Hi Friends & Fam! It’s been a minute hasn’t it? Truth be told, I didn’t expect to be sitting aboard Blue Pearl writing this post from a slip in St. Augustine. When we got back from the Bahamas in May we started a house hunt. Staying optimistic that if we found the right place, we could have a balance of land living mixed with cruising. But with the market being what it is here we are. Still full-time liveaboards, making our way south, making the most of this unexpected cruising season, and joyfully dodging another winter! And though we had to once again say goodbye to my family, spending time in Florida means we’ll get quality time with Rocky’s family in Stuart. So it’s really a win/win.
With the houses falling through, we focused all our efforts back on Blue Pearl’s upgrades.
- New water heater
- New electric head
- Replaced our lead acid batteries with 400 amp hours of lithium
- New mainsail
- New forward hatch (hurray no more leaks up there!)
The list goes on, but I won’t bore you with the nitty gritty stuff. Goes without saying, Blue Pearl is in the best shape of her life.
We dropped the lines from our slip in Annapolis on Monday, October 30th and started making our way down the Chespeake Bay.
The three days we spent getting down the bay were probably the roughest of the whole trip. At times we had 30 knots behind us while Blue Pearl surfed down waves. Then there was the squall bringing 40 knot gusts when we least expected it with our full main flying.
On November 1st we dropped anchor right off Hampton Roads with 20+ other boats all awaiting the weather window to jump offshore. We had our sights on rounding Cape Hatteras this year with every intention to avoid another long motor down the ICW. It would be my first trip around Hatteras (also known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic due to the many shipwrecks) and I was excited for it!
With the weather in our favor we pulled up anchor at Noon on Thursday, November 2 and headed out. It was a motor sail for most of the first day. During the night we shut the motor off and sailed downwind to our destination. We had around 25-27 knots true behind us as we surfed down ocean waves flying 7-8 knots all the way to Charleston.
It was around 2am when we reached the Charleston inlet. We wouldn’t usually navigate an inlet, especially a new inlet in the dark. But we’d read that it was a well charted one, and protected. Watching a few boats on AIS go in ahead of us, we chose to follow behind.
The Port of Charleston is the 8th busiest container facility in the country. There’s nonstop traffic of cargo ships coming in and out, 24 hours a day. Right as we’re about to enter the inlet there are two 1200 ft ships already in the channel (the expression “ships passing in the night” comes to mind!). Desperate for sleep with our anchorage in sight, we had to wait outside the channel until the ships cleared, leaving room for us to enter. Under motor we max out around 6 knots at best. These large ships are traveling upwards of 15+ knots so you don’t want to be in their way.
Since we arrived at night, we dropped the hook in a roomy anchorage just south of the Cooper River bridge and adjacent to the USS Yorktown, a WWII aircraft carrier now the highlight at the Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum.
It was our first time in Charleston and boy did it live up to the hype. What a beautiful city to take in on foot with endless food options. We spent 4 nights at a slip at the Charleston Maritime Center (thanks to the tip from our friends on Mojo….sorry they didn’t have another available one for you!!!).
With our sights set on making it to Florida, we saw an offshore window that would give us just enough time to make the ~200NM jump to St. Augustine. We needed to stay ahead of a blow that wouldn’t be letting up for nearly a week (as I sit here, I’m listening to the howling gusts and thankful we’re not offshore). We were able to sail for a bit the first day, but around sunset the wind died and we motored the rest of the way.
I was on watch for sunrise and decided to put out our Yoyo hand line. Fish are hungry in the morning after all, right? It wasn’t until we switched watches as I’m down below snoozing/fighting off an incoming migraine when I hear Rocky banging aggressively on the deck. I come up and he’s shouting our favorite two words. Fish On! We reeled in the biggest catch Blue Pearl has seen. A beautiful tuna. Shortly after we were greeted by a pod of dolphins who swam with the boat for awhile. Every cruiser can agree that seeing dolphins off your boat never, EVER gets old.
With our freezer full of vacuum packed tuna (minus the sushi Rocky ate while underway), we motored into the St. Augustine inlet. Conditions could not have been more different from last year (surfing down waves while I struggled tried to spot each red channel marker – they aren’t charted here so it’s important to visually spot each one). This year was a smooth, easy entrance into the Mantanzas River.
We dropped anchor knowing it wasn’t going to be an ideal situation. All seemed fine until we woke up the next morning and peered outside while enjoying a mug of coffee. Blue Pearl & our neighboring boats were swinging wildly as heavy winds faced off to an opposing, swift running current creating what I can only describe as chaos (and conditions I once read portrayed as “boat-eating whirlpools”). Joy!
Knowing our mooring reservation wasn’t for 4 more days, we decided to bite the bullet and spend the money on a slip around the corner up the San Sebastian River. It was worth it to be well-protected and walking distance to grocery & West Marine!
We’ll move to our mooring ball in a couple days and patiently wait for the sun to show itself again. We are in the sunshine state after all!
-LS
Blue Pearl Sailing 
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