Current Life Blog

Charleston to St Augustine

After waiting for almost two weeks for a weather window out of Charleston, we settled for a few cold days with almost no wind forecast. Our thinking was that it was better than cold with a headwind. In preparation for the cold, we bought a small propane heater for the cockpit and a couple extra canisters of propane. Each canister was supposed to last 6 hours on the low setting which is about what we got out of them.

Posted by svcurrentlife on Friday, December 7, 2018

Across the river

After about a month at the Charleston City Marina we’ve moved across the river to the Charleston Harbor Resort. We had a great time in downtown Charleston. The City Marina put us within walking distance of everywhere we wanted to go, including the dentist. They promised our space to someone else for the month of December so we had to leave and cross the river. Now just waiting for a weather window to continue south.

Posted by svcurrentlife on Friday, November 30, 2018

Bald Head Island to Charleston City Marina

Finally a day outside the ICW. We left Bald Head Island at 1:10PM on Tuesday, October 30, intending to get to Charleston around noon the next day. It felt weird not leaving in the morning. Seemed like we were wasting most of the day waiting around. We wanted to make sure it was light when we arrived at the entrance to Charleston Harbor, though, so leaving Bald Head early afternoon for our overnight sail made the most sense.

Posted by svcurrentlife on Wednesday, October 31, 2018

ICW Day 6

We left Dudley’s marina in Swansboro at 6AM while it was still dark. We wanted to get to Bald Head Island marina and knew it’d be a long day. The depth gauge was showing 0 feet at the dock, and we did bump a little bit on the bottom as we were leaving, but the depth increased as soon as we were a few feet away from the dock. 7:15AM – Entered Camp Lejeune.

Posted by svcurrentlife on Sunday, October 28, 2018

ICW Day 5

Well it doesn’t look like we’ll have a window this week. An unexpected NorEaster rolled through and there’s a series of storms following it. We decided to do a few more days in the ICW just to make some progress towards Charleston. The weather was still windy, gusting to 25knots, at 1:30 but we figured we’d be okay seeing as how we’d be in the ICW. The Bogue Sound was a bit choppy but overall, the trip wasn’t bad.

Posted by svcurrentlife on Saturday, October 27, 2018

ICW Day 4

After spending an extra night in the River Dunes Marina to wait out some bad weather, we headed out at first light, 6:45AM, for Beaufort. Made an easy crossing of the Neuse river and entered Adams Creek at 8:58AM. Arrived at Beaufort Town Docks around noon. Now just waiting until we get a weather window to sail to Charleston. Leaving River Dunes Marina Neuse River Sunrise

Posted by svcurrentlife on Monday, October 22, 2018

ICW Day 3

10/20. Pulled the anchor and left Alligator River Cove Anchorage at first light, 6:50AM 7:30AM. Joined a convoy of sailboats leaving the Tuckahoe Point anchorage. They were from the Sail to the Sun rally. We listened to them for a while on channel 68, but they had a short day planned and left the ICW at Dowry Creek Marina near Belhaven. We wonder why they all left their anchorage so early in the morning just to travel a few hours.

Posted by svcurrentlife on Sunday, October 21, 2018

ICW Day 2

We left Coinjock at 8AM, thinking that we’d only go 30NM to the Alligator River Marina and have a short day. At 9:30 we were surprised to see a blimp! Blimp 9:45 AM. Decided to change plans and skip the Alligator River marina so we could get closer to Beaufort. The map showed lots of anchorages we could make it to before dark, so it was an easy decision. 1:25PM. Passed through the Alligator River Swing Bridge after only waiting for a few minutes for it it to open.

Posted by svcurrentlife on Sunday, October 21, 2018

ICW Day 1

Today we put in the first of four (hopefully only four) days motoring South on the ICW. Our plan is to arrive in Beaufort some time on Sunday if all goes well. We left Norfolk at 7:20AM after a windy night moored at Waterside marina. The wind was 15 knots from the North. Of course the wind was perfect for a sail, on the day that we had to motor on the narrow ICW channel.

Posted by svcurrentlife on Thursday, October 18, 2018

Annapolis to Norfolk

We decided to tackle the Chesapeake all at once instead of stopping along the way like we did on the way North. The trip ended up taking 26 hours. Mostly calm wind and overcast skies along the way. 7:31AM. Left Bert Jabin’s. Raining. 4 knots wind. Leaving Annapolis 8:48AM. Past Thomas Point. No wind at all even though it was forecast 10-15 knots. Still raining. Running both engines. 9:37AM. Still no wind.

Posted by svcurrentlife on Wednesday, October 17, 2018