Returning stateside

Sun May 1st 2022 - Bugger, Muti was so quiet now that our friends have returned to the real world. With a pending family visit looming  in Washington DC later in May we began our return passage. First stop was Green Turtle Cay, after ‘shooting the Whale’. The Whale is a cut in the reef which can get pretty treacherous; it was pretty benign for our  traverse. We anchored up and dinghy’ed  into the Settlement. As it was a Sunday the only open establishment serving a cold adult beverage was the Pineapple restaurant. We pulled in for a magnificent plate of french fries and rum drinks, yum yum… It was super quiet with only locals chilling. The town is under construction, following the persistent Dorian theme. Once restored it will be super.

Mon May 2nd 2022 - After some provisioning we headed up to Rat Cay, a beautiful  quiet anchorage. Rob finished the underwater hull cleaning but it looks like it’s time to start again on the first hull he cleaned. Remind me why we insisted on a two hulled vessel. 

Tue May 3rd 2022 (26 nm) - Fueled up and checked out at Spanish Cay, beautiful little private island. Headed up to peaceful unspoiled Allan Pensacola Cay (or as Rob calls it: Alan Parsons Cay). Wanted to have a dip in the water, but Rob seeing a shark (bull?) or two in the water pretty much nixed that idea. Woke up to a squall, 25 Kn gusts but in such a protected anchorage it was hardly noticeable. But the lightning still sucks, Bru! 

Wed May 4th 2022 (36 nm) - After a motor sail arrived at Great Sale Cay, decided to spend the night in North West Harbour due to possible inclement weather. It’s a big empty anchorage. Little did we know it was a haven for no-see-ums, who munched on Gerda. Ended up being a beautiful starry night with full moon in a complete vacuum of silence, very eerie for those used to being surrounded by perpetual noise. The only evidence of humanity were satellites overhead. Headed stateside tomorrow. 

How far we have to travel to experience silence under a full moon…

Thu May 5th 2022 (114 nm) - Overnight passage to Fort Pierce, taking up to 24 hours. Rob caught numerous Barracuda along the way; eventually pulling in the lines as it was becoming disruptive. We did hook a toothy something but it cut through the thick leader stealing our most productive lure. The passage was benign, motor sailed across the Gulf Stream. We did have a passenger on board the first part of our journey; a little birdie decided to join us. 

Our passenger stayed for 30 minutes, got tired of our company and just flew off. Where to we wondered as there wasn’t any land insight.

The moon showed us the way back to the States on our overnight passage across the Florida Straits.

Fri May 6th 2022 - Anchored in Fort Pierce and dinghy’ed to land to procure fresh produce, Rob is particularly excited about the spinach. (Rob: oh sure, lets go with that) 😁 The Florida ‘love bugs’ were out in full force, inundating Muti, what a pain. Muti, being a catamaran, has the peculiar habit of sitting butt into the wind when wind and current compete. This causes the anchor chain to go under the vessel, quite disconcerting the first time but now we are familiar with the behavior. It requires we remove the bow sprit to prevent the anchor bridle rubbing against the bobstays under tremendous pressure. It’s a PTA to remove, and warrants a modification on Rob’s extremely long todo list.

Sun May 8th 2022  (160 nm) - Decided to continue north to St Augustine. Our weather app forecasted SE winds varying to NE  less than 10 kn. Big mistake not to be repeated. We made it to Cape Canaveral in good time doing 7 knots boat speed, the wind shifted to N gusting 18 kn. We were assaulted thereafter. Gerda was seasick (man, that looks absolutely nasty). After taking a pounding for 6 hrs with very little headway Rob decided to turn back to Port Canaveral where we checked into slip at a Port Canaveral Ocean marina for a few days. Dustin, and Bob, the marina custodians are good people. Forecasted inclement weather, kept us in port for a week. At least we got to see a Space X rocket launch from our deck. Thanks Elon! 😊 Yeah, we did, very anticlimactic it was too, a whole 5 seconds of it.  Folks travel around the world to experience a rocket launch, we should be more appreciative. Filled up with diesel, what happened to the price?! Inflation is alive and well in the boating industry!

Vapor trail from the first rocket launch we experienced.

Tue May 17th 2022 (76 nm) - Arrived in St Augustine after a pleasant overnighter in calm seas. Motor sailed with both full main and jib which balances Muti. Spent 2 nights at a slip behind the town before moving to a mooring ball in town. 

Rob performed some maintenance items 

• changed the oil on both engines and sail drives. Why do we have a vessel with 2 of everything?
• Cleaned air conditioner strainers (were they dirty or what?)
• Shimmed master bathroom cabinet to stop squeak

Fri May 20th 2022 - Off to catch a flight to DC to spend the weekend with family, Albert and Nina are in town! 

Sat/Sun May 21st/22nd 2022 - Great weekend had by all! In the midst of a heatwave in DC, we walked around the city, did some touristy things, visited some museums, ate some good food - lots of catching up to do after not seeing each other for 7 years. 

Mon May 23rd 2022 - Returned to the boat from DC to continue our journey north. 

Tue May 24th 2022 - Left for Brunswick GA, arrived after about 14 hours on the water. Spent one night, had some great French fries but also had to deal with a swarm of horse flies on the boat. Time to get out of there….

Wed May 25th 2022 - Left for Charleston SC, about 28 hours. Found a nice quiet marina down the river to escape some thunderstorms for a few nights. By far the nicest marina, especially from a staff perspective, that we have ever stayed at. 

Sat May 28th 2022 - Heading north again. Left Coopers River Marina early morning and filled up with diesel at Charleston Maritime Marina. We definitely need to stop over at this marina if we are ever in Charleston again, it looks fantastic, a small boutique marina within easy walking distance to the historical district.