First of all, our apologies for not updating this sooner. We are both suffering shock at being back and giving up living on SeaTryst (till October). We spent a total of nine months aboard SeaTryst, and consider it our home. It was a much simpler life, with no car, lots of fellow boating friends and a much slower pace of life. The shock of getting back to the hectic pace of the US takes a little getting used too.
As we were entering Vero on Tuesday, April 25, we were hailed by Bill and Sharon Bell on Silver Lining; they had left Stonington the same day we left Mystic and were making their way north. How nice to hear from them again! They had left Vero just two hours earlier so we made plans to catch up in Cocoa. We stayed in Vero Beach for a week, and said goodbye to Grand Style; we'll surely miss Gilles and Carole.
We ran many errands, drove to Stuart to visit Carol and Dick Tuschick and Jim and Joanna Arnold to share our experiences of cruising in the Bahamas. After more repairs (the aft head!) and relaxation on the boat, we got underway on Tuesday, both wearing fleeces that cool morning. We moved up the ICW to Cocoa, to meet up with Al Budding and Jennifer Beach who live nearby - we had stopped for a visit in November, and then saw them in Georgetown, Exumas on their Hunter Passage Tanden .
As we tried to set anchor, we kept dragging, so Bob rerigged the bruce to be our main anchor on the chain, and since that still didn't hold, he rigged it back to the spade; all this took a couple of hours. You would think after all these months we would have anchoring down and not drag so much. Afterward, we were more than ready to meet Al and Jennifer at Murdock's!
The next morning, we met the Bells for coffee, and then spent a day at the Kennedy Space Center with Al and Jennifer. Bob got suited up to go to the moon.
Leaving Cocoa early Saturday morning, we went back into the channel of the ICW, timing the bridges, dealing with the large wakes of motorboats and Bob repeatedly saying, "I wish I had a gun!"
On the chart we saw a protected cove in New Smyrna Beach that looked ideal; we arrived to a dozen weekend warriors and the dumping ground for the dredging operation, which worked until the wee hours of the morning. Oh, how we longed for the quiet and beauty of the Bahamas! Bob found some solace peering through the binoculars at topless bathing beauties in thongs, until the noseeums came out at dusk.
With bugs and noise all during the night, we got up early and weighed anchor, going outside (that is, the Atlantic Ocean along the coast of Florida) - enough of the ICW bridges and motorboats. As we left through the New Smyrna inlet, we were surrounded by what first looked like fog, but then realized it was the smoke from the fires that had been plaguing Florida. This cleared a little north of Daytona.
We motor-sailed the 60 miles to St Augustine and dropped the hook in the north anchorage downtown near the Bridge of Lions, and another construction site. St Augustine is a beautiful historic city, in fact the oldest in America. We watched the horses and carriages line up each day, and the tour trolleys pass by. Although the city is beautiful, we were struck by the commercialism; everything here costs money - it was $10.60 a day to dock the dinghy, and even to tour the community college required a fee. We are finding it hard to have gold star days now that we are back in the US. A gold star day is one in which we spend no money. We had a bunch of them in the Bahama's and would have had even more if we didn't visit so many watering holes.
We were finally feeling that we could relax in a spot and not hurry; we were in no rush to return to the north. So we spent a week in St Augustine; for three days we did not even leave the boat. Maggie caught up on Peter Block's work, and Bob made arrangements for new insurance, the required survey, and having the boat hauled in St Mary's, Georgia.
On Thursday we heard Pagan call the marina; it couldn't be Eric and Sue; they had gone south to Puerto Rico. Later that day walking in the marina, we passed the boat; sure enough! We were so excited to reconnect with our friends, with whom we partied from Little Farmers to Georgetown. They are a fun couple and it is easy to get caught up in their excitement. Hopefully we will see them again.
Heading to the marina office to get ice, we ran into Mike and Suzanne on Carolina and we recalled our meetings throughout the Exumas. Liveaboards and on their way north, they promise to call us when they get to Mystic. We hope we'll see a few friends we met along the way this summer when they visit the Seaport.
Saturday morning, May 13, we left St Augustine, for our final leg. The forecast was wrong again; we thought we'd have a great day of sailing only to find we were beating into a north wind and swells, then no wind, and then 20 kts out of the west, just as we were heading west into St Mary's Inlet. We dropped anchor at Cumberland Island; such a beautiful spot and a nice way to end our trip.
We began right away to dismantle the sails and stack pack, reorganize the boat for storage and pack clothes. Rosie let us know she was ready to go.
Sunday afternoon, we needed a break and took the dinghy to the beach at the inlet; on this whole trip we still had not just put a blanket on the sand to lay down and relax; Maggie was anxious to do this. Arriving at the spot where other beachgoers were positioned, we anchored the dinghy, got out in the murky brown water and walked on the dark brown sand - looking at each other and shaking our heads; surely not the colors of the Bahamas. We walked up the dune, saw the wild horses, and immediately left. We were there all of three minutes. It is tough to get used to the brown water after the Bahamas.
After more work on Monday, we went for a walk on the island, meeting fellow cruisers heading north. We walked the beach with them, until we saw the dark clouds and heard the thunder. Caught in a downpour and lightning all around, we dashed through the forest for the protection of the ranger's station. In a short reprieve, we got back to the dinghy, loaded with 4 inches of water, and raced back to SeaTryst,
Ok, it was time. Sadly, we weighed anchor Tuesday morning for our drive (no sails) to the North River in St Mary's. Winding through the marshes, we found the St Mary's Boat Services, where SeaTryst would spend the winter .. or no, summer. We keep getting confused ... Why are we putting her away for the summer??
We anchored up river, to wait for the high tide on Wednesday when she would be hauled. Dolphins came by to say farewell, as did the bugs.
Wednesday, SeaTryst came out of the water in the good hands of Roger and Josh.
Up on poppets, now the job was to offload all the gear and clothes we thought we'd need and didn't. We filled up our rental car, cleaned, emptied the water tanks, pickled the water maker, and covered SeaTryst with a special UF cloth (that cuts 80 of UV sunlight).
We drove away Saturday morning with Rosie wondering what we were up to now.
We stopped in Clemmons NC for a short and wonderful visit with Maggie's sister Mary and her family. That brought some joy to the otherwise sad closure.
Once home, we tackled the job of cleaning the house, that we now see filled with junk. After living on the boat for 9 months, we realize how little we really need. So Maggie has started throwing out stuff; Bob calculates he has removed 600 pounds of paper and books from Maggie's office and it is just the beginning.
It is wonderful to reconnect with family and friends in Mystic and make plans for more visits this summer.
We plan to leave in mid October to return to SeaTryst, and another adventure next fall. We're still debating on our itinerary; high on the list is the Western Caribbean (Mexico, Belize, Costa Rica...). We'll let you know our plans so you can follow us for yet another exciting year on SeaTryst.
We are pleasantly surprised at how many people have followed our adventures and the comments they have made (particularly when we don't update the site for a few weeks). We both have come to the understanding that life is short, and the time is now. We would love to hear that we helped motivate our readers to live their dream.
Our dream has just begun!
