We survived the NorEaster - spent good time in St. Augustine

 Well, we survived the NorEaster, and other than having to re-anchor in a downpour once, we did just fine.

Good sail down the coast and now for some wet and windy weather.

We had a good sail down the coast.  Wind mostly from directly aft, which is a great ride for a catamaran.  Winds were 15 knots to start - so wing on wing, and then when then winds lightened, we flew our spinnaker most the night.  Early morning had a shackle failure, so back on wing on wing, so a little slower, but it all worked out well.

Had some dolphins visit on the trip, which is always great.

We pulled into Fernandina Beach for a day and a half, and then headed south to the St. Augustine area find a protected anchorage for the next few days.

It looks like the weather report for St. Augustine FL is going to be wet and windy for the next couple of days.  The area has a small craft advisory and flooding warnings out.  Hard to read, but about 5" of rain in the next 24 hours, and winds up to 25 knots, with locally higher gusts expected.   YUCK.

 

We saw the forecast and yesterday moved to an anchorage (red spot) we hoped would be better than the one we had at Fernandina Beach.  There are 5 other boats in this area thinking the same thing, will let you know on Sunday if we made a good decision or not :)   (we are at the red dot)     

Break out the movies and inside project list.

 

Georgetown, South Carolina

 We spent 3.5 days in Georgetown, SC.  It has a very protected anchorage, that sometimes is a bit smelly from the paper pulp mill.  Lucky for us, only smelly on the morning we left, as the winds shifted from the south to the west.

You check out the anchorage views here: Georgetown, SC Anchorage (https://youtu.be/gaIrFm_dYN4)

We walked to town, got groceries, visited the hardware store.  Ate at McDonalds (3 mile round trip).  Saturday we walked to WalMart (2 miles each way), got more groceries, stopped at Food Lion and Tractor Supply as well.

 Georgetown was ready for Halloween with a Scarecrow garden in a waterfront park.

Georgetown has some nice areas with mature tree lined streets.

Some of the homes are not in nice shape - there is some poverty in this town

Some of the homes and areas of town are nicer as well

Quite a few places had Halloween decorations out.   

                                                                 

We have our Halloween decoration out as well

Took some time to work on making sure the engines were in shape.  Found a coolant link on starboard, and in the process of trying to fix the leak, broke a small plastic part on then engine.  Non critical, nothing a little super glue won't fix for now.

Super glue and a little clamping action

Fixed (temp) part back on engine

Left Georgetown on Sunday, Haloween day.  Temperatures are getting cold, and we need to head south.  Supposed to be North winds starting around 3:00 a.m. in the morning on November 1, so we moved to an anchorage close to the exit of Wynah Bay to be prepared to depart in the early hours of the morning to sail south.

About 200 miles to sail to get warm.

As we hung out in the anchorage, a feathered friend or fiend joined us.  Friend or fiend will be decided on how much poop we find on the boat.   This guy has no fear of us.  

When the tide shifted, and the boat swung, he moved as well to stay in the sun.  Was on the stern, and moved to the bow.

Don't know how long he will stick around.    

Bus to town and Left Carolina Beach and motored south to Georgetown

 We took the bus to the big city of Wilmington, NC.   Bus picked up really close to dinghy dock.  Unfortunately, had to catch the 8:00 bus, so we were on a timetable, and the rain hit hard right about when we needed to get into the dinghy.  Arrived at dinghy dock soaking wet.   Oh Well.   Made it to town OK, bus ride was good.   Went to a Lowes, JoAnn fabrics, and Bed Bath and Beyond.    We were going to grab lunch at a Wendy's and then catch the bus back, but Wendy's was short staffed, and the dining room was not open.  Being the cheap people we are, we did not want to pay for any of  the other close restaurants - but we were in luck.  A Sam's club was nearby.   

At anchor and doing projects

 We have been anchored in Carolina Beach since we arrived Wednesday night.  This is a good anchorage with close access to groceries, hardware stores, and cheap eats (McDonalds).   We headed into town, to pick up some groceries.   Only .6 miles each way - Not bad.

Getting cold, time to move south

We had a great time visiting with Ed and Cathy of "What If".  As many of you know, we previously owned "What If".  Ed and Cathy are taking good care of her, and are nice people that we are happy to call friends.  We also enjoyed our time with Duane and Karen of "Sojourn", and hope to see more of them further south.  

Many warm blooded mammals stay warm during the winter months by growing thicker fur, or hibernating - and although we like to sleep, and some of us are hairier than others, we have chosen to migrate south where the weather is warmer.  When the morning temperatures are in the lower 50s the wanting to get out of a warm bed into a cold boat becomes difficult for the crew of Charm.  So we are heading south to warmer mornings.   

YouTube video from fellow cruiser

We met up with these folks in June when we were headed north.  They have a youtube video of their adventures and this one included us.

They are a nice couple doing the Great Loop.