Winter Cruise Is Underway

We have started our winter cruise.

The survey is done with no serious issues, the part arrived and has been installed and we have started off.

We spent a couple of days in Oriental waiting on a water pump that gave out.  The town has two docks that cruisers can stay at for 48 hours free of charge.  We were allowed to stay a couple of extra days since without the pump we could not run the engine.  Once the pump was installed we left the dock and moved down to Morehead City and anchored to wait for a weather window to move on.  Several days later on Saturday we had a good forecast and we headed out the entrance setting a course for Beaufort SC. The opening was for only two days and after sailing and motoring we arrived midday on Monday and moved up a creek to wait out the weather.  The forecast was correct and we sat out several days of the wind blowing hard but we were well protected.  Thanksgiving morning we headed off again with our next stop St Augustine.  We arrived midday on Friday and set anchor by the fort.  Saturday we dinghied into town and got together with several other cruisers for drinks and stories.  After dinner at our favorite barbeque place we went back to the boat for the night.  We planned to move on Sunday but it was a rainy chilly day so we stayed at anchor.

Monday morning we caught the first bridge opening and moved down the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway) making a long run of eighty miles and anchored for the night at New Smyrna Beach.  We were only fifty miles from Cape Canaveral and were able to watch a rocket launch that evening, once it cleared the buildings that were in our way.  The next morning we started off early again and made a sixty mile run to Melbourne FL and anchored for the night.  The next morning we were underway early again to make our way to Vero Beach.  Vero Beach is very cruiser friendly and is often referred to as "Velcro Beach" since it is hard to leave once you show up.  Cori has gotten several loads of laundry done, I have worked on getting the boat ready for the next leg and we have made several trips on the free bus to stock up on groceries for the winter.

We have just about everything ready and will be moving on further down the Florida coast before making the turn to the Bahamas.