Monday, May 18, 2009 5:36:09 PM
Location: St Marys
Latitude is 30 degrees 43.046 minutes north.
Longitude is 81 degrees 33.083 minutes west.
This weather observation was taken on Monday, May 18, 2009 5:35:24 PM local time.
Observation location: St. Marys GA USA.
Latitude is 30 degrees 43.043 minutes north.
Longitude is 81 degrees 33.082 minutes west.
The air temperature is 61, and water temperature is 75 degrees fahrenheit.
The forecast is Storms.
The current weather is rain.
The sky is overcast (more than 90% clouds).
The wind is 10 knots from the north.
The visibility is 5 nautical miles.
The wave height is 0 feet with 0 foot swells.
The barometer is 1021 millibars and rising.
What a grand finally to this voyage. The past 52 hours (260 miles) were like the last 5 minutes of the Forth of July fireworks show. We had everything.
Friday night was tedious because our anchorage was not well protected and the wind was howling. So, as I tossed and turned, I thought I would check out the weather report for the banks and Port Canaveral first thing in the morning. So, Saturday morning I was up at 5:00 AM and turned around three BuoyWeather reports. They were for Great Issac at the east end of the Great Bahamas banks, Port Canaveral and St. Augustine. They showed reasonable weather through end of day Sunday. However, Monday showed bad weather moving into Brunswick. So, I figured I could at least get to Port Canaveral and we got the boat ready and hauled anchor.
It was down wind and down wave from Chub Cay to the beginning channel across the banks. I was hoping we could do this 12 mile leg with the birds up, so that I would not have to take them up again as we got onto the banks. And, we were pleasantly surprised that we could, with comfort. We saw a sailboat about 6 miles ahead and made contact with Excalibur 12. They were headed across the reef too, only they planned to stop at Bimini for the night. So off we went on slightly different headings.
The banks were blowing around 20 knots, but because it is only 15 feet deep most of the time the waves do not build much. We were comfortable with the birds up for the 60 mile leg across the banks. Excalibur 12 called and said they caught a mackerel and a snapper. So, I threw the meat hook over the side. We were doing about 7.5 knots so I did not think we would have much of a chance. But I was wrong. We landed a 3 ft barracuda. So, I got him back in the water and quit fishing.
Going over the reef with 10 ft of crystal clear water under the keel is a trip. You can see the bottom go by in waves of dark and light aqua colors. After a while you begin to trust the route and stop worrying about ramming into a coral head.
By 6 PM we were at the Great Issac lighthouse and had to get the birds down while we had the protection of the reef as soon as we were in 30 ft of water. We did without a hitch and then worried about what kind of seas we were going to be in. The first couple of hours were fairly rough as we crossed the Northwest Providence Channel, but then it settled down and got settled in. As we approached our first waypoint off of Vero Beach, we started picking up the Gulf stream and speed. We gradually built up to a consistent 10 knots.
As we did, I needed to constantly revise the plan. Sunday morning I replaced the bulb in the starboard navigation light, pulled down the Bahamas courtesy flag, and loaded the detailed charts for St. Marys into the navigation computer. We could have put into Port Canaveral that afternoon, but that would mean a week or two of working our way up the intercostal, or going back offshore for another overnight or two. The seas were really nice, so we calculated St. Augustine and St. Marys. I got another weather report and all was good for Sunday until Monday morning. At our current speed, we would have had to enter St. Augustine in the dark and the entry was a little tricky. I calculated that we could get to the St Marys channel at 8 AM Monday morning and I hoped that would be early enough to avoid the bad weather.
With all this heads down work and anxiety, I got sea sick, and this was after breakfast. UGH. The motion on the boat was not even that bad! I was mortified. Later in the morning Nicholas got sick too. I think he was really getting frightened because I was so nervous trying to figure all this out. I was really sorry to have him in this.
After that, Monday was a perfect day on the ocean. Deep blue water, small swell with a long period. As good as it gets. The night was good to. At around 4 in the morning we were off of Jacksonville and had to ask two freighters to acknowledge they saw us and they both were very nice. They altered course to make sure we had a couple of miles between us.
Then the trouble began. The radar showed a large squall (thunderstorm) building off the coast ahead of us. By 6 AM we were in it and seeing 25 knot winds and the seas beginning to build. Then we heard our buddy Noel from Panama in Ketching Up call the coast guard to find out about the conditions in the St Marys channel. It turned out he was only about 4 miles behind me. How strange to be hooking up with him again after not seeing Ketching Up since Cartagena.
The squall kept building and my instruments showed winds just over 30 knots. Ketching Up reported winds over 40 knots. The seas built into a chop with 15 ft waves breaking over the side of Jenny, throwing water through the window and door cracks. It was uncomfortable. But, I had been in this kind of stuff before in Jenny and knew nothing bad was going to happen. Jenny is so solid, she just shrugged off the punishment and plowed on. We were still on the autopilot as we approached the long channel leading into St. Marys.
This channel is wide and deep. With a 45 ft depth all the way in, I could keep the birds in the water. Thanks God. It was obvious that I now had to hand steer down the channel. This was a wild ride. The wind was pushing us south and waves were bashing us from the side and back. As we got more shallow water on each side of the channel, the water got more frenzied. Nicholas puked again.
I lost contact with Ketching Up and battled our way down the channel. It took an hour to get inside the breakwaters. Wow. Now I had to get the birds up before we got into shallow water. I got that done and decided to go up the St Marys river to the town to anchor. It would be much more sheltered and also let Nicholas and I go to town.
We made it up the channel, got our anchor down in good holding with 20 ft of water under the keel. The wind is howling, but there are no waves or swell. We could play pool on the galley table. After tidying the boat up a little, Nicholas and I crashed. But, it is cold here. It is only supposed to be 55 degrees here tonight! I got up and broke out a blanket. More sleep.
Ketching Up came in about an hour later and anchored nearby. Around 4 PM I heard Ashley, Noel's wife calling Noel on the radio and he did not reply so I did. She drove down to meet her husband and send a boat from the marina out to get him. Tha was nice.
Nicholas are going to have a quiet evening, and maybe a movie. Tomorrow I will put the dinghy down and we will go to town. Hopefully the rain will have stopped. The weather is supposed to be bad all week, so we will stay here at least until Friday. I think they have a nice Memorial Day celebration here, so we may stay through May 30th. We can take the intercostal up to Brunswick from here.
And that pretty much concludes this epoch of Jenny's Journey. It has been quite an experience.
David
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