Bahamas bound
Marine Craft Marina, NC.
We return to Helacious in Broad Creek, North Carolina, after a few weeks at home visiting with friends and family, celebrating Thanksgiving and taking care of business. After restocking ship’s supplies and enjoying the late afternoon sun, the weather turned chilly. In fact, it was the coldest weather Helacious has seen all year. Down below, with our lovely little stove, we were toasty warm. It did remind us, though, that it was time to leave; time to head south to warmer waters.
We put up our Christmas decorations to get in the festive spirit, nothing too ambitious, but they are meaningful.
The morning we departed there was ice on the water, but nothing Helacious could not handle.
An icy departure.
The weather for an offshore jump down to Charleston was not cooperating. Instead of waiting for the weather to change, we turned right and continued to motor the ICW, through the reeds and sandbars of North Carolina, the endless waterside homes of Myrtle Beach and the beautiful cypress swamps of the Waccamaw wildlife refuge. The days were short so we had to rise at dawn and find a spot to anchor before the light faded at 5pm.
Arriving in Charleston we opt to spring for a marina, much easier for visiting guests and to be able to re-provision. We would be making a number of grocery and Costco visits before leaving for the Bahamas. We celebrate the holidays with the extended family; Jake flew in from NYC, while hosts Brent and Kianna created some amazing feasts for us. Thank you all so much.
A quick tour of downtown Charleston and it is time to say our farewells.
We catch the outgoing tide, leaving before sunrise, and turn our bow south. We make an overnight run down to Cumberland Island, Georgia, a beautiful and familiar anchorage just north of the Florida border. We last anchored here in January 2020; it was our first stop on this adventure after retirement. Hard to believe we have been almost continuously living on Helacious for 6 years!
Cumberland Island has the best of everything. Beautiful live oaks, draped in Spanish moss. A gorgeous beach with the softest white sand, the ruins of the vast Carnegie family estate (burned down in a fire lasting 3 days) and to top it all, wild horses.
A wild horse welcomed us to our anchorage.
The trail through the live oak forest.
Stafford Beach.
Dungeness ruins. What a sight this must have been in its day.
The following day looked promising for a run down to St Augustine. Winds were predicted to be in the teens and from the northeast. We catch the morning tide, raise the sails and head out. The wind dies. The sails get put away and the motor is turned on. It is a long slog south and the light fades before we reach St Augustine. The wind picks up a little and we decide to continue on overnight and make some miles south while we can. New destination, Fort Pierce. As we approach Fort Pierce inlet the New Years Eve celebrations make a fine display, the current is against us and we are reduced to a crawl of 2kt. It is not a problem, it gives us time to carefully peer into the darkness to find a spot to anchor. There are quite a few other boats around, and depth perception at night is very difficult. We take our time.
A couple of days at anchor here allows us to visit with friends Arden and Jim from Kalli, catching them before they head back to their boat in Trinidad. We also do a final stock up on treats that are unavailable in the Bahamas. One needs to have treats. The north wind subsides and fades before a predicted increase and turn to the southwest. We decide that a motor across the gulf stream overnight in calm seas is preferable to a romp in sporty conditions. Off we go.
The skies were on fire that evening, a good omen.
After a slightly rolly motor overnight, we raise the sails and sail the last few miles into Grand Cay, a tiny island along the northern edge of the Bahama bank. Here, we easily checked in with customs and immigration and were given a cruising permit for 180 days stay.
After a celebratory dinner of cracked conch at Ron’s Hot Spot we sit back and begin to relax. We have made it to the Bahamas. Now it is time to start enjoying the crystal clear waters they are rightly so famous for.
