Now it’s 7AM and at the sun is looking like a giant lightbulb on the eastern horizon.

Friends have found me.

I am amazed that they appear to glide without tail movements for quite some time

As the day goes on the following sea can be felt. As I walk through the salon I can hear the rhythmic sound of my wine glasses rocking back and forth in their upside down holder.

Wine Glasses making squeaking sounds

I open the back door to get a better look at the following sea.

Following Sea is catching me

I spot my first ship around 2PM.

It’s cargo vessel Triton and it will pass less than a mile from me with our current course and speeds.

Though I will not pass any other recreational traffic this far out I do come upon a second, equally as massive container ship on a crossing path.

I decide to spend some time on the bow and video as I go

20NM East of Charleston, SC

The sun has begun to set.

I settle in for the long night. When I go offshore as opposed to running in the ICW or “The Ditch” as it is called, there isn’t much to do. I plan my route and set my course and speed. The autopilot is engaged so no need to hold the helm. I do however need to maintain a constant watch for buoys or passing ships. My chosen route is a rhumb line between Winyah Bay Inlet and St. Augustine Inlet. Rhumb lines are courses navigators use to make it easy on themselves. A rhumb line only requires the captain to steer a constant magnetic bearing. I can hear the geometry nerds shouting… “The shortest route on the surface of a sphere is actually the arc of a great circle!”. On mercator projection charts a rhumb line is a straight line. My rhumb line route takes me about 45NM offshore.

Shoreline Route is the closest, St. Mary’s Inlet route middle and St. Augustine Route is the furthest offshore. Bailout routes in the inlets have been platted as well

Explained another way… If you stare at the picture of “globe Earth” below, keep this in mind. The longitudinal lines come together at the North Pole. If you are sailing either of the two routes drawn below, your compass needle’s would align to the longitude lines. The “rhumb line” route you steer a constant heading according to the compass while the shorter “great circle” route has you starting out at one compass heading and constantly steering more east as you go from left to right.

I don’t anticipate seeing many ships or buoys this far out. My watch duties are reduced to:

Scanning the horizon
Checking radar
Checking my boats position to my route every three minutes or so.

Note: you can see I zoomed way in and make small adjustments to the autopilot to stay close to my route line.

With minimal watch required it’s time to watch movies while at the helm. I preload media onto my iPads so when a cell signal is nowhere to be found… I still have entertainment.

Red Alert!

Tonight’s Sunset is a burning sky.

As the sun sets… the burning sky gives way to a night sky. This is why we boat. This is an addicting drug.

Crescent moon hangs over a horizon of fire

The sun slides beneath the waves. A waxing crescent, hangs above the flames of a burning horizon. I’m sure I’ve seen this surreal painting. An artist’s dream or mine? In a mere hour’s time, the moon follows her partner beneath that distant horizon. The boat surges forward with each wave, piercing the black velvet bedsheet stretched before her. The blackness offers up a gift. The stars are the only things left around. This far out to sea, the glow from land is all but snuffed out. The moment is now. I douse all the lights aboard and run to the bow. My bare feet upon the cold salty deck. The diesel’s growl is but a whisper to the parting ocean that crashes to both sides of me. The deck pitches, yaws and rolls and I am forced to a seated position. Forward facing into a brisk invisible wind. I lay prone. Above me the stars fixed in their galactic positions sway to and fro. It’s an undeniable existential moment. Your presence in this universe comes rushing into your headspace. Why am I here? I am here! I am certain my presence is to be the mirror mother universe uses to gaze upon herself.

CaptMahty

At night when I’m underway laying on the bow my steaming light illuminates the American flags I fly on my VHF antennas.

Sometimes If I want to be seen, I turn on my flybridge lights to better illuminate for passing ships.

As I look down at my iPhone’s moon app. I notice that as the boat is rocking the app developers have coded the moon app’s background to move with the iPhone’s accelerometer. The apps stars appear to sway like the ones above my head.

iPhone Accelerometer

The night was long and dark. The 5’ following sea could occasionally be seen as its white froth breaks and roars past the front of the boat. I cannot keep pace with the following sea so each wave lifts the boat’s stern and eventually I slide down the face of the wave as it slips past me.

When Sunrise comes my weariness subsides and I feel a second-wind.

Friends are here.

They glide through the water with so little effort

Now 3PM, I’m making my way into St. Augustine Inlet. Hurricane Dorian wiped out all the inlet markers so there are no buoys found marking the channel. No worries though as with the incoming waves it’s not hard to spot where the shoals are.

Shoals on the South side of the STA Inlet entrance

As I make my way in the inlet a beautiful Palm Beach motor yacht passes me.

STA Inlet Palm Beach yacht

Once inside the jetty walls I find a sailboat peacefully making way.

I have been told that St. Augustine is a favorite by many a cruiser. Seems every time I arrive here I’m in a hurry to be someplace else. This time is no different. As I pass St. Augustine’s City Marina I view this beautiful yacht resting against the outer dock.

I wonder what the make of this beautiful yacht is?

The Sun is getting low as I make my way south of St. Augustine, FL.

Sun is setting.. better find a place to anchor

My anchorage for the night is Matanzas as it puts me close to where I want to be around noon tomorrow.

Now with the anchor down I can finally relax and close my eyes.

I can finally stop driving the boat and close my eyes

Today’s W04L013 route looked like this.

Plans Change Stuart

Tim (a.k.a. Maca) would eventually have to fly back North so … my original plan was to get the boat close to Fort Lauderdale or Miami international airport. Then as I was passing Jensen Beach I thought ..o0( Why not cut through the middle of Florida so Tim could catch a flight out of Fort Myers Airport on the west coast? ) The plan changed in that moment. I quickly thought up a new anchorage within daylight’s range of Jensen Beach.

Our new location took us into Port St. Lucie and it’s beautiful waterfront homes.

Dolphins are plentiful around Port Saint Lucie and this pod was enjoying swimming along with us.

With the sun was getting low, we only had to get through the Britt Point Railway Bridge and Old Roosevelt (Dixie Highway) Bridge to make it to our chosen anchoring location. When we arrived at the railway bridge we found a very-very long train passing over it.

The train finished the bridge raised and we hailed the Old Roosevelt (Dixie Highway) Bridge on the VHF for an opening. Soon we made it to my chosen anchoring location (shown by the blue dot below)

Winter #3, leg #23 looked like this.

The sun was down and it was time to bring out the green lights and start fishing.

The battle of the fishermen had begun and the captain walked away with bragging rights 😉

Up the River in Savannah

We pulled out of Beaufort, SC and I was at the helm again.

Listening to USCG hazard to navigation broadcasts about a submerged object.

We had dolphins off the bow as we passed Hilton Head Island.

As made our way down the Savannah river you notice that the banks for the river have been artificially made high and that there are large gas tanks and other industrial structures along the shore.

There are many tug boats in the river to assist the large tankers and container ships that seem to be everywhere in the river.

Several passenger ferries past us as well.

I had called the Westin hotel earlier in the day to reserve a slip in front of their hotel but the woman who answered the phone kept trying to rent me a hotel room. I kept explaining that we were a boat and needed a slip at their marina but she just did not seem to understand. Oh well.

Savannah Convention Center & Westin Hotel

I called a River Street Dock just across the river and it worked out great. Turns out it’s right in the heart of everything.

MV Simple Life docked behind the Georgia Queen

Just on shore was Spanky’s and other restaurants.

The Savannah River was full of huge container ships that if they ever took the turn wide they’d crush us flat.

Rather than Spanky’s, we chose instead to go to the Boar’s Head Grill & Tavern for dinner. It turned out to be a great choice. The food was excellent and the beer brought to me made me laugh. I asked Charlene “Shaalean” our waitress for the double IPA “Beeyah” (with my Boston accent). She came back with a different IPA called “Damn Yankee”. Should have seen that coming.

After a boat-load of Damn Yankee’s we came back to find the current slamming into the stern hard enough to push debris onto the swim platform.

Early the next morning it was time for my guests to depart. We had so much fun in the short time they were aboard. I will miss their laughter and amazing meals they made. They were even kind enough to cook up some dishes and put them in the freezer for me. I look forward to seeing them when I return to RI.

Oh, I almost forgot the best part, Buddy wrote a MV Simple Life theme song!

MV Simple Life Theme Song

Simple Life 
                                                                   
 When enough ain’t enough
 You’re just talking about stuff,
 And your stuff is wearing you down.
 It’s time for a change,
 Time to rearrange
 Your position that’s got you all wound.
 
 You can learn from the man
 Who finally understands
 You can ditch the traffic and strife.
 Take the soft way through the world
 And another will unfurl,
 You can live the Simple Life.
 
 Sell it all but the boat
 And what you require for the float
 Leave the shore, your troubles behind.
 Authentic is real.
 You must believe what you feel,
 The Simple Life always feels fine.
 
 From the man who knows,
 When you’re caught in the throes 
 Of the rat race that you’ll never win.
 There’s another choice,
 Trust your inner voice,
 Cast your doubts to the following wind.
 
 Cast off your ways,
 Imagine simpler days.
 Cruise in a way that rewards.
 Make dozens of friends,
 Share beers in the wind,
 Find your world without discord.
 
 Breathe deeply the air,
 Feel the salt in your hair,
 Know that you’re doing it right.
 Bring your girl (or your wife)
 You’ll never feel more alive
 Softly living the Simple Life. 
 
                                                                                    Buddy Wainwright

Bahamas Crossing

We weighed anchor in North Palm Beach at 4AM. It was dark as we made our way down the ICW and out of Lake Worth inlet.

Ambient light from shore makes navigation easier

We welcomed first light but soon our due East direction had us seeing spots as we stared into the sun.

Crossing over the West edge of the Gulf Stream.

Position of the West wall of the Gulf Stream, about 18NM off the coast.

Here is a video while underway in the Gulf Stream.

https://youtu.be/q3tygH5uI2o

The ocean temp was a tropical 78 degrees.

While it would take us about 8 hours to arrive at our custom clear in location in West End on Grand Bahama Island, others would pass us along the way.

https://youtu.be/lOPwU5z2GUw

Soon we tucked between the rock jetties of West End, hailed Old Bahama Bay Marina for temporary dockage while we cleared in through customs.

The water inside West End Harbour was cloudy but had a beautiful green color.

There was a 10 foot long shark in this photo but I snapped it a moment too late as he swam beneath the murky green

Things appear from the green as the come up to the surface.

We had our yellow quarantine flag & Bahamas courtesy flag flying when we arrived in Bahamian waters. Now docked, only the captain is allowed to leave the boat to checkin at customs. The customs officers were very friendly and helped me sort through the required paperwork & $300 USD yacht entrance fee.

I first got the desire to sail after graduating college. I had dreams of dropping out of life, buying a sailboat, filling it with beer & Campbell’s soup and sailing away. Some 23 years, 3 sailboats and a trawler later we are finally realizing a dream. Time for some selfies in West End.

Yellow building behind us in the West End customs office

Old Bahama Bay marina is the only dockage in West End and a private party bought many of their slips. They were not able to offer us dockage so we had to use the remaining daylight to run to out the breakwaters of West End, around Indian Rock and use VPR (Visual Piloting Rules) to navigate to Mangrove Cay for the night’s anchorage.

Out of West End, around Indian Rock and onto the Little Bahama Bank.

Crossing the Little Bahama Bank is like nothing I’d ever experienced.

https://youtu.be/iYyyT84eqOA

The water is so clear you can see everything on the bottom. Where the blue sky meets the green ocean is captivating.

When you pay for your cruising permit it include a Bahamas fishing license so we wasted no time in trolling lines. Kelly caught this amberjack and was quick to return it’s freedom by throwing it back in the water.

Soon we arrived at Mangrove Cay.

We anchored for the night as the sun was setting over Mangrove Cay.

Underwater lights work great in the clear waters

We slept late and made the short trip to great Sale Cay the next afternoon.

Great Sale Cay anchorage on the Little Bahama Bank

Then it was on to Crab Cay for another night on anchor.

Crab Cay Anchorage near Little Abaco Island

Our last trip was to Marsh Harbour where we will await a guest who is flying in for a week visit aboard MV Simple Life.

Arriving in Marsh Harbour we found the anchorage to be quite full and had to squeeze into a spot that was just deep enough for our 4’10” draft.

https://youtu.be/6ZY3WkrDIDI

You can now choose “Current Location” from our blogs menu and see where MV Simple Life is in real-time.

FMB

Coming into Fort Meyers Beach you see the same white sand found at Marco Island. Just amazing beaches. We entered using the Northern entrance channel.

It’s all a no wake zone so about 5 knots of headway for us. We ducked under the 65’ Matanzas Pass Bridge and grabbed a mooring ball from Mantanzas Harbor Mooring Field. It’s a town mooring field but administered by Mantanzas Inn. Running a mooring field requires not just the divers to inspect the mooring anchors, chains, balls and pennant lines…

…but also someone to answer the phone, VHF, fill out the paper work and collect the money as well as enforce the rules. Sometimes you have boats that run gas-powered gensets on deck late into the night. When in the Key West mooring field a boat finally shut off their loud generator around 10PM and another boat yelled “THANK YOU” across the mooring field. I spontaneously laughed aloud but the boater with the generator had some sharp words back. Funny but not.

Upon arrival I couple, Dave & Megan & Athena (the dog) passed by in a dinghy and offered to thread my lines though the mooring ball which just like Boot Key Harbor or Key West cannot easily be pulled up to reach MV Simple Life’s foredeck. D & M announced they were on their way to a cruiser’s raft-up and extended an invite to us. I was glad they did and I had a blast meeting the FMB cruisers within minutes of arrival. They were full great stories and laughs.

Yes, that is a Macaw parrot on Doug’s shoulder. see top-left corner.

The next morning we had to go into the Mooring field office and register using our boat registration paperwork. This is something that you don’t have to do when getting on a ball up North. Up North a the mooring field or launch boat pulls alongside your boat and they ask the name of the boat and collect the money. In Florida most the moorings we rented required not just the registration of the big boat but also the dinghy as well as insurance paperwork. I now carry digital copies of all on my iPhone.

We wasted no time in finding lunch at Matanzas Inn Restaurant.

Also spent some time in the upstairs at night listening to the local singers perform.

I also spent a little time at Bonita Bills.

I would have posted the video instead but the karaoke singing would have made your ears bleed.

While there I took a dinghy ride around San Carlos Island.

Approaching Hurricane Bridge you’ll pass a few cruisers who look like they have been anchored there for a bit.

Then duck under the Hurricane Pass Bridge and into Hurricane Bay.

Once under the bridge you are in Hurricane Bay and I stopped to snap a few photos of a derelict house boat aground.

The No Wake Zone ends and it was time to open the dinghy up and capture some sunset photos from Hurricane Bay.

While we were here in FMB a close family friend, Capt Mike Spinney came down on his boat and offered to give me a tour of FMB.

Mike and his friend Dave took me for a high-speed run all around FMB.

What fun to go from our normal 6kts to 35kts!

Capt Spin was quick to see that the dolphins were trailing us and mentioned that if you boost your wake a bit you can get them to do some jumps. As if right on cue..

We took a trip down to Lovers Key where there is a great white sand beach that all the boaters pull up right onto the beach and enjoy the day.

Then it was on to the Lani Kai Beach Resort a hot spot for Spring Breakers here in FMB.

Back at the boat I said goodbye to Mike and Dave and they gave us a wave as they departed through the mooring field.

Next stop, Captiva Island and the Okeechobee Waterway.

Entering the ICW

Norfolk Leg — Route from The Great Machipongo Inlet to Top Rack Marina, Chesapeake, VA

Well we woke up early and left The Great Machipongo Inlet. The dolphins once again escorted us out and I turned South with the sun streaming in the port side pilothouse windows so hard I had to close the curtains and use the radar alone to tell what was on that side of the boat.

The sea was as flat as a model’s tummy so I lowered the RPMs on the diesel to get 2 MPG rather than 1 MPG. Simply by slowing the boat 1.3 knots we double our fuel efficiency! Don’t you wish that were the case for your car?

Thimble Shoal Light - Norfolk VA — Thimble Shoal Light

In a few hours we had snuck through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, past Thimble Shoal lighthouse and we were approaching Norfolk Navel Station.

What an amazing sight to get to these American Navy ships up close.

Warship 19 — USS Mesa Verde (LPD 19) – Amphibious Transport Dock Ship

You can see the barrier fence that they stretch across the opening and that fence line is protected by a Navy Patrol boat with a machine gun on the bow.

A local news story revealed just a few months ago there were six bomb threats called in to the naval station and you can call NCIS if you know anything. I wonder if you can call and ask for “Leroy Jethro Gibbs” or “Tony DiNozzo”?

USNS William McLean (T-AKE 12) - Military Sealift Command — USNS William McLean (T-AKE 12)
– Military Sealift Command

USS Leyte Gulf (CG-55) – Ticonderoga-Class Guided Missile Cruiser

USS San Jacinto CG-56 — USS *San Jacinto* (CG-56) – Ticonderoga-Class Cruiser

MH-53E Sea Dragon Buzzed Us From Overhead

As the Sea Dragon buzzed us my navigation system popped up forcing me to ACKNOWLEDGE the fact that there was a “Dangerous Target” nearby. The Helicopter was not alone and there were a pair of jets making that deafening sound that seems to well up from a simple background rumble to a roar.

Jet — McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet – Screeching Across the Sky

I believe that is a McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet? Maybe one of our military aficionados will comment if I got any of this incorrect?

Dry dock ship — I Believe this is the Stern of a Amphibious Transport Ship?

Medical Ship — USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109) – Arleigh Burke-Class Destroyer Alongside The Hospital Ship Comfort

The Hospital Ship Comfort made it’s way down to Puerto Rico as part of the relief efforts.

News Story about Hospital ship and it’s relief efforts.

So after navigating past all the warships and being careful to keep our distance it’s on to the Norfolk International Terminals and the Virginia Port Authority.