Rockhopper is on the move

When last we updated you, we were sweltering in Florida and growing tired of sitting in one place.  Since then we’ve been on the move north and cooling off. 

We left St. Pete and the Tampa Bay area and started heading south on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW). This section of the GIWW is pretty shallow, narrow, and full of drawbridges, so it was motoring most of the way with our dolphin escorts. We anchored the first night in a lovely residential spot south of Sarasota, and the next off a large wildlife preserve on Sanibel Island. It was nice watching the passing thunderstorms every evening, and we started to understand why Florida is considered the lightning capital of the US. 

We headed out into the Gulf just south of Sanibel and finally got to turn off the engine and become a sailboat. We even hoisted the spinnaker for the first time, although it has gotten a lot of use since that first day. This leg was a longer trip to dip our toes back into night sailing, so we continued through the stormy night to the Florida Keys. This time the thunderstorms were a little too close for comfort and it made for a stressful and sleepless first night back on watch, at least for Mindy. We anchored at Marathon Key the next day. It was a hot day but we got a little relief going for a swim off the boat in the 88° water. Reinhart realized we are acting as reverse RO (reverse osmosis) machines, drinking the RO water and producing salt water in the form of sweat. The heat was getting to be too much for us, so we got back on the move the next morning with a planned overnight trip to Miami.  

Once we got out into the gulf stream the conditions were so perfect and the forecast was favorable, so we decided to bypass Miami and start our big offshore passage to North Carolina. It was a pretty good trip overall with calm seas and excellent winds most of the time, and just a few of those pesky thunderstorms to make things lively. We had a stowaway, a little finch, who joined us very far out at sea for several hours. He even spent some time inside Rockhopper, checking out the cabins. Just as we were naming him and planning our future with him, he flew away. We stuck to our old 3 hours on & 3 hours off schedule we used in 2006/7.  We were happy with our instrumentation, particularly our Furuno Radar.  I had two productive radio conversations with large working vessels, which is two more than I’ve had in the past. The second to the last day brought stronger winds and wavier seas with sharp bratty 8’ waves that sprayed us in the cockpit.  Our nice new weather cloths were stowed away, so we’ll have them mounted or handy next time to keep us dry.  We loved all of our new canvas and had a nice shady and dry cockpit.   Still, it all gets monotonous after a while, so we were thrilled to pull into our old stomping ground of Cape Lookout after 664 nm and 107 hours.  We anchored just before midnight and went to SLEEP!

What timing - we woke to a pleasant morning in Cape Lookout, which quickly turned into near gale force winds with 24 hours of 25-35 knot winds.  It was so nice to be tucked away in the bight instead of out at sea, and it gave us a day to recover from our passage.  Our new wind turbine was in its element, and we made our RO water with wind power. Those winds were the passing of a cold pressure system, and the temps have been heavenly ever since!  The next day we headed north up the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (ICW) to Oriental, NC, one of our favorite places.  Oriental hasn’t changed much, but now there is a grocery store to run to (in the form of a Walmart Express…the horror, or the convenience, hard to decide).  We spent lots of time with friends D and Don (Southern Cross), who had generously arranged a dock for us, and Bev and Arne (Scandia) came down from New Bern to visit and reminisce about days at Grass America, Annapolis, and Georgetown. 

We left Oriental and continued our ICW trip north to the Chesapeake.  Once again, it is mostly a motorsail on the narrow canal with a few sailing opportunities as we cross over the sounds.  The sailing vessel Dreadnought kept us company on the way up and we anchored together on the Pungo River.  They sent a photo of us at anchor in the sunset and we were thrilled with one of the technological advances since our 2006/7 trip…smartphones!   

The next day we made it to Elizabeth City, NC, which means we have been convinced by D and Don to take the infamous Dismal Swamp route.  We are currently enjoying the lovely Elizabeth City hospitality (free docks, free wifi) before continuing our trip up that picturesque and historic, albeit shallow (6’), canal.

Rockhopper anchorages: 

27°14.759N 082°31.492W; Sarasota, FL “White Beach”; 03Sep15

26°28.124N 082°05.349W; Sanibel Island, FL “Ding Darling”; 04Sep15

24°41.599N 081°07.074W; Marathon Key, FL “Outer Boot Key; 06Sep15

34°37.392N 076°32.852W; Cape Lookout Bight, NC; 11-12Sep15

35°01.406N 076°41.934W; Oriental, NC “Oriental Harbor Marina”; 13-15Sep15

35°33.085N 076°28.178W; Pungo River, NC; 16Sep15

36°17.901N 076°13.102W; Elizabeth City, NC “Mariner’s Wharf”; 17-18Sep15