Charleston to Miami

We left Beaufort, NC ( pronounced BO-fert) on Tuesday 10th November. It was a good sail thru the night in bumpy seas until the morning when the wind died and the engines came on. The seas died down quickly and we had a pleasant day motoring on calm seas. That night we were treated to an absolutely spectacular sunset. I was so busy enjoying it that I didn't think to take a picture, duh!!   Oh well.  We had an easy entrance into busy Charleston harbour and quickly got tied up at Charleston City Marina. We had come to Charleston mainly to switch out our mainsail. So that morning Ian and I got our old main down and the next day Jeff ( Antares) came to the boat and helped us get the new one up and properly adjusted. We couldn't have done without him. Many thanks to Jeff !!

Typical marshland scenery along the ICW, South Carolina 

 We spent a couple more days in Charleston, walking around the beautiful downtown, and then we were off heading down the ICW again to Beaufort, SC ( pronounced BU-fert).  We had some tense moments picking up a mooring ball in the downtown mooring field. I managed to get us attached first try but with the opposing wind and current Zooropa was swinging all over the place, with the mooring ball at times disappearing completely underneath us, not a good feeling. We were way too close to the other boats ( monohulls) near by and so decided to drop the ball and go anchor further out in the harbour.  We accomplished this and after ensuring that we were well stuck in we dingyed in and had a pleasant walk around the downtown area.

Beautiful Civil War era homes. Beaufort SC  

Large old trees covered in Spanish Moss. Downtown Beaufort, SC anchorage

   Our next stop was Hilton Head Island.  We spent a few days here at the Skull Creek Marina which was located within the Hilton Head Plantation, a large gated community with multiple golf courses and tennis courts.  We were able to borrow bikes ( no gears or brakes) and go for pleasant rides along the many bike paths.  Hilton Head is a busy Island with many cars but they have managed to keep the buildings well hidden behind the heavily treed landscape.

 We left Hilton Head on Monday 23rd November, heading outside for a two night sail to Fort Pierce, Florida, and hopefully some warmer weather. It was a chilly 4 degrees celsius the morning we left.  We had a rough and squally two night passage and were very glad to arrive at the Fort Pierce inlet at slack tide and have an easy ride in . It felt really good to get tied up at the Fort Pierce City Marina, especially as the winds continued to increase as the day went on. For the next few days we were completely pinned onto the dock.

  No problems though as we were busy visiting with friends from back home.  On Thursday Rebecca and Kent put on a delicious Thanksgiving dinner for fourteen of us, it was a fun evening in their lovely Florida home. Again, no pictures. What were we thinking!

first picture with selfie stick.  Kent and Rebecca with us on Zooropa. 

We had rented a car while at Fort Pierce so were able to get to Walmart, West Marine, Publix etc and stock up on lots of provisions.

 Another over nighter and we had made it to Miami, our last stop before heading over to the Bahamas.

Entering Miami Harbour

 We stayed at the Miamarina at Bayside in Miami. The marina is in need of repair but is ideally situated right downtown and an easy Uber ride ( my first, what a great idea!) to South Beach.  Samantha joined us here for a few days. We had a lovely visit with her as always but unfortunately the weather was rather wet!

Sammy at Muscle Beach, Lummus Park, South Beach. No rain but windy.

  It's now Monday December 7th.  Sammy left this morning and we had considered crossing over to the Bahamas but decided that the weather forecast wasn't ideal.  As of right now, it looks like a Wednesday crossing. We shall see.