The first two months were a blur..

I can break up the past two month into three sections: Us moving the boat from Ft. Lauderdale to Daytona Beach; Continuing North up to Charleston, SC after a break; Brian and Nate sailing to Hampton, VA while Biscuit and I came to Daytona Beach to assess the doggo’s health.

Our inexperience and time pressure to leave the hurricane area made our sailing full of surprises, both good and bad. The good: Only minor mechanical issues, nothing really that delayed a morning departure more than an hour. The boat has proven worthy during the first offshore sailing between Ft. Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, when we kept the shore in sight. It gave us no trouble when we went on for 36 hours between St. Augustine and Beaufort, SC. We are gaining confidence in the boat and our abilities to handle her. One beautiful thing that reminded us why we chose to get on this adventure was every sunrise and sunset, even during a lightning storm. Being surrounded by water, seeing distant lights and feeling the warm wind is magical. The states that we usually drive through on I-95 looked so different along the coast! I think I got to find out what true Southern hospitality is. People that we met in these coastal communities have been welcoming and friendly. The same goes for the boating folks, they are quick to make friends. Then our Brittany came to stay on the boat and sail a part of the way! We knew she’d be the first one from the family to get time off and join the fun. Brittany brought a dose of go-with-the-flow that balanced our preemptive worrying. Oh, and it was nice to have an extra pair of hands to navigate or when one of the engines water pumps needs changed.

The bad: What gave us serious problems was seasickness, could it be just getting used to the motion of the ocean? I decided that I’d rather stay hungry until destination than have even a cup of coffee prior to sailing offshore. Going down into the hulls must be avoided, so grab everything we may want at the start of the trip. We didn’t think we’d need Dramamine at first, but we stocked up on it in Daytona. It’s a bummer that by preventing nausea it made me feel extremely drowsy and therefore, a useless sailor. Another huge concern was Biscuit’s health. He seemed to be getting brave around the deck, but the slapping of the waves against the bottom of the boat made his weak legs even shakier. An emergency trip to a vet in Beaufort left us questioning if we are “keeping him alive for us”. Strangely, as it happened before, Biscuit did 180º recovery the following day. We are torn about bringing him back on the boat, and there is no expectation that this nearly 15-year-old dog would get any better than he is now.

Other than that, the main mission of getting to Hampton is accomplished! Nothing seems as intimidating as at the start of it all in Fort Lauderdale. Yohoho and a bottle of rum!