Northbound... and home!

We left Ft. Pierce early and headed up the Indian River. It was Sunday and Mother's Day so LOTs of boat traffic on the water. Lots of wake all day. Was so happy to hear from the kids and Bill fixed breakfast. Austin called his Mom too! We anchored south of Palm Bay behind some little islands. Water was shallow, but we did fine as very little tide here. Saw ibis flying to perch in the trees, and Osprey feeding young.

Left early next morning continuing to follow the magenta ICW line on the GPS going north. We passed Coco and went into the Titusville Municipal Marina where we had stayed before. It was hot and we had had a lot of love bugs that day so had to scrub the bugs off the deck and clean up. That was the worst part of the trip and fortunately didn't last too long. These are weird little black flies who attach on to each other and appear to just want to attach on to anything. Ughhh.

We were able to spend the next day at the Kennedy Space Center which was great fun and very interesting. We saw the shuttle in it launch pad from a distance. Watched some IMAX movies and explored the exhibits.

At the Space Center.

Had a not so good but expensive lunch...typical. We went back to the boat hot and tired and relaxed and had dinner. Wished there was a pool at that marina! Next morning we saw our first manatee. Austin spotted it in the marina and we watched it swim and feed there.

We went on through the narrow Haulover canal and saw manatees frolicking in the little bay maybe 3 or 4 of them. As we went along the Mosquito Lagoon there were lots of birds and jumping fish. Stopped on a small creek called Rockhouse just near the Ponce de Leon Inlet north of New Smyrna Beach, a lovely quiet spot with strong current and about 6 boats stopped there. We could see the waves breaking on the inlet and fish were jumping in big groups probably being chased by bigger fish, but it was fun to watch and listen to the splashes. we had a good game of Scrabble, one of many we played on this trip. Bill was the champion!

Austin behind the wheel.


Was able to talk to mother's friend Helen as we went past Port Orange. Couldn't stop as tide was too low to get into their marina. We arrived in St. Augustine late and went on a mooring at the marina. Next morning we went to shore and toured the city on a little red train. Austin loved the fort that had seen action between the British and Spanish, and Bill loved the tour of Flagler College an old hotel Flagler had built now the college. Had a fun and delicious dinner that evening at the AIA Brewery with friends Brian and Louise and Louise's mother.

Stowed the dinghy on board but had trouble with the motor harness which has shrunk with all the dunking. The harness will have to be replaced when we get back to South Carolina. It is not safe to use the dinghy motor until we do that...so we will be rowing. We made it past the currents in outlet at St Augustine and followed the ICW north. It was a cloudy day, and we had some good rain storms for most of the afternoon around Jacksonville with thunder and lightening and it became much cooler. We anchored in the Fort George River right by a lovely state park. We planned to visit in the morning. We loaded ourselves into the dinghy to go with Austin wanting to row and the current in the river was so strong that we had to return with difficulty to the boat and not go as we couldn't use the motor. Will save that park and plantation for the next trip. Currents were too strong to row into the dock!

Happy Captain!

Fernandina Beach was our next stop initially for fuel, but the winds were so strong we decided to stay put and possibly head outside into the Atlantic if things settled down. We were at the marina right at the end of main street in Fernandina so it was fun to be able to wander through town and do some shopping and eat at the dock at Brett's. Austin had a great time finding funny things for his brothers in the sovenier shops! Also enjoyed exploring the town with Bill and on his own. We also found the ice cream shop! Yummy!

A couple on another Island Packet (larger and newer than ours) stopped by. We talked to them the next morning and they were hoping to go outside too so we did make plans with them and headed out the next afternoon when the winds were predicted to be less than 15. it was encouraging to have a buddy. We were headed straight for Beaufort/Port Royal on an overnight sail.

Sunset, the last of this trip.


We had a great sail, beautiful sunset with a full moon, until about one AM when the winds increase to about 20 knots and changed direction so they were NW on our nose and seas became much rougher. We had taken down most of the sails and just kept a reefed main sail for stability and bounced along very slowly with waves breaking over the bow. Austin was able to wedge himself in below and slept. I was seasick and poor Bill had to stay at the wheel. Thank goodness for auto pilot! I was better about 3 and then he got to take a nap in the cockpit. We had to stay on the high side as water was splashing in on the low side.

Sunrise heading toward Beaufort and the Port Royal Marina on the last morning.

winds and waves settled and we were able to resume speed with the motor, and the sun came up.
We arrived at Port Royal Marina at 10:30 AM on Wednesday. We had a quiet day with everyone napping specially me and had a lovely Chinese dinner with Mary and Roy our friends on Gideon.

We packed up the boat on Thursday morning got a rental car, and headed back to Atlanta as Austin had a plane to California Friday morning early. We enjoyed having him on Wind Spirit!

It is wonderful to be home with friends and family. Thank you all for your interest and support.

Wind Spirit is signing off until her next adventure begins probably in the fall.