Charleston, South Carolina?

 We've been discussing the possibility of sailing up to Charleston, South Carolina for the summer. We're restless in Book Key Harbor and we'd both like a change of scenery. As of right now, our loose plan is to sail to the Dry Tortuga's at the end of the month and stay there for a week (just because it's rumored to be spectacular!). After that, we'd like to work our way up north. We'll stop off in Titusville so we can FINALLY watch the space shuttle launch. If we sail there, we can plan on staying as long as we need to despite repetitive delays. Once we've accomplished that, we'll continue to sail our way up north. Both of us have had desires to live in the Carolina's. Beautiful area, great climbing, coastal - everything we could ask for. We've heard incredible things about Charleston, so we figured we'd check that out. We'll stay there throughout the summer, then work our way back south come winter in preparation for the Bahama's!

We're both feeling like it's time to get out of the Keys. Plus, the idea of hurricane season here is a little intimidating for me. We had a bad blow last week that really scared me. Me and the Fluff took the dinghy to the boat to get some stuff done, right after we stepped foot onboard I saw a storm coming in off the north, so I got back into the dinghy to head to shore to get Dave. Within the 10 minute ride to the dock, the wind kicked up out of nowhere and I wasn't able to continue going forward. It was blowing 50 knots against me, it felt like it was going to flip the dinghy over and I wasn't physically able to continue motoring forward with the motor. The waves built up so fast I couldn't believe it, they were so big that they were crashing over the dinghy, getting me drenched. I turned around back to the boat to secure the Fluff down into the cabin. I looked up, and I swear I was watching a waterspout starting to form. A patch of dark cloud right over my head was circling and rapidly swirling around. Waterspouts are relatively common here. We haven't seen one yet, but I found out later that the storm had produced quiet a few. I'm pretty sure that I was watching the beginning of one form, but lucky for me the conditions weren't quite right for it. When I finally got back to the boat, the wind had started to unwind our jib (foresail). The sail was violently flapping in the wind, rocking the whole boat. I was worried the damn mast was going to break. I was on the boat, by myself, struggling with all my strength to pull the damn sail in. Finally a neighbor on a nearby boat saw me and came over to help. I would never have pulled the sail in without his help. The sail is torn up now, we have to pay to get it stitched back up. 

We went out sailing Saturday with Lloyd, the guy we bought the boat from. While we were underway, Lloyd accidentally let go of the halyard, this is needed to pull up the mainsail. It had even managed to wrap around the jib, which meant there was no way to use the mast lines to climb up the mast. Unless you're Dave! He fashioned an ascension line with his gris-gris and carabiner and pulled himself up the mast. With 3' chop and 15 knot winds, he got bucked around and rocked.

 

This is Lloyd, watching Dave scramble his way up the mast. He felt so bad for letting the halyard go. I was the original candidate for climbing up, but when we realized there was no other way to get up other than with climbing gear, Dave opted to go instead. Which, was lucky for me, because he had bruises and burns on his chest and arms from the battle up.

This photo does no justice for the event! Imagine the boat rocking in 3' seas, then ascending up a 45' mast, only exaggerating the intensity of the rocking. Even though I felt bad for Dave, I loved watching him climb up that pole! As always, I fell in love with my hero!