Publish Date: Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Location: Stuart, Florida
Coordinates: 27° 12.04′ N 80° 15.52′ W
After spending much of the winter in Sarasota, Florida, we have begun to make our way north to the Chesapeake Bay. We’ll spend most of the summer in Deale, Maryland, which has relatively easy access to DC airports for my work travel, and pretty good weekend cruising destinations so we can “keep the dream alive.” Deale is about 30 miles south of Annapolis.
We enjoyed Sarasota very much during the time we were there. It is a wonderful small city, and an excellent cruising destination. The main marina, Marina Jack, is right at the foot of Main Street, which has numerous shops, restaurants, galleries, and theaters. Although we had our car, we found ourselves walking to most places we wanted to go. People are very friendly, and there is a youthful energy that permeates the town.
We are currently in Stuart, Florida after cruising across the state via the Okeechobee Waterway last weekend (Kathryn is writing a blog on the Okeechobee Waterway, so I won’t elaborate here). We’ve been waiting here for a suitable weather window to cruise offshore in the Gulf Stream, and it now looks like we will be able to depart tomorrow (Thursday) morning. The weather isn’t perfect, but it looks like it will improve while we’re cruising. Time to go!
We won’t cruise all the way to the Chesapeake in one shot: We are heading for New Bern, North Carolina where we’ll stop for a week. I have a business trip to take, and Kathryn and Ayla like to check out a new town (we’ve heard good things about New Bern as a cruising destination). New Bern is just south of Cape Hatteras, so we will have milked the Gulf Stream for all we can when we turn into Beaufort Inlet. We will complete our migration the following weekend by cruising up the Intracoastal Waterway through Norfolk, and then up the Chesapeake Bay to Deale. Because this route is not in the open ocean, we’ll be less constrained by weather.
It’s been fun preparing for an offshore cruise again: I’ve changed the oil in the main engine and generator; Kathryn has provisioned us for a couple weeks away from easy access to grocery stores; we hired a diver to clean our bottom; I re-packed the storage area above the pilot house (we call it “the garage”) so things don’t slide around in the seas; I tested (and re-tested) the satellite phone for both voice and data; and we’ve been watching the weather like hawks. We’ll be cruising about 80-100 miles offshore at the farthest point (near Charleston) to stay in the Gulf Stream, where we’ll get a 2-3 knot speed boost. We’ve done this three times before, but we never take our safety for granted.
I plan to post daily position updates while we’re out there, so you can follow our progress if you’re interested. We’ll leave Stuart Thursday morning, and we should arrive at Beaufort Inlet Sunday morning. It will then take a few hours to get form Beaufort to New Bern. We are hoping for calm winds and following seas!
Sounds like fun! If you get a chance, check out Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks. Great beaches, wonderful restaurants, and a cozy marina.
New Bern is nice, too. Plenty of custom sportfishers decorating the marinas. It’s also the home port of those brand ‘H’ boats, too.
Glad to see you on the move and I hope that the weather stays calm for your trip. Strong thunderstorms are working this way in Port Huron,Mi for thursday and friday. Strong storms are moving into western North Carolina today and tomorrow so I hope that you miss them. Still haven’t won the big jackpot but you will be one of the first to know when I do since I would donate a ton of money to your dream. Wish the family well for me and I envy the warm weather that you are enjoying. We are about 20 degrees below our “normal” temperatures. Where is Spring?
Dave, so good to hear from you again. I was wondering what happened to you guys. Forget all that work stuff and take off!!! 🙂
Hi Dave and family. I live on N. channel 4 doors past your docking spot 2 yrs. ago, is it two yrs now or only 1. However long time is flying. well I just wanted to wish you and yours a safe and peaceful summer wherever you tie up. God bless, Tim
great to hear your off . I missed hearing about your travels.
Fair winds. Hurry up, we can’t wait to see you guys.
Why are you checking data connections on your sat phone. You don’t plan on doing work offshore are you? Nothing like surfing the web at 5600 baud.
Hi from HI
We saw your Mon, John, Dick K and Joyce the other night at the Island School house Grill. Your Mon looks good, and here eye is starting to heal….that’s a good thing!
I’ll look forward to Kathryn’s blog on the Okeechobee Waterway.
Good sailing!
Art
Hello David: I bet it felt good to cast off the lines and get underway again. Glad to hear that things are going well. I tried to find you on Thursday morning by way of AIS, but no joy. too bad that you are not coming this far north again, as it would be great to see you and the family again. Have a safe trip and smooth seas. I am keeping you in my prayers.
Hi,
We will be setting off on the same trip leaving next Friday and heading up to the The Hamptons on Long Island, NY. Do you have any information that would be helpful as it seems we will be following your exact same route leaving from Sarasota.
If you make it up to Long Island let us know we have plenty of dock space.
Best of luck on your trip.
Pat
Folks,
Sitting in Staniel Cay, Bahamas on Adventure-N62-22 waiting for the weather to break. Port Antonio, Jamaica is our next stop-then through Panama to San Diego. Have fun-I saw your AIS in Stuart when we left but it was early and I couldn’t raise you. Safe sailing. Jim Mobley
Found your website about 3 months ago have read every blog and watched every video several times . was in the Navy 40+ years ago and sure does bring back a lot of memories of my Destroyer days. You are living a lot of peoples dream and we are right with you. keep up the blogs and look forward to more of the videos. H.T. Jackson
D,K, & A….you guys are just amazing. Keep having fun out there. The Island misses you guys…do you have a trip to Harsens scheduled in ink and on the books for this summer? Huggs & kisses to all…stay well….nancy & bernardo
Hi. Sue Besemer Roberts and I work together in Iowa. She told me you were traveling through New Bern. New Bern is my home town. I hope you enjoy it. Tryon Palace is a wonderful place to visit along with many of the historic homes. The First Presbyterian Church and a couple other churchs on Middle Street are also neat to visit. Pepsi was founded in New Bern and the Pepsi Museum is on Middle Street. A really good place to eat is Morgan’s Tavern & Grill on Craven Street. Happy Boating!
So……what is the latest? Not much action on the water or on the site, is the voyage still “a go”? I have enjoyed it from here on land so far!
Frank